Boo Blocks Coasters

Last year, I shared the free Boo Blocks pattern on the Havel’s Sewing blog, and while I made up some cute sample blocks, I never managed to get around to turning them into something more useful — that is, until now! The first project in my month of Halloween sewing was turning those blocks into coasters, which I’ve been enjoying all month long.

Hand binding coasters (instead of just doing the flip and topstitch method) is a great way to take on a quick, portable hand-sewing project. The binding is also an opportunity to introduce another color, highlighting the design on the front and the fabric on the back, as well as offering a chance for some fun big-stitch binding to add interest to the otherwise simple back of the coaster. Why not make it so both sides are usable and cute!?

This time, I used a chambray I had on hand for the binding because it’s a nice alternative to a solid that looked great with the fabrics and colors on both sides. I finished it off with the perfect yellow-green perle cotton for the stitching (I love Wonderfil perle cotton). The backing fabric is from Ruby Star Society’s Spooky Darlings collection, and it deserved to be shown off — it’s so cute!

The Boo Blocks pattern walks you through making the individual blocks and then provides basic instructions for turning them into coasters or a table runner, but don’t let your imagination or creativity stop there! They’d also be fun in a Halloween sampler, turned into a banner, or anything else you can think up. Find the free pattern here.

And check out this post for a list of my favorite supplies for hand binding / big-stitch binding.