Improv Pieced Summer Sun Mug Rug Pattern

• Instructions

Cutting:

• From Yellow Print One cut

  6½” x 1½” (1),

  7” x 3” (1),

  and 4” x 2” (1).

  From Yellow Print Two cut

  6½” x 2½” (1),

  and 7” x 3½” (1).

  From Yellow Print Three cut

  8” x 3” (1),

  and 7” x 3” (1).

  From Yellow Print Four cut

  8” x 3” (1),

  and 4” x 2” (1).

  From Yellow Print Five cut

  4” x 2” (1).

  From Yellow Solid cu

  t 3” sq (1).

  From Backing Fabric cut

  9” x 7”.

  From Binding Fabric cut

  WOF x 2¼” (2).

Construction:

• Press the iron-on interfacing onto the wrong sides of the Yellow Solid 3” square. Be sure to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to use your interfacing. Cut out a 2½” diameter circle and set this aside for later.
• Take the Backing Fabric rectangle and place it right side down, then add the batting rectangle on top with the right side facing towards you.

  Make sure both layers are smooth and flat, then baste together using your preferred method. This is now the mug rug base.
• Using the fabric circle you make in Step 1 as a template, draw a circle outline along the bottom edge of the mug rug base.

  Position it so that about a quarter of the circle is hanging beyond the bottom edge and the left edge of the circle is at the halfway point of the rectangle. Trace around using a fabric pen (be sure to use one that doesn’t disappear when it is pressed!).
  
• The sun rays are going to be created by sewing the yellow print strips in an arc from bottom left to bottom right. Use the drawing as a guide for the placement of the five yellow prints.
  
• When positioning the yellow prints, all of them need to extend beyond the edge of the mug rug base and into circle guidelines.
• Take the Yellow Print One 6½” x 1½” rectangle and pin it, right side up, to the bottom left edge of the batting. Don’t forget the rules from step 5!
  
• Now take the Yellow Print Two 6½” x 2½” rectangle and pin it, right side down, onto the Print One rectangle. Don’t match up the raw edges.

  Angle the Print Two rectangle so that along the top long edge, the left corner is higher than the right corner. Sew between ¼” and ½” away from the edge of Print Two; just make sure that the whole seam line will go through both Yellow Print fabrics.

  Then press the Print Two rectangle open along the seam line so you are looking at the right side of both prints.
  
• Repeat step 7 using the Yellow Print Three 8” x 3” rectangle. Make the angle more exaggerated this time.
  
• Repeat step 7 using the Yellow Print Four 8” x 3” rectangle. Make the angle even more exaggerated this time.
  
• Repeat step 7 using the Yellow Print One 7” x 3” rectangle. By now, the fabric rectangle should be getting close to vertical.
  
• Repeat step 7 using the Yellow Print Three 7” x 3” rectangle. This fabric rectangle should be positioned vertically. 
  
• Now take the Yellow Print Two 7” x 3½” rectangle and pin it, right side down, onto the Print Three rectangle.

  Angle the Print Two rectangle so that along the top short edge, the left corner is higher than the right corner. Sew between ¼” and ½” away from the edge of Print Two; just make sure that the whole seam line will go through both Yellow Print fabrics. Then press the Print Two rectangle open along the seam line.
  
• Repeat step 12 using the Yellow Print Four 4” x 2” rectangle. Make the angle more exaggerated than the previous step.
• Repeat step 12 using the Yellow Print One 4” x 2” rectangle.
  
• Repeat step 12 using the Yellow Print Five 4” x 2” rectangle. This fabric rectangle should be positioned almost horizontally.
  
• You should now have covered the mug rug base. If you haven’t made it all the way around yet because you’ve chosen to do slightly less extreme angles, cut another 4” x 2” rectangle from one of the Yellow Prints and add another “ray”.
  
• Press well and trim off the excess fabric, then trim the mug rug to 8½” x 6½”.
  
• Sew a zigzag stitch across each of the press seams between the yellow “rays”. This step is optional.
  
• {close up of stitching}
  
• Now take the Yellow Solid circle from step 1. Pin or glue it in place using the drawn guideline. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t exactly where the original guideline was as long as it covers all the raw edges of the fabric rectangles.
  
• Sew the circle in place using a zigzag stitch and then carefully trim off the excess fabric.
  

Finishing:

• Take the two binding fabric WOF x 2¼” strips. Draw a 45° line on the wrong side of one strip, at the top corner from top left to bottom right. Pin the right sides together so the strips are at a right angle to each other and the drawn line is visible.

  Sew along the drawn line, then trim off the excess corner fabric with a ¼” seam allowance and press to create a long strip. Fold the strip in half along the full length (wrong sides together) and press.
  
• Pin/clip the binding in place on the front, round the mug rug edges, with the raw edges of the binding and raw edge of the mug rug matching up.
  
• [TIP: Clip the binding around all four edges before you start sewing to make sure the seam line from when you joined the two strips isn’t going to be close to any of the corners as this would create too much bulk; ideally you want the binding seam to be close to the middle of one edge.]
• Sew the binding to the front of the mug rug using a ¼” seam allowance; in the same way you would add binding to a quilt top. Take your time to give the four corners neat miters.
  
• Fold and press the binding round to the back. Hand-sew the binding in place on the back to finish.
• Find a shady spot and enjoy your new Summer Sun mug rug.