Kona Club Challenge - French Press Wrap and Mug Rug by Brenda from Scraps and Strings

We're so happy to have Brenda  from Scraps and Strings take the Kona Club Challenge this month! Brenda has many beautiful projects on her blog so make sure you follow her for more ideas and inspiration!

Brenda used the colors we sent out in January 2014 for  Kona Club for her project today. We hope you enjoy this tutorial and make your own French Press Wrap and Mug Rug!

We are giving away the fat quarters that Brenda used in this tutorial so be sure to leave a comment on this post to win!



Brenda Suderman of Winnipeg blogs at Scraps and Strings. She's been sewing since her dolls needed clothes, and quilting for the last decade. By day, she's a writer and journalist, and she loves to experiment with writing on and with fabric. She loves solids, vintage sewing machines, especially her two Singer Featherweights, and playing with other people's scraps.

French Press Wrap and Mug Rug

I'm Brenda from Scraps and Strings. I love sewing with Kona solids, so I'm happy to provide this tutorial on making a  wrap for a French press coffee maker and hot pad/mug rug. Because your French press pot may be slightly bigger or smaller than mine, I'm providing the method, but not the exact dimensions to fit your pot.

Materials:

• 4 Fat Quarters of Kona Cotton Solids - Wasabi, Lipstick, Turquoise, Magenta
• 6 inch by 18 inches Metallic One (or insulated batting of your choice)
• Side batting
• Basic sewing and cutting supplies, coordinating thread

Cutting for Seminole Design: 

• 1 each 1.5 inches width of fabric  strip of Turquoise and Magenta
• 1 strip 1.25 inches  wide, WOF of  Wasabi
• 2 strips 1 inch WOF of Lipstick

Cutting for Binding

• 1 strip 2.25 inches of  Kona Magenta
• 2 strips 2.25 inches of Kona Lipstick
• 4 strips 2.25 inches of  Kona Turquoise

Step 1: Construction of Seminole design

I referred to Cheryl Grieder Bradkin's The Seminole Patchwork Book for instructions and designs. I chose a basic design here, but there are plenty of designs to choose from in this book, or search for "Seminole designs" on your browser.

Cut strips for design, and sew Turquoise strip to Wasabi with 1/4 inch seam allowance. Set the seam with iron and press toward Turquoise. Sew Magenta strip to other side of Wasabi, press seam allowance toward Magenta.

Subcut into 1.25 inch strips.

Sew subcuts together, offsetting colours as shown, and nesting seam allowances.  Sew last piece to first piece, offsetting the same way. You will now have a loop of the sewn strips like this:

Cut the loop apart to make a flat strip as below, measuring about 18 inches.

Here is the back of the strip, with all seam allowances pressed the same direction. 

Stabilize strip with spray starch or Mary Ellen's Best Press to avoid stretching after trimming, since trimmed edges are on the bias.

Trim both edges of strip 1/4 inch away from yellow points. Sew Lipstick strips on either side.

Step 2: Construction of Coffee Wrap

Measure the height of your French press, and decide how big you need to make it. I made mine 5.5 inches. Cut two strips of Wasabi WOF for either side of the Seminole strip to desired widths. Mine measure 1.5 inches and 3.5 inches. Sew to either side of strip.

Measure circumference of coffee pot and cut strip one inch shorter.
Square off remaining piece for mug rug.

Cut insulated batting slightly larger than cozy top  and baste with pins or basting spray with metallic side out. Cut square of backing material  and batting slightly larger than mug rug from Kona Magenta and layer and baste. 

Machine quilt cozy with walking foot, using coordinating thread and square and trim excess backing and batting.

Step 3: Finishing and binding 

Sew Magenta binding on back of wrap on short sides. Machine stitch binding to top using contrasting thread as shown and trim even with wrap edges.

Join two strips of Lipstick and two strips of Turquoise with a mitered seam.  Cut each colour of binding 20 inches longer than long side of wrap, allowing for ties. size Sew folded binding to long  side of cozy with 1/4 inch seam, matching middles. Repeat on opposite side.

Finish short ends of binding with narrow hem. Turn over tie ends of binding 1/4 inch up and press. From right side of cozy, bring folded side of binding over the pressed side and top stitch ties and binding as below.

Step 4: Finishing mug rug

Bind mug rug with Kona Turquoise, mitering corners and top stitch with contrasting thread.

Enjoy a hot second cup of coffee!

Giveaway!

You could win 4 fat quarters of the Kona Cotton Solids Brenda used to make her French Press Wrap and Mug Rug!

Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.

If you are no-reply/Wordpress blogger please leave your email id in the post.

We will leave the giveaway open till Monday, June 22.
Winner will be announced Tuesday, June 23.

Good luck everybody and enjoy making your very own French Press Wrap and Mug Rug!
Many thanks to  Brenda  from Scraps and Strings for this awesome tutorial.

Click here for more details on Kona Club.