Week Three of the Great Scrap Challenge - Mad About Colours!

Hello fellow crafting friends!
Here we are again at week three no less - not sure how many weeks there will be actually, we could be here for some time. It all depends on how long the scraps last. I have started a second scrap basket now too so that we can see how much can be made from just this one. It would be cheating to keep adding to it! Who said that I was a purist......??

If you're new to this blog, you may be wondering what I am talking about!
Like all sewists and crafters, I have an endless supply of scraps and every now and then, the cup runneth over.

So I am setting myself a challenge to make some meaningful sewn item each week using the contents of my scrap basket and NOTHING ELSE!

Without further ado, let me introduce the star of the show...small fanfare....my scrap basket.

This week, I have made a mug rug and it is wild with colour. After last week's very sedate and classical Zakka coasters, it is a bit of a departure. Of course, you can ring the changes by making it prim - just use more sedate colours or tea dye fabrics that you love which happen to be too bright. You can do it in black and white too. It depends on what is in the stash.

Okay, here we go... a sneak peak first...

You will need the usual things for making a small quilted item including some fabrics, some wadding and some sort of backing fabric (take two pieces of this just a little bigger than your mat). I always have binding left over from quilts so some of that went in and you will need to set your machine up for free motion embroidery.

Firstly, scare up some bright fabrics and don't worry if they are not co-ordinating.

Secondly, you will need one larger piece of fabric. mine measures 24cm x 17cm. Find a heart template too. It should be quite big. mine is 15cm across. A water soluble marker is a godsend too so add it to the pile.

Use the water soluble marker to trace around the heart template onto the centre of the large piece of fabric. Then cut it out neatly.

Next, take as many strips of fabric as it will take to go across the heart aperture. The strips do not have to be the same width. Sew them together and iron them.

Now take the heart top, the strips and one piece of the backing fabric and layer them together.

Cut them out so that the whole thing is easier to handle.

Pin the layers together...

Now using free motion embroidery, thread doodle messily around the heart about three times and just inside it two or three times. this is not supposed to be neat! It is supposed to look like you drew it with a pen.

Then layer the embroidered top, the wadding and the other piece of backing fabric and hand outline quilt on the coloured bars inside the heart.

Now trim the whole thing and bind it with different colours of bias binding. This is the first time that I have used this binding method so it felt strange not to mitre the corners. I still prefer mitring but it was easier just this once to leave the corners square. Here it is again, all finished....

This is the perfect size for a mug of your favourite hot drink and something special to go with it. 

Happy Crafting and if you have any questions at all, just ask! 
Thanks for stopping by.
Love Debs
xxx

Coming next week: A patchy chic zippered purse. Look out for it right here.