How To Sew A Fabric Scrap Mug Rug Tutorial

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Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

I have a confession to make… My desk is usually a mess. Those who know me are probably laughing as they read this because to them, my desk being messy isn’t so much a confession as it is a given. We have a zillion and one mugs in our house and usually half of them can be found on my desk. No, seriously. One day my husband asked me if I had anything in my office that needed to go into the dishwasher. I went to look and I had 5 mugs on my desk. 5!!! What can I say? This girl likes her tea! After that day The Hubs made the rule that I was only allowed to have one mug or glass on my desk at a time. I push the rule a bit by keeping my water bottle on my desk too, but I’ll be honest– some days using only mug at a time is a challenge.

I recently decided to make myself a mug rug for my desk. Have you heard of mug rugs? Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is the perfect size to fit a mug of tea (or coffee) and a snack. I’ve made the rule for myself that if a mug is going to be on my desk that it needs to be on my fabric scrap mug rug!

I made my mug rug using my Cricut Maker (because I’m obsessed) but you can also cut your pieces by hand. Cutting fabric is my least favorite part of sewing, I have the hardest time making all my fabric square up, so my Cricut Maker has been a game changer for me when it comes to sewing. I can’t tell you how much easier it is sewing with fabric that is cut properly! 😉

I love a good fabric scrap project and these mug rugs are a great way to use up fabric scraps. Have fun playing with different fabric combinations and thread colors!

I decided to not use fabric binding tape to frame my mug rugs but instead to fold the back piece of fabric to bind the edges. It came out great and is a super easy technique that I plan on using on future projects.

The fabric that I used in my pink mug rug were all bits and pieces from my scrap box. 

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

The fabric used in my green mug rug are:

Meow Faces Pink from Riley Blake Designs

Meow Asterisk White from Riley Blake Designs

Navy Hexie Dot from Riley Blake Designs On Trend Sampler for Cricut

Bottle Green from Riley Blake Designs On Trend Sampler for Cricut

Ready for my tutorial on how to sew a fabric scrap mug rug? Read on!

How To Sew A Fabric Scrap Mug Rug Tutorial

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Note: I made my mug rugs in two different sizes. The Small Mug Rug is 6.5 inches by 10.5 inches and the Large Mug Rug is 8 inches by 13 inches. The small mug rug is the perfect size for a cup of tea and a cookie. The large mug rug gives you a bit more room for a small plate or your tea diffuser.

Materials:

If using a Cricut:

Fabric:

If making the small mug rug you will need:

  • 15- 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch squares of fabric. In my mug rugs I did 5 squares of 3 different types of fabric
  • 1- 6.5 inches by 10.5 inches of fusible fleece. If you don’t have fusible fleece you can use regular fleece, quilting fabric, or felt.
  • 1- 8.5 inches by 12.5 inches piece of fabric for your backing/”mug rug frame”

If you are using your Cricut Maker to cut these just put your pieces of fabric on the mat the machine will do all the rest!

If making the large mug rug you will need:

  • 15- 3 inch by 3 inch squares of fabric. In my mug rugs I did 5 squares of 3 different types of fabric
  • 1- 8 inches by 13 inches of fusible fleece. If you don’t have fusible fleece you can use regular fleece, quilting fabric, or felt.
  • 1- 10 inches by 15 inches piece of fabric for your backing/”mug rug frame”

If you are using your Cricut Maker to cut these just put your pieces of fabric on the mat the machine will do all the rest!

Other Materials:

Directions: 

Step 1: Cut your fabric to the appropriate size using either your Cricut Maker, scissors or rotary cutter.

Step 2: Lay your fabric out to determine the order that you want the fabric designs to be in.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Step 3: Take your first two squares of fabric and sandwich them together so that the printed sides of the fabric are in the middle. Sew down the edge where you want the two pieces of fabric to be sewed together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Repeat this by lining up the edges of the second and third square of fabric (with the printed side of the fabric sandwiched in the middle) and sew them together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Work your way down the line until you have all five squares in the first line sewed together. Set aside and repeat with the second line and then the third line.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Step 4: Flip your squares over and use your iron to press the seams open on the back.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Step 5: Lay your three strips of squares back out in the order that you want them in.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Flip your middle layer up so that it’s laying upside down on top of the layer above it with the printed sides sandwiched in the middle. Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Sew down the length where you want them joined together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Repeat this process joining the bottom row to the middle row. When all three rows are sewn together, flip your project over and once again use your iron to press all of the seams open and flat.

Step 6: Lay your fabric squares on top of your fusible fleece so that the bumpy adhesive side of the fleece is touching the back of your fabric.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Use your iron to fuse the two pieces together.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Step 7: Load your sewing machine with a coordinating color of thread. Now it’s time to get quilting!

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

You can freehand quilt, make X’s across each square, do as I did and sew to each side of each seam or let your imagination run wild and freehand quilt!

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Step 8: Lay your backing piece of fabric on your work surface so that the printed side is facing down. Center your quilted squares on top of the backing with the printed side facing up.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Use your clear sewing ruler to line up your quilted squares so that you have a 1 inch border on all sides. When it’s all lined up, pin in place.

Step 9: Now you want to frame your mug rug using your fabric backing. I like to start this process on the two shorter ends of my mug rug.

Fold over the edge of your backing fabric until it meets the edge of the quilted squares (photo above). Press into place.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Fold the edge of your backing fabric over one more time so your clean folded edge is overlapping your quilted squares (Photo above). Press and pin into place.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Repeat on the opposite side of the mug rug.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Fold upward the corner of the backing fabric so it meats the edge of the quilted squares (see photo above). Press in place. Repeat on all 4 corners.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Fold the bottom edge of the backing fabric up so it meets the edge of the quilted squares (see photo above). Press into place.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Fold bottom folded edge of backing up and over the edge of the quilted squares, making sure the corner connects in a nice crisp fold (see photo above). Press into place and use pins to secure.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Repeat on all corners of your mug rug.

Step 10: Load your sewing machine with a coordinating color of thread and sew along all 4 edges of your mug rug, securing the “backing binding” into place. I sewed around the edges twice, once with a 1/4 inch seam allowance and again with a 1/8 inch seam allowance.

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

Viola! You have a beautiful mug rug! Now there is no more excuses for excess mugs and crumbs on my desk!

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

These would make a fabulous handmade gift! Pair them with a mug and a bag of loose leaf tea or coffee beans for a heartfelt gift for the tea or coffee drinker in your life! You can have so much fun playing with the different fabric pairings to come up with the perfect mug rug for each gift recipient!

Tell me… Do you hang onto all of your fabric scraps like I do? Who would you make this project for?

Disclosure- Thank you to Riley Blake for the lovely happy mail with the beautiful fabric samples used in this post. Thank you to Cricut for providing me with my Cricut Maker. As with every article on Hello Creative Family, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Like this post? We’d love for you to pin it for later! 

Bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat, a mug rug is a great handmade gift for coffee and tea drinkers! A great sewing project for beginners, this fabric scrap mug rug tutorial is easy, with step by step photos and inexpensive to make! Cut the fabric with your Cricut Maker or by hand! #sewing #diy #craft #Cricutmaker

We’d love for you to check out our other sewing projects! We have a ton that are perfect for beginners including this adorable teapot coaster! Find all of our sewing projects here and visit my profile on AllFreeSewing.com

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8 Comments

  1. Victoria Ess says:

    That is so cute!!

  2. I love this! Great idea – thank you 🙂

  3. That is so sweet… Thanks for the tutorial, I will try to make such a fabric scrap mug by myself.

  4. I love my mug rug! Thank you Crystal 🙂

  5. I want to do this..super loved it

  6. Hi Crystal — I just got a new Cricut Maker and a new sewing machine, and would love to make this pattern. When I tried to download the file, I got a message that said “file marked as private”, and it wouldn’t let me download it into Cricut Design Space. Is there another place to get the file? Thank you!

    1. Hi Barb,

      I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Because of a recent change to Cricut Design Space all old links are now invalid. I have just been able to get a new link for this project and have updated it in the post.

      Best Wishes,

      Crystal