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Denyse Schmidt Mix-It-Up Cocktail Coasters Project
Mix-It-Up Cocktail Coasters
Makes six coasters. Finished size: 4 inches by 4 inches.
Stitched up in colors reminiscent of your favorite cocktails– frozen margaritas, Blue Lagoons, mint juleps, and martinis with a twist– a set of these coaters makes a perfect gift. Give them away along with a set of coordinating swizzle sticks or glasses. Select six fabrics in shades of lemon and lime, then layer them, three to a pile, and cut out the pattern pieces. After that, shuffle the pieces to mix up the colors and see what you get!
What you need:
Download and print the “Mix-It-Up Cocktail Coasters” pattern PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view).
Fabric and other materials, for the coaster backs:
- Lime Green: about 1/8 yard
- Cotton batting: about 1/8 yard
Fabric and other materials, for the coaster fronts:
-A total of about 1/4 yard of cotton fabric pieces, scraps, or remnants, comprising the following (or your favorite) colors, each cut into 5-inch-by-8-inch rectangles:
- Lemon Yellow plaid
- Cocktail Shaker Silver geometric print
- Creme de Menthe Green solid
- Olive Green solid
- Lime Green solid
What you do:
1. From the Lime Green fabric, cut six 4 1/2-inch-by-4 1/2-inch squares for the Coaster Backs. From the cotton batting, cut six 4 1/2-inch-by-4 1/2-inch squares for the Coaster padding. Set aside.
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2. Stack three of the Coaster Front fabric rectangles (any three of the six colors), right sides up, edges aligned. Lay out the enlarged pattern pieces on top of the stack, pinning through all the layers. Cut out all the pieces. Repeat with the remaining three Coaster Front fabric rectangles. |
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3. Position each color separately in “Ready-Set-Sew.” (Link opens in new window.) |
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4. Give each coaster a unique color combination by shuffling the pieces until each block has a mix of fabrics and colors. You can work systematically, moving all of the A pieces around first, for instance, then moving the B pieces, and so on. Or you can improvise, swapping out colors until you’re pleased with the results. Just remember to keep the pieces in the Ready-Set-Sew position as you work! |
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5. Referring to the “String-Piecing Method” (link opens in new window), stitch all Coaster Front pieces together, aligning the points where the seam lines intersect on each piece. Press the seam allowances of the A and F pieces toward their outside edges. The rest of the seam allowances should be pressed toward the darker fabric. Square up each Coaster Front, then machine-baste around the perimeter of each, 1/8 inch from the edge. |
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6. Center one square of batting on the wrong side of each of the Coaster Backs, and machine-baste around the perimeter of each one, 1/8 inch from the edge.
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7. With right sides together, lay the Coaster Fronts on the Coaster Backs, aligning the edges and pinning if necessary. Leaving a 1 1/4-inch-wide opening at the center bottom for turning, stitch around the perimeter of the square, pivoting at corners. Backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam to secure the stitches. Trim corners. (Link opens in new window.) |
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8. Turn each Coaster right side out through the opening. Use a point turner to push out the corners. Press flat. Use the slip stitch (link opens in new window) to close the opening, or stitch by machine, close to the edge of the folds. |
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9. Stitch in the ditch by hand or, if you’d prefer, machine-quilt the coasters.
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Text and images from the book, Denyse Schmidt Quilts used by permission of Denyse Schmidt and Chronicle Books.
For more information about Denyse, read our interview with her here.
‘Love the lemons! My daughter recently gave me some pink flamingo swizzle sticks. I just might try making some of these to go with them.
What fun, I think that I can actually handle this! Thanks for sharing the pattern.
Denyse Schmidt is my hero.
Fun project, thanks.
love those colors!!!
This is so fun. I have been making coasters this week and will have try these out.
These are so pretty! I can’t wait to get started.
OOooo. I love sewing coasters. What a great share ! Thanks!!
I am so happy this pattern was made available. I just can’t handle a full blown quilting project right now, but this I can do! Yea!
So easy and so striking! These could be such fun! Thanks
I’ve been wanting to make some of these for a while. Thanks for sharing the pattern.
Love the project, but it seems to me it would be a whole lot easier if you sewed fabric strips together THEN cut out the shape of the coaster, rather than a pattern piece for each ’stripe’. If you sewed enough strips together you could position a coaster pattern over it and cut it out at different places so it would look like you pieced them together separately.Wouldn’t look exactly like hers, but it would take a fraction of the time!
what a great gift to make! I’m totally going to try it out (for me too!) -Thanks!
I think I’m going to try making those.
Very fun! Thanks!
I keep seeing all these cool coasters, but I think that the fabric is worth more than the furniture around here…
I have a question – I had started making these a couple weeks ago from the book – as I think they are adorable and fun. I had no problem getting pieces B-C-D-E to line up correctly when sewing them together – but I can’t quite get the end triangle to work – I can’t get them line up correctly with the edges to make a nice square. I noticed in the pattern the end pieces are triangles – but in the pictures the end pieces look like the tip has been cut up – but I’m not sure where that line is. Can anyone tell me, show me how to line the end pieces up correctly – so that I get a nice square? THANKS SO MUCH!
Amy
Love these!! Thanks for sharing.
Love that she used bright colors – think I’ll have to try this project. Maybe I can fool myself into thinking I’m somewhere tropical instead of snowed-in and -19C (with windchill – 25C)!
Looks like fun! I’m going to have to break out my fabric scraps!
how cool! thank you much!
how cool are these? I am in an angel / mortal swap at the moment and these would make a perfect gift!
thanks!
I found a great fabric with olives on it at Hancock. It will make adorable coasters!
Love the colors in this project…makes me ready for summer!!! Can’t wait to make these…this looks like the perfect project to practice my quilting skills before I move on to an actual quilt.
Thank you! This looks like so much fun and since I am not a quilter, just a sewer, this is a project that would be easy to finish and give me some satisfaction. Then maybe I would be encouraged to move onto something a bit bigger.
the book these are in is great!
wow! thanks for the pattern!
Those look like they would be fun to make!
Cute way of picturing these coasters with the lemons!
Love the method! I’m going to try it one something else!
What is “stitch in the ditch?”
These look very cool. I need some coasters as does my daughter for her home so I think I’ll be getting busy and making a couple of sets. Seems like a fun project. Thanks! I love it when you give us geat ideas WITH the directions!
Awesome! I’m going to put this on my list of things to try.
How cute. Thanks for sharing.
Did you sew a zig-zag on the basting and top fabric? It looks like a fun project and I like the tip about cutting the corners down.
Thanks for the pattern!
I love them! Let me stress the importance of using COTTON batting though! I tried to make some coasters at Christmas and used some corn-based “eco” batting that I had on hand. It melted in a fury when I tried to gently iron them. Yikes!
I loved the construction of the funky nine patches from week 1, and this has a similar feel to it. Can’t wait to try it!
I love quilted coasters. My mom used to make heart shaped ones out of recycled quilts when she could still sew!
It was really interesting to see this pattern; I work very improvisationally. It was really nice to see Denyse’s work translated into a pattern.
Beautiful color combo. I love the coaster idea.
Fun project…I want to make some!
I love Denyse Schmidt’s projects. Her Quilts book is the best!
very cute idea
thanks for sharing
I can’t wait to try these, they are so pretty and I need coasters!
What a nice project to share with us!
Sigh, I need to make some coasters. They’re all the rage.
I just love her designs. Simple and fresh.
-violet
Nice diagonal cutting… thanks for sharing and giving me the idea!
Thanks for the pattern. I have to try these.
I definitely have to try this. Thanks!!
That’s a great little tutorial. Thanks.
Very cool of Denyse to share this pattern–thank you! This will be a fun “thank you” type gift.
So bright and pretty! Great gift project!
Hey,
What are the seam allowances? I’m about ready to stitch and realize I don’t know…
Later – Jill
gosh, i have made soooo many coaster sets for friends and family, but i realized that i have none for myself!….i know what i’ll be making next…..
Ooooo what BEAUTIFUL coasters! And a great way to use up bits of fabric! Thanks for the tutorial!
I also made these coasters and have pictures of them on my blog
http://needletune.blogspot.com/2007/12/sew.html
I love them, but honestly it was kind of a pain to get all those funny pieces to line up!
They’re so adorable – are they really thin enough to not be wobbly though?
These look super cute! I’m going to make some this weekend. I’m fairly new to the sewing world and this looks pretty straight forward, however, what seam allowance should I be using? She calls for 1/8″ around the perimeter, does that apply to the strips as well? Thanks!