Heart Mug Rug Tutorial

It’s a mini quilt for your favorite warm beverage – a mug rug that is. These are really fun to make, and are the perfect gift for your valentines. I gifted these to my book club girls along with a mug and they’re favorite drink – spiced tea for Debbie, and hot chocolate for Cindy. I made another pile of them to give to my family who are anxiously awaiting a quilt from me, for now these little mug rugs should hold them off until i can get their quilts made. Anyways, let’s get into the project shall we!

Materials

  • Heart template
  • 9″ x 9″ background fabric, Cloud9 Organic Solid in Ash
  • 7″ x 7″ fabric for the heart, Honey Garden organic fabric by Cloud9
  • 9″ x 9″ fabric for the backing
  • 2 1/2″ x 42″ binding fabric
  • 9″ x 9″ cotton batting
  • 6 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ fusible webbing
  • Sewing supplies: iron, basting pins, pencil, scissors, rotary cutter, large square ruler (optional), cutting mat, sewing machine with walking foot

Instructions

  1. Print the heart template. Cut out the template and trace it onto the paper side of the fusible webbing.
  1. Following manufacturer’s directions, press the fusible webbing onto the wrong side of the heart fabric square.
  1. Cut out the heart using the trace lines.
  1. Remove the paper backing, and center the heart onto the background square and press into place. Optional: Sew around the heart with a straight stitch, zig zag stitch, or satin stitch to secure.
  1. Layer the backing wrong side up, followed by the batting, and then the heart square right side up. Baste the layers together and quilt as desired. I used the walking foot on my sewing machine to sew lines spaced 1/2” apart.
  1. Trim the quilted mug rug to 8” x 8” square. I use a 12 1/2” x 12 1/2” quilting ruler to trim, this helps me see the design is centered when trimming.
  1. Prepare the binding strip by folding the 2 1/2” x 42” strip in half lengthwise with wrong sides together and press.
  1. Leaving 7” of the binding strip free, begin sewing the strip to the front of the mug rug 1” from the bottom edge as shown, stop sewing when you get 1/4” away from the end and backstitch.
  1. Remove the mug rug from the machine. Fold the strip at a 45° angle and then back down over itself, lining up the raw edges to make a mitered corner.
  1. Continue sewing, beginning at the top edge and sew down to the next corner, and repeat step 9 all the way around. When you reach the last corner, stop sewing and backstitch 1 inch after turning the corner to leave enough room to join the ends of the binding.
  1. Lay the mug rug on a flat surface. Cut the ends of the binding so that they overlap 2 1/2”. Tip use a 2 1/2” square as your guide as shown.
  1. Open the binding. Place the strips at right angles right sides together. Pin the ends together as shown. Draw a diagonal line from the corner of the intersections. Sew on the line. Tip: it helps to clip the mug rug in half as shown to give yourself more working room. Then trim seam allowance to 1/4” and press open. Finish sewing the binding to the mug rug.
  1. Turn the binding to the back of the mug rug, and hand stitch or machine stitch to finish.

I hope you enjoyed making this mini quilt project.

Happy quilting!