DIY: SUPER EASY SWIRLY TWIRLY FELT COASTERS

We have a severe problem in our house. It is called the “don’t know my own strength” syndrome. My amazingly fabulous husband has been severely plagued by this syndrome for most of his life. There might have been a few times since we have been married that more than one thing has been broken. I’m talking plates, cups, and car windshields. YES windshields….not once, but twice. But hey, he killed the bug he was going for…both times. The funny thing is that he is so particular and cautious. It is almost like he has a Banner/Hulk thing going. You never know when the Hulk might smash.

That brings me to coasters. We have a lot of wood tables and such in our house and coasters are pretty much a necessity. I went out and bought a super cute set of ceramic zebra striped coasters because I’m super stylish (or something like that).

Needless to say, my precious little coasters have bitten the dust one after the other. Apparently, condensation makes the cups stick to the coasters. If you pick them up quickly, they bring the coaster with them, but only for a split second. It is really just enough time to fling said coaster onto the floor and shatter it into little pieces. Just to clarify, this has never happened to me. It really only affects those plagued by the “don’t know my own strength” syndrome.

Obviously, I needed to take action. I needed coasters, but I also needed them to survive their plights as projectiles. I searched Pinterest (because that is what you do). I needed something husband-proof (or kid-proof). I found TONS of super cute modge-podge-a-tile type of DIY. Basically, there were just a lot of really fragile projects flooding my screen. This was not going to work!

THEN I ran across a few ideas here and there for cute coasters made of felt. FELT! That seems safe enough. So, here we go:

Step 1

Go to the store and buy the perfect colors of felt. You know the ones.

Step 2

Use a cup or a surviving ceramic coaster as a template to cut some circles.

Step 3

Cut a few smaller circles. Then cut a few more smaller circles. They don’t have to be perfect….just circle-ish.

Step 4

Stack the circles. Put two larger circles on the bottom. I used gray felt for the “backing” on all of my coasters. It just looked like the thing to do. Then stack a medium circle and follow with a small circle. They actually look better off-centered a bit. Perfect! (Side note of reality:  I only used one big circle the first time I sewed a coaster. Umm….just no. It did not have the right weight and made the coaster curl up really bad on the edges. So, although it seems like a lot to cram into your sewing machine, four circles is definitely the way to go. It really wasn’t bad once I got my “technique” down.)

Step 5

SEW! This can be done by hand (if that is your jam). Because I have no patience for such things, I will use my sewing machine. You start at the middle (with a quick little backstitch to hold it in place). Sew an imperfect swirly twirly circle all of the way to the edge. Then go around the edge a bunch of times. Trim up the bottom circle, if needed. You can experiment with tighter swirly twirls or you can keep it loose. I don’t see a way you can mess this up. It is one of those rare crafts where messy looks better.

Step 6

Now, pick it up and throw it on the floor. Did it survive? It should.

Step 7

No coaster should go through life alone. Why not make a big crazy happy coaster family?!

Step 8

Place your beautiful creations in strategic places throughout your house knowing that you have created the safest projectile coaster known to man. Be proud!

Are any special “syndromes” plaguing your house? I love my husband for all of his normal traits and all of his quirkiness. I’m pretty sure these are the things that make life interesting.

I would LOVE to see what you create. Don’t forget to share your beautiful and safe coaster creations (or any other craft project that floats your boat) on Instagram and Twitter – #CrazyHappyCraft

Now let’s go make something!

Peace, Love & Happiness,

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