Coasters!

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CuriousKitty
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Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

Husband has requested I stitch coasters! Of course, he thought the threads would be exposed and I had to quite firmly correct such notions- no cup or condensation will go on MY exposed stitching!

So I've settled on buying these acrylic coasters (an ebay seller offers in 4 shapes, round, princess, hexagonal and scalloped).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Display-Showcas ... 2548.l4275" target="_blank

But I don't know what I should plan for them. Do I do even *more* flowers, do I find some geometric design? The inside is 3 1/8" wide. So on a 14ct, I'll get at least about a 42 square length out of it.
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Nicola Main
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Nicola Main »

I've only ever used square or round coasters never the hexagonal or scalloped ones. These Valerie Pfeiffer coasters are some of the first projects I ever did and finished when I started several years ago. I've since learnt a lot since then (like I should have double-sticky taped them to a piece of card to stop the fabric from rippling) but that's the lovely thing about this hobby, you're learning constantly.

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And a daisy design I finished recently in the round coaster.

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Looking forward to seeing what you create! :D
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CuriousKitty
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Re: Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

Nicola Main wrote:I've only ever used square or round coasters never the hexagonal or scalloped ones. These Valerie Pfeiffer coasters are some of the first projects I ever did and finished when I started several years ago. I've since learnt a lot since then (like I should have double-sticky taped them to a piece of card to stop the fabric from rippling) but that's the lovely thing about this hobby, you're learning constantly.

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And a daisy design I finished recently in the round coaster.

Image

Looking forward to seeing what you create! :D
Super cute! What do you mean by double-sticky taped? Just using a regular double-sided tape?
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Nicola Main
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Nicola Main »

Yeah sorry double-sided tape xxx
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Podolyanka
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Podolyanka »

They are fantastic, those chicks! They make a great set of coasters.
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rcperryls
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Re: Coasters!

Post by rcperryls »

Several years ago I made coasters as Christmas Gifts, using Mabel's "Round the Year" Hardanger Patterns. They came out beautifully and I have purchased other designs and coasters with great intentions but haven't done a thing with them yet. :oops:

If these are at your DH's request, is there a particular sport or hobby that he loves. That would be a great subject for coasters if you can find small enough designs.

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Mabel Figworthy
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

rcperryls wrote:If these are at your DH's request, is there a particular sport or hobby that he loves. That would be a great subject for coasters if you can find small enough designs.
What she said - exactly!

I love coasters as presents for men especially because they can be so difficult to stitch for but these are super useful as well as decorative. I always use square acrylic ones with rounded corners, mostly because I buy them in bulk for Mabel's Fancies anyway :-). You can see some with my own designs in my gallery.

Some years ago I did a set of coasters for our Bible home group, each person was given their initial. That worked for the men as well as the women, and I could play with the styles and colours to suit everyone. I also did a set of kittens-in-mugs for a cat-loving friend - they again would be fine for men or women.

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Nicola Main
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Nicola Main »

Gorgeous Mabel! I stitched one of those Margaret Sherry coasters for a friend for her birthday last year as she had just bought a grey and white cat :)

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CuriousKitty
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Re: Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

Mabel Figworthy wrote:
rcperryls wrote:If these are at your DH's request, is there a particular sport or hobby that he loves. That would be a great subject for coasters if you can find small enough designs.
What she said - exactly!

I love coasters as presents for men especially because they can be so difficult to stitch for but these are super useful as well as decorative. I always use square acrylic ones with rounded corners, mostly because I buy them in bulk for Mabel's Fancies anyway :-). You can see some with my own designs in my gallery.

Some years ago I did a set of coasters for our Bible home group, each person was given their initial. That worked for the men as well as the women, and I could play with the styles and colours to suit everyone. I also did a set of kittens-in-mugs for a cat-loving friend - they again would be fine for men or women.

Image

Image

Oh my god I love whatever that sparkly stuff is on those initials!

And he loves Broncos. Ugh. Kill me now. I hate football. I did go through my magazines/books yesterday, and re-found this that I had originally wanted to use for my ABC Afghan, upon realizing each square was 30 across however... Much too small. And in this one, unlike my other, the flowers actually match the letter they're paired with. :roll: T for TULIP.

Sorry about the image size, I'm trying out drop box, but man it got large.

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Mabel Figworthy
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

The sparkly stuff is a metallic/opalescent thread running through the fabric :-). If you do go for blingy fabric, try if you can to get the stuff that has the sparkle woven into it rather than fabric with glitter "painted" onto it - that is a real pain as the glitter comes off and goes EVERYWHERE.
Zweigart has a white opalescent 28ct which I used in some of them, and several hand-dyers use that as a base for beautifully coloured fabric, which is the blue/lilac one. The off-white one was a remnant I had and after all these years I can't remember what it was a remnant of :roll: . The black fabric was glitter-on-top stuff, and never ever again even though it looks lovely in the coasters :-)
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Re: Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

Mabel Figworthy wrote:The sparkly stuff is a metallic/opalescent thread running through the fabric :-). If you do go for blingy fabric, try if you can to get the stuff that has the sparkle woven into it rather than fabric with glitter "painted" onto it - that is a real pain as the glitter comes off and goes EVERYWHERE.
Zweigart has a white opalescent 28ct which I used in some of them, and several hand-dyers use that as a base for beautifully coloured fabric, which is the blue/lilac one. The off-white one was a remnant I had and after all these years I can't remember what it was a remnant of :roll: . The black fabric was glitter-on-top stuff, and never ever again even though it looks lovely in the coasters :-)
I like the A, T and N. 28ct kind of scares me though! Could you direct me to where you got those three fabrics from? If you can remember?
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Mabel Figworthy
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

I get the white opalescent fabric (the N) from Sew & So, here. As I said the off-white fabric was a remnant, and I can't remember where I got it. I seem to remember Zweigart did three versions, white/opalescent, white/silver and off-white/gold, but only the first seems to be available now. Hope that helps!
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CuriousKitty
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Re: Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

So I started digging through my fabric drawer, which got much fuller after that big haul from buying from a lady who had passed away and her family didn't know what to do with it anymore- and what I never realized, was that in the massive pile, she had a vinyl (VINYL!?) 14 count!

I figure, cutting an extra edge around the design wouldn't unravel (although I do have copious amounts of fray-check). Opinions?
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Mabel Figworthy
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

I LOVE vinylweave! You used to be able to get it in a fair number of colours, and in 18ct as well as 14ct, but it's beginning to get quite rare :-( . I've used it for bookmarks and fridge magnets (scroll down the page) and all sorts of things.

Because I'm finding it increasingly difficult to source (especially the 18ct) I will only use it where it is absolutely necessary that something doesn't fray, and so I wouldn't use it for coasters where the stitching goes inside an acrylic coaster, because there I've found thin Vilene being effective enough. Also, I think it might be a bit thick to fit into a coaster. But great to use if you want to use it on its own!
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CuriousKitty
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Re: Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

Mabel Figworthy wrote:I LOVE vinylweave! You used to be able to get it in a fair number of colours, and in 18ct as well as 14ct, but it's beginning to get quite rare :-( . I've used it for bookmarks and fridge magnets (scroll down the page) and all sorts of things.

Because I'm finding it increasingly difficult to source (especially the 18ct) I will only use it where it is absolutely necessary that something doesn't fray, and so I wouldn't use it for coasters where the stitching goes inside an acrylic coaster, because there I've found thin Vilene being effective enough. Also, I think it might be a bit thick to fit into a coaster. But great to use if you want to use it on its own!
Well there's a lot of space in the coaster, and the instructions tell me to put padding in if I need it, and I might. I honestly won't start the coasters until I finish the letter O on the afghan, which I'm very, very grudgingly working through. It's right up there with my dislike of the letter F (and all those mis-colored french knots and the utter abysmal back of it, because almost every single square had a back stitch around it). I've made just so many mistakes on it and the overall shape of "O" with no actual middle (copious counting) and the confetti just rankles my nerves. It's like forcing yourself to sit down and write an essay on a subject you hate or something. Ugh. But I've promised myself to finish it before I pick out a coaster design.

As far as sturdy goes, my favorite plastic-type tends to be the perforated paper. I've already decided that whatever I use will be 14ct though, since all the designs I've liked are 20-30 wide, and the coasters are about 40, so I need to "stretch" it out more.
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Serinde
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Serinde »

Oh, I can agree about vinyl weave. Made a reusable gift tag for Christmas one year, and it's super stuff. Nicer than plastic canvas, and doesn't unravel or anything.
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Re: Coasters!

Post by flosaxby »

All those finished coasters are fantastic! Well done everyone!

Now I want to do some too but I've got too many other projects on the go. (donotgooglecoasters. donotgooglecoasters. donotgooglecoasters)

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CuriousKitty
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Re: Coasters!

Post by CuriousKitty »

Well after I finished O yesterday and got P ready, instead of starting P, I decided to do a Coaster. I started with the letter Z, for Zinnia (but for Zak, my husband. I have the colors picked out for G, Geranium). I used scraps of Aida to pad the underside of the finished square.

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karen4bells
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Re: Coasters!

Post by karen4bells »

:applesauce: :applesauce: :applesauce: Very pretty!!! :wub:
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Serinde
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Re: Coasters!

Post by Serinde »

That's worked really well. :applesauce:
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