As we are nearing the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, I wanted to share this mug rug tutorial. Even if you do not celebrate this holiday where you are from, these are great for the Autumn season. The techniques used in this tutorial can transferred to create any shape mug rug. And if you are enjoying the process, use the same techniques to make some matching placemats or a table runner.

Not ready to try this out yet? Save this tutorial later on Pinterest…


Pumpkin Mug Rug Tutorial from Patchwork Posse
Patchwork Posse
View the original post by clicking the logo

Mug rugs are great to play and learn with.  They are small in size, but great for giving a new technique a try.  These mug rugs will help you understand the Quilt as you Go technique.  Plus, there are 2 ways you can finish them.  Depending on what look you like the best (and how much time you have to finish- the pinking sheared one is super quick!)

There is NO template.  Pumpkins are round…so cutting the corners to a curve really works pretty well.  As you can tell from the image above, I chose to do the stem at the top of the long edge on one and the center of the other side on the other.

They can be tall pumpkins or short -long ones!  You can play around with it and choose for yourself.

The main thing you need to watch out for is that the batting and backing are the same size.  I’m thinking you could go pretty big…and make it a table topper!

pumpkin mug rug quilt as you go technique

Grab your orange fabric and let’s get started!

Materials Needed:
quilt as you go mug rugs pumpkin

orange fabric scraps
batting- 8″ X 10″
backing fabric – 8″ X 10″
pinking shears
brown/green – pumpkin stump
heatbond lite
fusible basting spray

Fall Pumpkin Mug Rug Tutorial

1)  Layer your backing and batting- use fusible spray to make them stick together

basting spray

2)  Using your fabric strips and scraps, sew them on the batting side.  Use the quilt as you go method for this.

quilt as you go technique 1

3)  Continue the process until the whole batting is covered.  You may even randomly add fabric that covers other pieces….it makes things more interesting!

quilt as you go corner piece

4)  Turn the piece to the backside and trim around the edges

trim the block

5)  Quilt the top– I used my sewing machine foot guide to help me keep a specific distance from the seam.

quilt the block

6)  Trim the corners so they are round- pumpkins are rounder!

round the corners

This is where the tutorial splits into 2— there are 2 different methods for finishing.

Method 1 finishing the mug rug~  Binding

1)  Cut your binding 2 1/4″ and bind the edge of the mug rug.  Using a bias piece is the best as it goes around the curves just a little easier.

bind the edges

2)  Using heat n bond lite– fuse a pumpkin stump shaped fabric to the top of the pumpkin.   Buttonhole stitch around the edges to secure and stitch some scrolly things just for fun.

button hole stitch around the edge of the applique

You are finished!

pumpkin mug rug with binding
Finishing Method 2-  pinking shears edge

1)  Using heat n bond lite – fuse a pumpkin stump shaped fabric to the top of the pumpkin.  Zig zag stitch around the edges of the stem

2)  Cut your pumpkin shape you’d like.  You can see that the sides when down to the base of the stem

cut the pumpkin shape

3) Sew around the edge 1/4″ — I didn’t sew the stem as I had zig zag stitched prior

sew around the edge

4)  Using pinking shears- trim the edges.  Again, I didn’t do this on the stem parthttps:

use pinking shears around the sides

and you are done!

quilt as you go pumpkin mug rugs

Time to enjoy–

mug rug fall pumpkin

patchworkposse.com

Joan Mantini

About Joan Mantini

After several years of being the Facebook page owner at Beginner Sewing, I noticed there was a desperate need to have a single go-to spot for members to be able to find answers to their common questions, get some useful tips & tricks, as well as find reputable places to purchase sewing products online. Taking my role as a trade publication editor by day, and combining it with my knowledge of frequently requested beginner sewing advice, I created www.https://beginner-sewing.com/. An outlet that gives new sewists a free digital magazine geared for entry level sewing as an extra bonus!

Leave a Reply