Valentine's was another gift opportunity and a gift means another chance to dive into my stash and create something useful, beautiful, and unique without investing in new supplies. I had this lovely print with hearts and magical dragonflies that felt whimsical and perfect to represent Valentine's Day.
To echo the cute points in the design, I decided to make prairie points. Since these coasters aren't much taller than ~ 5", then I would need to make rather wee prarie points. I went with 1" squares. That allowed me to easily fit 5 points on each side.
Prairie points aren't hard to make, they're just tedious, detailed work. First you have to cut each little square. Then, you have to fold on the diagonal (corner to corner) once, press, then corner to corner twice, press again, then place them for stitching.
 |  |
As I was pressing these, I thought of a pretty slick way to hold them after being pressed. Use a binder clip, or purse clip as my co-worker Ralph used to call them. This worked nicely, though I wouldn't leave them like that for more than a few hours. The firm steel of the binder clip will leave indentations in the pretty pressed triangles. It certainly cleaned up my ironing board though.
 |  |
These darn points were so small, they would slip off as I attempted to place them for stitching into the seam. Solution? temporary adhesive spray. Using a paper bag that I cut off the top half of, I sprayed (gently otherwise it'll blow them all away or turn them over) all the prairie points. Then, I placed them into the seams. Super easy. Just enough stickiness and none slip and slide while sewing either. Plus, temporary adhesive is gone (evaporates if you will) in a few days anyway. Winner!
Here they are with all points sewn in and top stitched. I like how the points echo the print that I was able to size just right to be at the fold on top and bottom. All these came from a fat quarter and I have enough left over to make 4 more coasters or something else. :)
 |  |
Blooming love and magical dragonflies with arrow heads radiating the loving energy outward. This was a fun project to make and even more fun to give.
RSS Feed
