Watermelon Coasters

I’m crazy about crafty contests. I know I’ve mentioned this before, maybe a time or twenty…

This project was for a challenge put out by Arrow Sewing Cabinets. To make fruit-inspired coasters. The first fruit that popped into my mind was oranges – or a range of citrus fruits. A perfect circle coaster showing all the little wedges in a circle. But, that was the example they used, and I just HAD to do something different.

I’m planning on doing the upcoming Dresden Plate challenge put out by the SLMQG. Planning being the major word here, since I haven’t started yet! I thought it would be a good idea to play around with the EZ Dresden ruler on a smaller project, and make my contest entry for this challenge by stitching up some Watermelon Coasters. With the EZ Dresden Ruler, whipping up these coasters was quick and easy… and pretty darn accurate as well!

To stitch up my watermelon slice coasters, I started by creating my layers. I cut a strip from each fabric – 1.5″ of green, .75″ of white, and 4.5″ of the perfect watermelon pink.

After stitching the three strips together, and pressing the seams open, I got out my EZ Dresden ruler and started cutting slices.

I could have chosen to add a white and green strip to the other side of the pink strip so that I could cut wedges from both sides of the strip. But, I would have had to pick out the seam on the opposite end, and I really hate ripping seams. So, I kept my ruler on just the one side, and had to line up my ruler each time, leaving some waste.

I cut 15 wedges. 3 wedges for each coaster, a total of 5 coasters. These were stitched together. I tried to pay attention to lining up my seams. After stitching, I pressed the seams open.

Why do I keep pressing the seams open? I’m so glad you asked (even if you didn’t, here is the answer). Since I’m making coasters, I want the fabric to lie as flat as possible. Though some may argue that pressing to the side makes for a stronger seam, pressing open makes the seam much flatter, which is ideal for a coaster. Having strong seams in a coaster is important, but not at the expense of creating a lumpy coaster.

After stitching all the dresden wedges into watermelon slices, it was time to layer. I grabbed a scrap piece of batting, layered my backing fabric on top of that (right side up), and then my slices (right side down). I pinned them in place, and then cut all the way around each piece.