Small Gifts - Car Cup Holders Coasters - Bunch 3

Another set of bespoke Car Cup Holder Coasters for nieces and nephews.

Top row - A new house for a niece who is moving in the new year.  A daisy for the wife of a nephew. An "D" initial for a nephew.

Middle row:   Yellow stars of a compass on navy with navy cotton and navy tabs.  I'm not sure I succeeded with my representation of a tire on the middle one. Red background, black tire and 2 tone grosgrain tabs. Black maple leaf on red for a niece with white tabs.

Bottom Row:   Airplane for the pilot nephew - ivory on black with grey cotton and ivory tabs. "T" initial for a nephew in orange and brown background, grey cotton and orange tabs.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holders Coasters - Bunch 2

I made another set of Car Cup Holder Coasters.

These are for the guys in the family.

The first is J for the car he drives. A grey felt "J" on black fleece with black cotton on the back with two tone grey black grosgrain ribbon tabs.

The set on the right features the ocean and sunset in felt on teal fleece with teal cotton on the back. Yellow grosgrain ribbon tabs. 

Left again are 3 leaves in yellow, green and orange felt on green felt with orange grosgrain tabs.

Bottom right features an acorn designed with felt on black felt with black cotton on the back and brown grosgrain tabs.

Bottom left is the evergreen tree with sun and hills with yellow denim cotton on back with black grosgrain ribbon tabs.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holders Coasters - Bunch 1

A bunch of 3" car cup holder coasters - V2. 

I chose thicker felt or fleece scraps for this bunch of car coasters.

For the top left hand set I resized a bird post it  note I have used on cards before. I cut the wing by hand. The background is a very textured caramel colored fleece.  I chose light blue felt for the bird, a dark blue for the wing and a light blue grosgrain ribbon. I chose a yellow denim fabric for the cotton piece on the back.  

The top right hand is a thick teal fleece with a yellow start felt accent. Yellow grosgrain ribbon and a teal cotton flannelette on the back. 

The middle right hand is the same caramel fleece as the first set.  I cut small mushrooms from orange and brown felt. This set has orange grosgrain and the same yellow cotton denim on the back. 

Back to the left center. This set feature red fleece with grey tuques. The tuques were cut by hand with a hand drawn pattern.  I sewed the ribs on the body and the rim. A grey grosgrain ribbon and a cotton tshirt fabric on the back. Bottom right set. I loved this scrap of plaid fleece. The colors are great so I just matched the colors with grosgrain ribbon. I chose Stampin Up colors More Mustard and Rich Razzleberry and stuck to the plaid geometric pattern.  More Mustard grosgrain ribbon tabs and black cotton backer fabric. Bottom left features royal blue fleece for the background and die cut hearts in white and grey felt. The back is jean denim. These are Christmas gifts for my sisters and niece. 

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holder Coasters - V2

I decided to make a few Car Cup Holder Coasters as Christmas gifts.

This time I chose to put a piece of cotton fabric on the bottom which will be better at absorbing moisture than the acrylic felt used in the original ones.

For this set I chose to make snowcapped mountains on a deep purple background. The purple felt is beautifully thick. Grey fleece for the mountains with white felt for the snow on top and bottom of the mountains.

I added a piece of grey cotton corduroy on the back side.  All outlined with straight stitch onto the background piece.

The sandwich was then cotton on the back, the grosgrain ribbon in between and the felt art design on the front.  The final circle to hold all these layers together was a tight zigzag stitch leaving a wide border. This allows the recipient to trim the 3 inch coaster to a bit smaller if their cup holders are on the smaller size.  I found on line that most vehicles have holders measuring 3" in diameter so that is what I went with. 

Car Coasters - Set 2

I wanted to improve on my first set of car coasters, you can see here. 

I made these bigger so finished they are 3.25 inches in diameter. 

I used heavy navy felt for the large circle.  

Then I added the half circle of royal blue felt. 

A length of royal blue grosgrain ribbon to fit in the notch and help me take them out for laundering.

I sewed all the way around with a zigzag stitch with blue thread.  This seam captured the bottom of the half circle and the ribbon.  Then I went across the top of the half circle to stabilize the center.

I decided to add some cotton (2 thin layers) to the bottom to improve how the coaster absorbs moisture. These were captured in the seams then I trimmed them to be smaller than the navy large circle.

I decided to add a bit of stitching to the ribbon.  I found some purple to pink yarn in my stash and split into 2 strands and added a shape on the ribbon.

This gives me a bright spot to see them at the bottom on the cup holder and an idea where there pull ribbon is.

They fill the cup holder much better. 

We shall see if they work well.  I will post after some use.

Here they are in the car.

The felt fully covers the bottom of the holder. 

The tabs fit in the notches.

Coordinate well with my blue water bottle in the car.

Happy with these.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holder Coasters

A car coaster collects the drips, drops, spills, crumbs and other stuff that ends up in our car cup holders.

I made up some with supplies I had on hand. These were made with felt circles.

I started with an 3.25" circle which was hand cut.  I stacked onto it 3 more circles of various colors and sizes.  I took them to the sewing machine and stitched in a spiral manner from the outside to the center of the coasters. Since the circles were felt buttons I added a coordinating thread through the whole coaster and knotted it on the front.  This can be used to remove the coaster from the holder.  These can be washed and reused. 

I made 10 sets so we will see how things go.  I mixed and matched a bunch of colors.  Red and White Canadian in the top left corner, the Elks one in position three in the top row with a few summer colors and Christmas red white and green.  The tags are 2.5 inches with rounded corners and it was placed between the 2 coasters which are back to back. They are stitched on with white cotton thread. 

Small Gifts - Car (Cup Holder) Coasters

I came across this idea doing research the other day.

In many places they are called car coasters but they are really coasters for your cup holders in the car.  There are a variety of sizes available and some being sold on Etsy at 2.5 inches were getting feedback that they were too small. The hard ones also provide a thumb notch so they can be removed.  They are meant to collect condensation and spills from our drinks.  They would gather crumbs, dirt and miscellaneous other stuff that ends up in there.

In my opinion, these should handle the moisture that accumulates in these holders, be easy to remove, washable and I should have 2 sets so there is always a clean set.

I decided I should have at least one set of these. I chose navy and yellow felt because they are my favorite colors and go with the car color. I measured my cup holder bottom and they are about 3" in diameter. I could place a 3" circle of paper on the bottom.  Of course, depending on the material used it will affect if they can still be 3 inches.

I cut the navy bottom circle at 3" in diameter and the yellow top circle at 2.75".  I added a navy grosgrain ribbon tab in between the circles to be able to pull them out.   I sewed a seam 1/8" from the edge of the yellow circle all the way around. I started the seam on the tab and then with the back stitching needed it provides reinforcement to the point of stress.  

Here they are in the cup holders in the car. These are very plain jane but generally I will not see them much because I carry a water bottle and a tea travel mug most places I go. 

I will have to decide if I will embellish them and how to do that efficiently.

I hand cut the circles for these because my diecut tools are packed at the present time. It would be make nice clean edges and time saving.

I will have to think about what my second set will look like. 

Well, adding a couple more circles to these coasters has uplifted their personality quite a bit. 

I layered red and green circles in 2 different sizes onto the yellow layer.

They are held in place by stitching through all layers with navy cotton thread. 

These are getting their test run tomorrow.