Hanukkah Coasters!
I was always jealous of the kids that celebrated Hanukkah… eight days of presents! (That’s not even to mention those truly lucky ones that got to do both Hanukkah AND Christmas.) Of course, besides the gifts there are many very special things that happen at Hanukkah, from the lighting of the menorah, to the tradition of eating delicious latkes, to the really fun dreidel game.
In case you aren’t familiar with it the dreidel is a small spinning top with 4 sides and each side has a hebrew letter on it. You spin the top and whatever letter it falls on determines how many pieces of delicious chocolate coins (called “gelt”) you win or lose.
When I set out to make a Hanukkah project I wanted to incorporate this whimsical game somehow and I came up with these clean modern coasters, representing every side of the dreidel. The wool felt they are made out is thick enough to also be used as a trivet and they are backed in rich shades of blue. In addition to protecting your table they will be a pretty accent to your Hanukkah party!
Happy Hanukkah!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Molly Schnick. Click here to see even more of Molly’s work!
Materials
These materials will make 12 coasters
- 1 Wollfilz Wool Felt Bundle in “Water”
- 2 pieces of Wollfilz 5mm Natural Wool Felt
- 3 balls of Valdani Embroidery Thread in three shades of blue
- Water Soluable Choco Pen
- Embroidery Needles
- straight pins
Download and print this dreidel template
Cutting
Pick out your 4 favorite blues from the “Water” felt pack. You can use the remaining pieces in another project or to make more coasters later.
Cut three 3 1/2-inch squares from each blue piece of felt.
Cut twelve 3 1/2-inch squares from the thick natural color felt.
Embroidering the Dreidel
Print and cut our your dreidel template. Center the template on a piece of white felt and trace it with your fabric marker. Then, using the dreidel letters as a reference write the letter of your choice inside of the dreidel also with your fabric marker. I have marked the letter “Hei” on the coaster above.
Since there are 4 dreidel letters I did 3 coasters per letter.
Using a very small running stitch sew around the marked lines as shown above. It’s really fun to sew though the thick felt. It makes a satisfying popping sound with every stitch.
Finishing the Coasters
Pick out a blue piece of felt and pin it to the white piece at the corners as shown above.
Using the same color of embroidery thread as for the dreidel place your needle in-between the blue and white felt and push your needle through 1/4-inch from the edge of the coaster. This step will hide the thread’s end.
Using a small running stitch sew a 1/4-inch around the edge of the coaster.
At the end tie a small knot and place the needle in between the white and blue layers. Pull the needle out of the blue felt and snip the thread. This will hide the second end.
Spray your coaster with water to get rid of the blue marks and you’re all done!
lovely – I think I will make this for my girlfriend and her family (for next year! – LOL)
thanks for sharing!
Very cute! I have one suggestion on your Hay — the left leg of the letter, so to speak, should not go all the way up to the top horizontal line. It should be sort of a half line, so as not to be confused with the Hebrew letter chet.
This might help: http://www.behrmanhouse.com/educators/in-the-classroom/hebrew-and-prayer/hebrew-handwriting-chart
Your project is truly lovely, but my Hebrew-teacher self couldn’t help but “help” – 🙂 Thanks for doing a Hanukkah project!
Oh, what a perfect Hanukkah present! I’ve been looking for something quick and handmade to give to the Jewish family I nanny for, and this is exactly right. Thank you for the lovely idea!
Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful project. It’s beautiful and functional, and completely doing (with your detailed instructions). I would love to try it – yes, for next year. Hahaha! Happy Hanukkah!
I love these. I made them for Hanukkah this year and they were a big hit!! Thank you for sharing. The instructions are great! I look forward to more Jewish holiday ideas!!
Thank you, thank you!
I am Jewish and every Hanukah create beautiful items, but this is so original and EASY. I can not wait to start a group of them, and give them as treasured gifts to all.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful post with all of us. To the non Jewish members, if you give this to a Jewish family they will treasure it. As with any religious faith all people love hand made items.
Thanks again 🙂
Laura
GREAT IDEA AND SO CUTE/ THANK YOU/
I included your beautiful Hanukkah Coaster Tutorial in my 10 Great and Quick Hostess Gifts for Thanksgiving or Hanukkah blog post! I love this idea! Thanks so much for sharing. http://www.sewadorablefabrics.com/last-minute-hostess-gifts-happy-thanksgiving-hannukah/
Any chance they’ll update this site to include all the images and everything it originally had posted? Nothing I can do is loading anything, it shows them as unavailable.
Hi S,
Thanks for reaching out and bringing this to our attention! We recently updated our site and consequently, a few of our older posts have had their images go missing! We are working hard to restore all the patterns with their images, and will hopefully have this page back up and running shortly!
Thanks again and so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused!
Warmly,
Gianna