I love walking through my local Dollar Tree and searching for unique items I can upcycle. It is kind of thrilling to get that spark of inspiration and see it actually come to life. The price point makes it attractive also. My latest Embroidery design is called Coffee Time Pad and it is made using a Dollar Tree Microfiber product.
These are the microfiber pads that I found in the personal care section of my store. There were four different color selections available. I like the pads because they are made from a microfiber material on one side and that is perfect to catch any coffee drips and keep a cup stable on your surface. It is pretty sweet that they are already finished around the edges with binding also. The opposite side is a scrubby material but the design will cover that area with fabric.
It is a very easy project done in a 4x4 hoop and I was able to complete 12 of them in a few hours. If you have fabric scraps in your stash, this is a great way to use them up.
You can see here that I am trimming away the excess material while it is still in the hoop. This design will use a 4x4 piece of scrap fabric. If you are like me, you probably have many of those.
All of the edges get covered after that and you are ready to remove from the hoop. I did use wash away stabilizer and after trimming closely, I was able to remove the extra with warm water.
A little extra bonus in the design download is this graphic. If you print it out on card stock, you have a perfect gift card that the mug rug can be slipped into after some trimming.
Instead of sewing one at a time, I used my larger hoop and ganged them up to four in one hooping. This made my stabilizer go a little further.
Here is the removal of the extra stabilizer once they are out of the hoop. When they are dry, you can insert them into the cards.
I made the entire batch of colors I purchased and they will be going to one of my local senior citizen homes. I have brought other projects to them in the past and they love getting things they can use in Bingo or game days for prizes. These would be awesome for that.
So have I inspired you to look for those unique upcycling ideas at your Dollar Store? You never know what you might find browsing the shelves. I have filmed a tutorial video you can watch below to see how the Coffee Time Pads come together. I hope you have enjoyed this post, share what you learn and are generous with what you create. Someone will appreciate your hard work.
