Make this adorable heart mug rug to share your love – on Valentine’s Day and every day! Use up some of your smaller scraps to piece the heart and batting scraps for the inside! A quick and easy gift idea – perfect for beginners!
I love (pun intended) to make small gifts for friends and family. Mug rugs are perfect small gifts – they use just a little bit of fabric and are super quick to make! Even with piecing your scraps together, this sweet heart mug rug takes less than one hour from start to finish!

How to Make a Heart Mug Rug
Learn how to use what you have to make this sweet heart mug rug!
Pull together some scraps, a bit of batting and in less than an hour of your time to share your love with someone you love.
Perfect for sewists of all skill levels!
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Materials
- Assortment of scraps of fabrics, or one (1) 6-inch piece of fabric for the front of the mug rug
- One (1) 6-inch piece of fabric for the back of the mug rug
- One (1) 6-inch piece of cotton batting for the inside of the mug rug
- Thread for sewing
Tools
- Corner turner
- Sewing machine
- Iron
- Pressing surface
- Rotary cutter
- Cutting mat
- Quilter's ruler
- Sharp scissors for trimming. I like either Fiskars spring handle or Karen Buckley perfect scissors
Instructions
- Start by pulling together some scraps you think will go together for your heart mug rug. Here are some red scraps to make a Valentine's heart mug rug.
- Cut them into straight strips. They can be any width, you just want the edges to be straight to sew them together with a 1/4-inch seam allowance and right sides together. Press the seams to your preference. Read our article about pressing seams. Here I've sewn the strips together.
- Cut this piece of fabric into different size strips in the opposite direction. Lay them out on your table to see if you like the arrangement.
- Sew these strips together, again with a 1/4-inch seam allowance and right sides together. Press to your preference. Here is my piece of fabric ready to cut my hearts.
- Next step is to make our heart pattern. Take a piece of paper. I'm using a piece of white printer paper. Cut a 6-inch square of paper.
- Now we'll make the heart template. Remember how you cut hearts as a kid? Fold the paper in half, start at the bottom, and cut a heart. I like to do it this way. The heart shape has the touch of my hand. Here is my heart pattern to make my Valentine's mug rug.
- Take your heart shape pattern and lay it on your scrappy piece of fabric. I used some pattern weights to hold the pattern in place.
- Cut out your scrappy heart. I had enough fabric to cut two (2) scrappy hearts.
Layer your batting on the bottom, your backing fabric with the wrong side touching the batting and then your cut out heart with the right side to the right side of your backing fabric. - Here is another view of the layers all cut out.
- Time to sew your mug rug! Start at about 2-inches from the bottom of your heart. You'll need to leave an opening for turning your heart right side out. Sew all around all three layers with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Stop about 1/2-inch after turning the corner on the bottom V of the heart.
- Here are the two mug rugs sewn together. See how I've marked the opening.
- Before turning the heart right side out, you'll want to take a sharp pair of scissors and carefully trim the inner V at the top of the heart and the lower V. Trimming away the excess fabric in these areas makes it easier to turn right side out. Pay close attentioin to not to clip your threads!
- Once your heart is trimmed, begin turning it right side out through the opening. Use your corner turner to gently nudge the corners.
- Press your hearts folding in the fabric from the opening. Here are my hearts all pressed and ready for the final topstitching.
- Stitch 1/4-inch all around the edge of your heart, closing the gap. And, your heart mug rugs are done and ready for a cuppa!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Scissors, Medium 6-Inch Mirco Serrated Blades (1) (Original Version) (Standard)
- Fiskars 190500 RazorEdge Micro-Tip Easy Action Shears, 5 Inch, Orange and Gray
- Dritz 3150 Bamboo Point Turner & Presser
- Panasonic 360º Freestyle Advanced Ceramic Cordless Iron, Pest Repeller v.57, Teal
- KAI 28 mm Rotary Cutter, Other
- Olfa Frosted Advantage 6" x 24" Quilting Ruler - The Essential
- OLFA 24" x 36" Double-Sided, Self-Healing Rotary Mat

Tips and ideas for making scrappy heart mug rugs
- You can make these any size you’d like! I find the 6-inch size perfect for mugs of all sizes. Want a larger one to fit your cuppa and a small snack – just make your heart larger!
- When you are looking for a quick project, head to your sewing machine and sew scraps together so that when you are ready to make a heart mug rug, your scrappy fabric is ready-to-go! Make several to have on hand for quick gifts.
- Make these for your next mug rug swap! Your friends will think of you with their morning cup of coffee!
- Use orphan quilt blocks to make this adorable mug rug. Have some extra half-square triangles from a project? Sew them together to make this quilted heart mug rug.
- This is a perfect project to take to a quilting retreat – quick, easy and mindless! Take your scraps pieces of fabric and pump out some adorable small hearts!


Browse through more scrap fabric project ideas on Create Whimsy.




