Thursday, February 11, 2010

Prim Rag Candle Mat Tutorial


I've made quite a few of these candle mats lately, so the last time I thought I'd just share how I make them.

Get a piece of muslin,double your material, than decide how big you want your mat to be, I used my largest pan lid.When determining your size don't forget you'll be ragging an inch of your material. You also need to cut a piece of flannel or something else for the middle of your mat. Cut it about an inch and a half shorter than your muslin.



I added an inch more around my lid to make it bigger.
Cut out your material, you need a front and back out of the muslin.


Decide what you want in the middle of your mat, on this one I used a heart. I also made it a little prim by making one side shorter than the other. On the mats at the bottom I put a heart on one side and a star on the other side.

If you are only using one side pin the heart in the middle on top on the muslin, flannel, muslin sandwich. Sew about an 1/4 inch in on the heart. That part will rag too.
If you want a front and back applique than you need to sew the front on to only the muslin and the back on to the other applique. Than make your muslin sandwich.



Now you need to sew an inch in all the way around. I have scissors for rag quilting but found that using good children scissors work and you don't have to worry about cutting into your seams like with big scissors.



Washing your mat and drying in the dryer makes the ends raggedy. I also found taking sand paper and rubbing the ends helps too. (We're a little crucnhy and don't use a dryer so sand paper worked for me.)

If you want to grung your mat up -- I forgot to soak my mat in tea or coffee first and tried to grunge it up, it looked like I spilled coffee on it so than I soaked the whole thing in a tea bath. After drying I used a mixture of instant coffee, along with coffee and cinnamon and vanilla. I than baked it in the oven on 200 degrees till I liked the look.

I hope this makes sense if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer.




This is a reversible candle mat, I made for a swap.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely fabulous! I must try this!!

eeekj35 said...

Great tutorial! These will make awesome gifts for Easter and teachers. Thanks so much!! Kim

grammy and papi said...

Just found your great tutorial for your "Prim Rag Candle Mats"...love it. I must make a bunch. Thanks.

Have a God Filled Day
Shirley