West Elm Felt Ball Coaster

This month we have partnered up with West Elm to celebrate Fair Trade month! What is Fair Trade? Fair Trade is a movement that creates long-term economic opportunities for workers. Did you know that West Elm is the first ever home retailer to offer Fair Trade certified goods? Pretty groundbreaking! Today the west elm Fair Trade program impacts 11,000+ workers. If you take a look in the windows of West Elm this month, you’ll see these felt balls in the window displays. We’re thrilled to be able to show you how to create a West Elm Felt Ball Coaster, perfect for the season!

We’re celebrating this special month by creating a coaster DIY using felt balls handcrafted by West Elm’s artisan partners at Everest, a family-run Fair Trade Certified factory in Nepal. We have great news for any of you who want to create this project with us! On Saturday, October 20th at all West Elm Store locations, there will be a DIY Workshop to make these felt coasters! All the materials will be provided and you’ll have a chance to mix and mingle with fellow makers!

I will be leading the DIY at the Salt Lake City location and I’d love to meet any of you Utah locals!

Purchase tickets HERE to secure a spot at your local west elm store.

These coasters are Mondrian-inspired, with an abstract art design, and feature a hexagon shape. They’re super simple to make and are the perfect addition for the many mugs of hot cocoa we’ll all be drinking during these cooler months!

Shop this look: Plates, wooden chargers, mugs, flatware, napkins

West Elm Felt Ball Coaster: 

Check out our video Tutorial HERE!

Materials: 

• 19 felt balls per coaster
• Needle and thread 
• Scissors

Instructions: 

1. Arrange felt balls into a hexagon pattern, 3 balls, 4 balls, 5 balls, 4 balls, 3 balls, grouping colors in small clusters
2. Cut a piece of thread about 2 yards long and thread your needle.
3. Stitch rows of felt balls together, starting with a row of 3 and moving up.  
4. For each corner ball, thread the needle through the inner corner of the felt ball and for interior felt balls, stitch straight through the ball.  
5. Once you’re stitched horizontally through the rows of felt balls, pull the thread tight, ensuring that the balls are snuggly arranged, with minimal gaps and no thread showing. 
6. Then stitch through the columns of felt balls, following the same pattern of stitching through the corner of the center of the felt balls depending on their location. 

7. Once all the felt balls are secured tightly together, tie a knot at the end and hide the thread tail by threading through a felt ball, pulling the string tight, and trimming so the thread is hidden inside the ball.