Shamrock Table Rug

Too cute for words, right?  =)

Wow, this took forever!  I wanted to make a little table rug to spruce up the room with a bit of St. Patty's Day flair but this was a big undertaking.  I also wanted to make sure that all the edges were straight edges so that I wouldn't have dificulty with attaching binding.  Well, it was still difficult but it's done!  Yeah! 

(Tutorial attached.)

How I Did It

1.  I cut 5 strips of 2 coordinating St. Pat's fabrics, making it 10 total.  I must confess that I did not measure but they were approxiimately 3 inches wide and half the wide of the fabric or approx. 22 inches.  

2.  I sewed them all together to form a square. 

3.  The pictures didn't turned out so well for the next part so I will show you with paper. 
a.  Fold piece of paper in diagonal to form a folded square and trim excess. 



b.  Turn paper so that points are at top and bottom. 

c.  Trim a couple inches down to create the top edge of the top leaf. 

d.  Cut away the dip in the top leaf. 

e.  Fold over at 45° angle. 

f.  Trim in line with top edge of top leaf to create edges of side leaves. 

g.  Cut away dips in side leaves using the dip from top leaf as a guide. 

h.  Trim the separation between top leaf and side leaves.  Note the very top of picture below. 

i.  Fold down once again. 

j.  Cut along edge of folded leaves...

k.  And a straight edge at the bottom for the bottom of the stem...

l.  Cut to form the bottom stem. 

Here is what you should have...

AND in fabric...

I highly suggest a couple practice runs before cutting your material. 

4.  Make the binding:
a.  Cut strips of fabric no smaller than 3 inches wide. 

b.  Iron strip(s) folded in half to make a nice line in the fabric. 

c.  Open it up and fold and iron the bottom up to the center line...

d.  and the top down to the center line...

e.  Fold down the center line and iron once again. 

5.  Place shamrock on top of batting and trim along the outline. 

6.  Place shamrock and batting on top of bottom fabric (good side down) and trim along the outline. 

7.  Begin quilting.  Sew a line on either side of where the strips of fabric are attached. 

8.  Attach binding with pins.  Pay special attention to corner and fold excess under to hide edges.  Cut at angles for inside corners.  I need extra practice with this part!

 
9.  Sew around edge to attach binding. 

Enjoy the festive-ness!