Tutorial: Laminated Mug Rug

Made these 2 lovely little mug rugs as thank you gifts for Daughter F's College Guidance Counsellor and her History teacher at Dwight, who have been supporting us through her university application process.   

Although there's a lot of mug rug tutorials out there I've never seen one using laminated cotton which can be wiped clean so I photographed each stage and here's my quick tutorial to share.

Before we begin let's get this important informational bit out of the way :)

Care Instructions:

Before making the mug rugs I did some research into laminated cotton fabrics to see if you can machine wash them thinking that, although you can wipe the mug rug clean, at some stage you'll want to give it a quick wash.  I've discovered that these fabrics have come a long way even in just the last 12 months.  

Manufacturer instructions are that these fabrics are machine washable in cold water and additionally they can be tumble dried on low.  You may, however, prefer to line dry your mug rug to keep it away from heat in its wet state.  For anyone still wondering about these fabrics here's a great piece about machine washing with before and after photos by Kelly McCants of OilCloth Addict

Additionally, laminated cotton can be ironed on the reverse with a medium hot iron.  Once made you can happily iron these mug rugs quite firmly on the back only.

For each mug rug you'll need:

8" x 5" laminated cotton fabric for the top sheet

8" x 5" batting

8" x 5" backing fabric - I used 100% quilting cotton 

2¼" x 36" binding fabric

First cut out your fabrics (as above) and then layer just the batting and the backing fabric together and baste (as below).

WARNING:  
At this stage if you accidentally work through all 3 layers embroidering a message or name to the backing sheet then this will show in reverse on the top sheet.

Also, even if you choose to finally quilt through all 3 layers to include quilting the top sheet, don't baste through the laminated fabric as the basting pins are too big and will leave large holes.

Next, I used my machine to embroider my name through the fabrics - this stage isn't necessary so you can leave it out or embroider your own message either using your machine or by hand just be sure to have read the warnings I gave earlier in this tutorial.  

When I'd finished I knotted the thread ends and then using a hand sewing needle I drew them through to the back of the batting.

Now it's time to quilt the mug rug - IF you want to quilt through the laminated cotton too then now is the time to add it to your batting and backing sheet sandwich.  I decided not to do that so I'm just working with the 2 layers at this stage.

First, I free machined a flower chain onto the spotty pink Echino fabric in a contrasting thread

and then I did a similar free machine design on the brown stripe.

OMG! doesn't this just look awful?!!!  The quilting design works against the fabric pattern in every way possible - it's screaming at us and just looks dreadful.  There's nothing else for it ... I'm ripping the lot out and starting again.  

If you look closely at the photo below you can see that I've already started to unpick the quilting and then I thought that I should share just how bad it looks with you so you don't make a similar mistake!

Here's my second attempt at quilting the brown stripe - it's so simple and 'in keeping' that you can't even see it in the picture on the left so I thought I'd better share the back view with you as well so you can see that I really have quilted it!!!

Once you're happy with all of your quilting then it's time to add your laminated cotton to the sandwich.

TIP: Laminated cotton can be tricky to feed through your machine as it can be a bit sticky and difficult to move.  Try adding a layer of baking parchment or tissue paper between the laminated fabric and the sewing plate, this will slide easily over the plate and simply tears away afterwards.

Sew around the mug rug as close to the edge as you can just to hold the 3 layers together securely but not at the 1/4" mark or you might end up with a stitch line showing after you've added the binding.  Again that word of warning from earlier,  probably best not to baste the laminate to the sandwich and I found that the layers held together really well without basting, nothing slipped at all.

If you click on this photo below you should be able to see a larger version of it and then you can better see my sewn lines around the mug rugs - I've torn the baking parchment off the brown laminated cotton and left it on the other piece so you can see just how it was attached.

At this stage I suddenly panicked and wondered if the laminated cotton can take the heat of a hot cuppa - so I decided to conduct my own test and I can confirm that they are much hardier than one might imagine.  I tried 2 different mugs - just in case some mug bases get hotter than others - and filled them with water straight from a boiling kettle.  I left the mugs on the laminated cotton for 30 minutes, checking the condition of the laminate every 5 minutes and NOTHING!!!  Phew, that's a relief!

 

I ironed the binding strips in half lengthways

I'm going to assume here that you all know how to sew on and join binding so I'll not go into any detail.

I sewed the binding strips around the front of the sandwich using a ¼" seam and my walking foot.  I didn't use baking parchment this time as the laminated cotton is sandwiched between the binding fabric and the batting.  Then I hand sewed the binding down to the back of the mug rug - of course, you could machine sew the binding on totally if you wish.

I gave them a good press with a warm iron on the reverse and here they are complete! 

Daughter F loves them, hope her tutors agree.  We're going to make some very English Eccles cakes for F to give with them but might have to keep a few back for ourselves :)

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