"look for less" design challenge

When I was contacted to be part of a "Look for Less" design challenge with some other amazing bloggers, I jumped at the opportunity. The idea behind this challenge was to find a look I loved but was too expensive for my taste or budget, then DIY it myself for less.

Please meet the other girls participating in the challenge: Rachel | Like a Saturday Kylie | Absolutely Arkansas Sarah | Life on Virginia Street Andrea | Life Love Larson Gracie | Kitchen Table Art Kayla | Home Coming

My "Look for Less" project: DIY Anthropologie Tee-pee Coasters

When I stumbled across these adorable linen coasters on the Anthropologie website, I was immediately smitten. I am a firm believer that you can never have too many coasters around. Even though I do shop at Anthropologie for unique home decor items, I couldn't justify spending money on something I knew I could make. My coasters turned out to be free since I had all of the materials on hand from other projects. If you were to buy the linen & embroidery thread to complete this project you'd probably spend around $5.00 - $7.00.
... what you'll need to make your own ... (list below makes 4 coasters)
8 - 5"x5" pieces of linen 4 - 5"x5" pieces of fusible white felt brown embroidery thread sewing machine/thread pencil needle ruler
... instructions ...
STEP (1) Cut out 8 - 5"x5" linen pieces (2 pieces per coaster). With a pencil & ruler, doodle your tee-pee design on your linen. I didn't worry about making each tee-pee identical.

STEP (2) Cut out 4 - 5"x5" pieces of fusible felt (1 piece for each coaster). Iron the felt to the back of the 4 pieces of linen that have tee-pees drawn on them. The felt will help stabilize your stitching and give your coasters some loft.

STEP (3) With your needle & embroidery thread, begin stitching the outline of the tee-pee. Once the outline is complete, fill in the center of the tee-pee with diagonal stitches across the design.

STEP (4) With the extra 4 pieces of linen, sew the right sides of your coasters together (your felt should be facing out) leaving a small space to turn your coaster right side out. Press flat & top stitch about 1/8" in around the entire coaster to close the space used to turn your coaster. Ta-da! You've completed your first coaster. Repeat all steps for the remaining 3 coasters.

Click on the images below to check out all of the other amazing "Look for Less" projects completed during this design challenge:

(p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs)