Weekend DIY: Personalized English Paper Piecing Coasters

If you love small, scrap-friendly sewing projects, this English Paper Piecing coasters tutorial is just for you! It's a great weekend project that can be easily personalized to your home decor or the season. 

EPP Coasters finished-1

 

Hi, I’m Emily - the quilter and quilt pattern designer behind Homemade Emily Jane and I love hand sewing and especially love English Paper Piecing, so of course when I found out AccuQuilt was making it easier, I had to dive right in! I chose to make a small project, which is great if you’re new to EPP or just want a quick finish!

EPP AccuQuilt-1

 

Before I show you the step-by-step tutorial for making EPP coasters, here are the basic supplies you will need:

 

GO!® Products Used:

 

EPP AccuQuilt cutting papers-1

 

Materials Needed:

  • Cardstock
  • Fabric Scraps for EPP Shapes
  • 4 - 5” squares of fabric for top of coasters
  • 4 - 5” squares of fabric for bottom of coasters
  • 4 - 5” squares of quilt batting

You’ll also need basic sewing supplies like scissors, needles, thread, an iron, etc.

 

EPP AccuQuilt Basting with glue stick-1EPP AccuQuilt papers layout-1

 

Make Your EPP Block

The first step in making some awesome fun coasters like mine is to sew together your EPP block!

 

The AccuQuilt Qube features shapes with 1” sides, with tons of different ways to arrange the shapes to make blocks. For these coasters, I arranged them into hexagon-shaped blocks with 2” sides.

EPP AccuQuilt block before hand sewing-1

 

If you want to learn more about English Paper Piecing, including two different types of stitches to use, watch this quick video:

 

EPP blocks pressed flat-1

 

Turn Your Block into a Coaster

To turn your EPP quilt block into a coaster, begin by centering each pieced unit onto a 5” square of fabric for the top of each coaster. Pin in place.

EPP Coasters pinned-1

 

Next, stitch around the EPP shape very closely to the edges. You can chose to do this step by hand or with your sewing machine. I did a simple straight stitch with my sewing machine, but it would also be fun to use a zigzag stitch, a blanket stitch, or another fun decorative stitch too! 

EPP Coasters sewing-1

 

Layer your batting, back of coaster (right side up), and front of coaster (wrong side up) like shown. Pin together at all 4 corners. 

EPP Coasters layers-1

 

Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew around the edges of your coaster layers, leaving a 2” opening on one side. Be sure to secure your stitches in place so they don’t come undone at the beginning and end. 

EPP Coasters construction-1

 

Carefully trim off the corners to reduce bulk. Be sure not to snip through your stitches while you are trimming!

EPP Coasters trim corners-1

 

Then flip your coaster right sides out through the 2" opening. It is helpful to use a turning tool here, or a pointy object to get crisp corners. (don’t use something sharp though, as it can puncture the fabric) 

EPP Coasters turn inside out-1

 

Using a hot iron, press the opening under ¼” and press the entire unit flat.

EPP Coasters iron flat-1

 

To finish the coasters, topstitch around all 4 sides about ⅛” away from the edge.

EPP AccuQuilt Coasters-1

 

Enjoy your super cute & functional coasters! If you want to make them water-resistant, you might consider putting some OdiCoat or other water-resistant product over the top of them.

 

If you enjoyed this AccuQuilt tutorial, you might enjoy these other posts from Homemade Emily Jane: