DIY Crafts – Painted Coasters

I am so excited to share today a DIY craft to make these painted coasters. They are painted and free-stitched with embroidery and I love how they came out. 

By now you have probably figured out that I am slightly obsessed with the technique called Free Stitch Embroidery. All of the projects using this technique on Pinterest involve embroidering over other fabrics. I came up with the idea to paint the fabric in a loose way and then add the embroidery for detail. 

Drink Coasters

I have made pillows for Spring and Easter and now I have made some coasters for Summer. These were easy to make and I love how they turned out.

I call this technique Painted and Free Motion Embroidery. It’s easy and fun and very liberating and yet, I decided it was time to make something other than pillows with this technique.

And bright colored and fun drink coasters seemed like a fun idea.

I have also teamed up with a group of sixteen other bloggers who are sharing their DIY Summer crafts. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see all of their beautiful ideas.

What is Free Motion Embroidery?

Free motion machine embroidery is a type of sewing that you do on a regular sewing machine but you can move the material in any direction while sewing it on your machine. 

Normally when you sew, the machine automatically moves the fabric forward. When you sew free-motion embroidery, you get to move the fabric so you determine exactly where you want to sew. You can move sideways, forward, backward, and create any shape you want. All you need is a quilting foot.

The free-motion quilting foot, sometimes called a darning foot, is designed so that the sewing machine needle passes through a small ring on the foot. Instead of hopping, these feet float over the fabric without providing pressure.  The Foot releases the fabric when the needle is in the up position, allowing you to move the fabric freely.

This is the free motion foot for your machine. This foot may vary based on your type of machine but I linked a universal one that should fit!

I read a lot about lowering the “feed dogs” on your machine when stitching free-motion embroidery. Feed dogs are the little teeth on your sewing machine that feed your fabric evenly through the machine. These teeth are extremely important because they help us produce perfectly spaced, even stitches whenever we sew garments, piece quilts, or applique shapes on our machine. Most people recommend that you lower the feed dogs for free-motion embroidery.

For this project, I lowered the feed dogs using a lever on my machine. If your machine doesn’t let you lower the feed dogs, use a Supreme Slider instead.

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What You Need to Make Painted and Free Stitched Coasters

1/4 yard of cotton fabric (I used a dropcloth)

Acrylic Paint (or fabric paint if you prefer)

A cardboard template measuring 5 1/2″ square

Embroidery Thread (I used Sulky Machine Embroidery thread)

Sewing machine 

How to Make Painted and Free Stitched Coasters

To make four drink coasters, trace eight of the templates on the cotton fabric. Trace them in two rows of four squares each.

Pick your design and color palette and select the points accordingly.

Mix your colors only using these few paint colors. Add more yellow for warm colors and a very small amount of white to lighten colors. The key is that you use no more than four colors to mix all of your main colors. I actually added some green for the leaves.

Whatever design you choose, paint the coaster very loosely. Do not include any detail, just shapes.

Paint all four coasters. You can paint them the same, slightly different, or entirely different. It’s up to you. I painted mine slightly differently, with very little detail.

I used a dark brown embroidery thread and used free motion embroidery to stitch the detailing in my coasters. 

Watch this video to learn how to free stitch embroidery.

See how they are all a little different but similar? I love how these look with the embroidery.

Once you’re done stitching, iron the painted cloth and then retrace the 5 1/2″ square. (The fabric will change slightly from the paint so it is important to get a perfect square.)

Next, cut out the coasters along the pencil-drawn line.

Cut out the fabric for the squares for the backside too.

With an iron, fold over all of the edges 3/8″. It doesn’t have to be exactly 3/8″. But you just have to fold over the exact amount on all of the fronts and backs of the coasters. I just eyeballed it but I have sewn all my life and this is very easy for me to do.

Pin the fronts and backs together making sure that the backside doesn’t show. Stitch all the way around the outside of each coaster. My seam allowance was 1/4″.

Don’t these coasters for drinks look great?

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To me, these are the perfect DIY coasters for summer and early fall.

Here are sixteen more DIY Crafts!

Click on any of the links for all of the details.

How to Seed a New Lawn from Scratch at The Happy Housie
DIY Palm Leaf Shadow Art Box (PB Knockoff) at Craftberry Bush
How to Make an Outdoor Pallet Tabletop at My Sweet Savannah
Clean & Scentsible DIY Outdoor Planter with Candle
DIY Hanging Patio Garden at Tatertots and Jello

DIY Outdoor Candle Holders at The Handmade Home
My 100 Year Old Home DIY Painted Coasters
Outdoor Tabletop Herb Garden at Inspiration for Moms
DIY Modern Sun Art at Cassie Bustamante

Finding Silver Pennies DIY Shell Candles
DIY Beaded Garden Markers at Zevy Joy
Easy DIY Macrame and Driftwood Wall Hanging at Dans Le Lake House
DIY Printed Fern Art at Satori Design for Living

DIY Criss Cross Outdoor Planters at She Gave it a Go
Coastal Coaster DIY at Rambling Renovators
Stamped Spoon Garden Markers at Life is a Party
Summer Porch Updates at Taryn Whiteaker Designs

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