On a Roll

Last week I made a tool roll.  It was a pleasant little project, so I made another one.

New one on the left; both made of flannel.

I made coasters with the leftover fabric.  Both projects are from Quilting on a Time Budget.

The coasters are made the same way as those rag quilts everyone was making 10 years ago.  The stack on the left hasn't been washed yet.  The stack on the right has, hence its poufiness and ravelled edges.

Orange fabric on one side; floral on the other.  The orange is the same fabric that lines the tool roll.

The fabric for the pocket has a crafts theme - glue gun, paint brush, pincushion, scissors, buttons, thimbles, and thread.  I didn't have enough of it to use on the coasters, so I used the dark brown binding fabric instead.  That contrasts better with the light green, and thematically makes more sense for a coaster.

My quilting lines were nice and even on this roll, because I remembered to use the line guide attachment on my sewing machine.

My coasters are 5 1/4" with 4 1/4" batting sandwiched in between.  The ones in the book are 6", but mine are smaller due to a combination of shortage of fabric followed by a cutting error.

After making the sandwich, with right sides to the outside, you first you stitch diagonally.  They didn't say mention it, but I backstitched at the beginning and end.  Then you sew a scant 1/2" in from the raw edges, being sure to not to catch the batting.  

Lastly, you sit in a comfy chair in the sun and make little tiny snips all around the edge.  Don't cut on the diagonal thread that runs to the edge. 

The closer you make the cuts, the better it will fray up after you run the coasters through the washer and dryer.  I lost 1/2" during the laundering process - these coasters are now 4 3/4", but that's still a fine size.

 

This roll isn't tall enough, but if it was, you could use it on a picnic to carry your utensils.

I was going to make two more of these to sell at our guild, but I'm going to switch to drawstring bags now.