Pinwheel Coaster Tutorial

Andrea is back for another fun sewing tutorial.  She makes me feel like I can actually tackle these projects! What about you?
Happy Wednesday!!
Here we are again … are you ready TO MAKE SOMETHING after last month’s crash course in how to make a ‘half square triangle’ {HST}??

Good, let’s get to it.

Today I’m going to show you how to make a set of coasters. I’ll be showing you two coasters with a slight variation. One for me and one for my husband … to replace our moldy {I wish that was just an expression, but as you can see my husband’s coaster molded from all the moisture from his nightly ice water} oldy ones that sit on our night stands. You can make however many you like, for whomever you’d like to use wherever you’d like!
If you haven’t already made your HST blocks, I’ll walk you through the basics here, but you’ll need to refer back to my original half square triangle post if you need more details.
Sewing Tutorial

Pinwheel Coaster Tutorial::

Supplies needed PER pinwheel coaster::

• {2} main fabrics 3″x3″ to create your pinwheel; one pattern and one neutral {I used a scrap of patchwork piecing for my pattern and gray flannel for my neutral}
• {1} back/binding fabric 7″x7″
• {1} piece of batting 4.5″x4.5″ {I used two pieces on my husbands to provide extra absorbency}
• 20″ Medium Rick Rack {optional}

Create your pinwheel block:

{Cut your pieces as noted above.}

{Sew half square triangles by placing pattern fabric & neutral fabric RST and drawing a diagonal stitching guide. Stitch 1/4″ on each side of the line.}

{Cut triangles apart along the stitch guide (left). Press seams open and arrange blocks in pinwheel formation (right).}

{Match top two squares RST and pin along seam. Stitch together using 1/4″ seam allowance. Repeat for bottom two squares.}

{Match top piece with bottom piece, RST, and pin along center seam (left). Stitch together using 1/4″ SA and press open seams (right).}

If using rick rack::

{Layer finished pinwheel block on batting (yours will be the same size, ignore that mine is not) and cut your rick rack for each side. Line it up with the edge of your layered block & batting and stitch in place using an 1/8 seam allowance.}

Quilt your coaster::

{Make your layer ‘sandwich’ as follows; back/binding fabric RS down, batting and block RS up. Pin in place making sure you have at least a 1″ border of your backing all the way around.}

{Quilt JUST your pinwheel block {do not extend your stitching onto the border}. The more you quilt, the thicker and ‘beefier’ your coaster will feel in the end. And really, when you’re making your husband a pinwheel coaster, you want to make it as ‘beefy’ as possible, right? I used simple straight line stitching (with my walking foot) with a stitch length of 3.5.}

{Trim your threads and trim your backing border to exactly 1″ on all four sides.}

Follow my favorite ‘cheater binding’ method to finish off your coaster.

And … you’re done! Whaa-laa!

I hope this tutorial encourages you to give ‘half square triangles’ a try if you haven’t already … and if you have, I hope this gives you a new idea for how to put them to use in a cute AND practical way!

Happy Sewing!