In this tutorial, I’m going to teach you how to make this super cute heart mug rug. I’ve made mine in red, white and pinks, giving off a major Valentine’s Day vibe, but you could easily swap up the colours for a totally different look all year round.

You can watch my video tutorial or read the transcript below.  I’ve included a few photos for reference but the main tutorial is on the video portion of this posting.

How to Sew a Heart Mug Rug – Video Tutorial:

This is a great project to use up fabric scraps. You’ll need three fabric prints in total: one dark for the background and two light for the foreground heart. A quarter of a yard or a fat quarter would be plenty if you are buying specifically for this project. You’ll also need a little quilt batting.  You’ll need standard quilting supplies: sewing machine, rotary cutter, cutting mat, ruler, and an iron. If you have a quarter inch seam foot for your machine, definitely use it. All seams in this project will be a quarter each seam allowance!

Cut the Following from the Dark Fabric:

• one 8″ square
• two 3-⅞” squares
• two 1-¼” x 6-½” rectangles
• two 1-¼” x 8″ rectangles
• four 1-½” squares

Cut the Following from Each of the Light Fabrics:

Note: If you prefer, you can use a single fabric if you want your heart to just be one shade rather than checkered. In that case, you would cut out two of each square size from one light fabric.

• one 3-⅞” square
• one 3-½” square

Cut the Following from the Quilt Batting:

• one 8” square

Step 1: Making the Heart Tops

1. Lay out each of your 3-½” light fabric squares, right sides up.
2. Lay two of the 1-½” dark fabric squares, right sides down on the top left and top right corner. We are going to be sewing a diagonal line from the two outer corners like this:

   

3. After sewing the diagonal lines for each, trim off the excess fabric.

Step 2: Making the Pointed Heart Bottom

1. Lay out each of your dark fabric 3-⅞” squares, right sides up.
2. Lay each of your light fabric 3-⅞” squares on top of the dark ones, right sides down.
3. Using a marking pen (disappearing ink fabric order cheap antibiotics online pens work great!), draw a line from one diagonal to another.
4. Sew a ¼” seam along each side of the lines on both sides
   .
   
5. Cut along the line.

Step 3: Arrange The Heart Block

1. Press your units, pressing the seams towards the dark fabric. Trim off your dog ears from the half square triangle (HST) units.  (You can ignore two of the extra HST units to use for a scrap project.)
2. Arrange your units into this heart shaped block, alternating the light fabric like so.
    
3. Sew together your two heart top units, right sides together. Press the seam.
4. Sew your two HST units, right sides together. Press the seam.
5. Then, sew those two rows together, right sides together, taking care to line up the seams so the four fabrics will line up nicely. And press the seam again.
6. Take your short rectangles and sew them, right sides together, to the left and right of the heart, and once again press.
7. Take your long rectangles and sew them, right sides together, to the top and bottom of the heart block and press the seams.

And voila, we have a heart block! It’s time to turn this block into the actual mug rug.

Step 4: Assemble the Mug Rug

1. Lay your heart block right side up.
2. Lay the 8×8” dark fabric right side down on top of the heart block.
3. Lay the 8×8” piece of batting on top of the pile.
4. Sew a ¼” seam around the perimeter of the mug rug, leaving a 2”-3” gap on one side for turning.
5. Turn the mug rug right side out then press it flat, making sure to keep the gap neatly tucked in.
6. Now all you have to do is top stitch around the perimeter of the mug rug to finish it, being sure to close the tucked in hole as you go. I decided to do a cute heart stitch as an embellishment.

If you like, you can quilt it or leave it plain with just the stitching around the perimeter.

Don’t forget!  If you prefer to watch a video version of this tutorial, head on over to my YouTube channel for the full visual instructions.

Enjoy your new mug rug or give it as a gift to a friend!