Braided Rag Rug Coaster

I’ve been wanting to make these for a while so I thought I’d put together a little tutorial. It’s Jelly Roll friendly if you have any leftover strips lying around. The final result is a 5″ wide, thick, absorbent coaster.

Fabric Options – 4 Coaster Set

• 1 yard of fabric (cut into (12) 2.5″ strips)
• or 1/3 yard each of 3 different fabrics (cut each into (4) 2.5″ strips)
• or 12 Jelly Roll Strips

VIDEO BELOW!

Grab 3 Strips

Start braiding with medium pressure, you don’t want it too tight or too loose. To hold mine in place I pinned one end to the design wall.

Take one end and push the end pieces up against the sides to start your coil.

Set your machine to a wide zig zag stitch and tack a few stitches to start.

Keep stitching around and keep your braid laid flat. Try to have the coil on the left and the braid on the right meet in the middle. This way the zig zag stitch will catch both sides.

When you near the end, trim two of your pieces so they are a little shorter than the 3rd.

Wrap the longer piece around the other two.

Fold the fabric end up and push it between the coil and remaining braid.

No raw edges on the end.

Here’s a quick little video:

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Here are a few examples of other fabric choices:

The plaid shirting is the same on both sides, so I didn’t have to worry about too much ‘wrong side’ showing on the braids.

I really like these because they are thick, super absorbent, and fast to make.

I have a few sets available for sale in my Etsy shop here, here and here!