Are you looking for a way to add some fun to your décor? This little rug would be perfect to welcome you when you get up in the morning, would make a charming mat for inside your front door, or your pet can use it to stretch out for a nap!
This little rug is a beginner friendly project. Ours looks like a halved avocado, but with a dash of imagination your rug could be a halved apple, an egg, a donut or even an adorable ladybug. Don’t forget the K.I.S.S. principle – Keep it Simple, Sewists!
For our project we used:
Fabric, Batting, and Trim:
1.25yards of olive green 100% cotton canvas (main fabric for front and back of rug)
.5 yards of a soft brushed 100% cotton twill in a rusty brown (for the avocado seed)
1.25 yards of Fusible Fleece (to add body to the rug)
4 yards of Quilt Binding to bind the edge of the rug
For Pattern:
Large sheets of paper to create a pattern, Scotch tape, a pencil and an eraser, a tape measure, a straight edge, scissor for paper, one dinner plate, one side plate
Cutting and Sewing:
Scissors for fabric
Thread to match the fabric for the seed
Thread to match the Quilt Binding
Straight pins
A sewing machine with a straight stitch
An iron and ironing board
Let’s make a pattern!
To make our pattern, we first taped three large sheets of paper (18” x 24”) together as shown in the first photo above. We then drew a line 14” long along the longest join. The mark on the left indicates the centre of the circle we are about to draw.
Wrap the tape measure around your pencil and hold the pencil at the mark 14” away from the centre of the circle. Hold the tape at the centre point, so that you can pivot from that point to draw a circle. Essentially, we are drawing a circle with a 14” radius.
Using your straight edge, draw a line out from the centre of the circle that extends 9” past the outside edge of your circle. Make a mark 9” away from the edge of the circle.
Place the dinner plate so that the left edge of the plate is lined up with the mark you made, and the plate is centred over the line. Trace the plate starting at about 1:00 o’clock and drawing counterclockwise to about 5:00 o’clock. Remove the plate.
Using your straight edge, connect the edge of the smaller circle to the edge of the larger circle as shown in the first image above. This will be a guideline. Draw a nice smooth, slightly curved line above the guideline. This will help mimic the natural shape of a halved avocado.
Fold your pattern in half, as shown in the first image above. Cut out the pattern through both layers of the paper.
Open your pattern to reveal your finished rug shape. Take the dinner plate and centre it on your rug as shown in the first image above. Trace the plate onto your pattern. This is done to indicate placement of the ‘avocado seed’.
On another large piece of paper trace the dinner plate twice. Take the side plate (the smaller plate) and centre it over ONE of your drawn circles and trace. Cut out the two pattern pieces. One is a big circle, the other is a big ring.
Let’s cut some fabric!
Using the big pattern, cut two in your main fabric (above left). Cut one in the fusible fleece (above right).
Using the contrast (avocado seed) fabric, cut one big circle (above left) and one big ring (above right).
Press the fusible fleece to the back of one of the main fabric avocado pieces. We set our iron to a wool setting with steam. Make sure that the glue side of the fusible fleece is facing the back of the fabric. DO NOT touch your iron to the glue side of the fusible fleece. Hold the iron down to activate the adhesive for about 5 – 10 seconds and then lift the iron to fuse the next section. DO NOT slide the iron over the fusible fleece as this can cause bubbles or wrinkles (a general mess). Once you have pressed the fusible fleece to the entire piece of fabric, let it cool.
Time to sew!
Take the circle and ring that you cut out in the contrast fabric and pin them together, right sides together as shown in the first image above. Stitch them together around the outside edge using a 3/8” seam allowance (2nd and 3rd images above). Trim the seam allowance to a little less than ¼” as shown in the last image above.
At the ironing board, press the seam allowance toward the ring. Turn everything right-side-out and press the ring toward the back of the circle as shown in the last image above.
Let’s put it all together!
Take the two large pieces and layer them with the wrong sides facing. Pin the pieces together and then baste them together about ¼” from the edge of the fabric.
Once you have basted the large pieces together, centre the ‘seed’ on the front of the rug (i.e. the side without fusible fleece). Using lots of pins, pin the ‘seed’ in place (through all layers). Topstitch the seed to the rug. Your stitching should be VERY close to the edge of the seed as shown in the last image above. Pull the threads to the back of the rug, tie them off, and trim the ends.
Time for the finishing touch!
Take your quilt binding to the ironing board. Open it all the way out. Fold the end over diagonally as shown in the third image above and press. Leaving the end folded over, fold the binding back to its original shape and press.
Open binding and lay it on the edge of the rug so the long, raw edge of the binding is lined up with the raw edge of the rug. Stitch in the first crease, approximately 5/8” from the edge. Try to keep the binding flat at you are sewing.
When you get back to the point where you started, continue stitching allowing the binding to overlap the previous stitching. Then pivot your work and stitch right off the edge as shown in the first image above. Trim off the excess binding on the same angle as the binding underneath it. Make sure that you leave a decent overlap.
Fold the binding back to its original shape and wrap the binding around to the back of the rug. We pressed the binding in place, making sure that it was laying flat around the entire perimeter. Then, from the top of the rug we ‘stitched in the ditch’ through all layers. If you’re not familiar with the expression ‘stitch in the ditch’ this means that we stitched exactly in the line where the two fabrics meet. As you stitch you need to make sure that the underside of the binding is being caught in your seam at the same time. Once you have finished stitching the binding in place, pull the threads to the back of the rug, tie them off, and trim the threads.
Congratulations! Your little rug is complete. Is anyone else craving guacamole? I’ll get started on a garlic rug, and a lime rug, and a…