Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wool Coaster Tutorial

As promised, here's a short tutorial for some fun and easy coasters.

WOOL COASTER TUTORIAL
Trace and cut 8 circles from felted sweaters. The ones I made are about 4 inches across. I use a variety of things for templates - I believe this circle template might have originally been the cover to a yummy cream cheese container (after it's washed first, of course!).

Line up and pin two circles to each other.

Using a thin yarn, stitch a blanket stitch around the outside of the circle sewing the two pieces together. Before inserting your needle to begin a new blanket stitch, slip a bead onto the needle and slide it down to snuggle up to the last stitch next to the wool. 


TIP 1: Try to estimate how much yarn will be needed for the entire coaster before cutting. It helps prevent having to knot, end off and start a new piece of yarn.

TIP 2: You can make a small knot when beginning your stitching and hide it in between the two layers of wool by catching just a snippet of wool with your needle further into the circle's center and then your next [beginning] stitch can start along the outside edge.

Finish all four coasters in the same manner and you now have a great set of sassy coasters. Set them immediately on your coffee table or use a piece of ribbon or twine to tie them together in a neat little pile. It's a great way to present them as a gift! 





3 comments:

  1. I followed a link from resweater and really love these! Thank you for sharing it!

    Becky

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  2. I like creative ideas and creative work very much and your coasters are really superb. I have never even thought that we can make this type of amazing coasters from old sweaters also.
    yoga clothing

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  3. Thanks Becky and abba! It's so fun when we can come up with new ideas for wool and recycling other items. I can't go to the thrift store without automatically thinking of new ways to use old things that many others might just want to discard. Sometimes it's a blessing...sometimes a curse. :-)

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