How to Make Penny Rug Circles

Back in colonial days, thrifty homemakers would recycle and repurpose woolen scraps from clothing and blankets to make penny circles.  Hundreds of wool pennies were hand sewn together to form decorative penny rugs.

Believe it or not, penny rugs were not actually floor coverings but decorative mats used on tables, dressers and mantles.

Today, contemporary quilters and fabric artists make penny circles out of wool or other fabrics and use them in all types of projects from wall hangings to pillows, from Christmas ornaments to pins, to other primitive decor accessories. 

In this tutorial, you will learn how to cut pennies for your next penny rug project.  There are different ways to cut graduated penny circles but for me, freezer paper is an easy-to-use and efficient method for tracing and cutting out the perfect penny circle shape. 

Once you have the pennies, all you’ll need is a sewing needle, scissors, thread or floss and a penny rug pattern.

This process of cutting circles by hand can be a bit time-consuming.  The Accuquilt Studio Circle Die Cutter is the perfect thing to greatly speed up your Penny Circle Project.  Or you can find pre-cut penny circles on Etsy. 

If you want to learn my easy method for making penny rug circles, simply click on the link below to go to a YouTube video tutorial.

In addition, I have a full written photo tutorial with step-by-step instructions below.

What is a Penny Circle?

A Penny Circle is a circle cut from a textile.  Historically, 3 different sizes of wool or felted wool penny circles were layered on top of each other and sewn together with a blanket stitch.  These stacked and sewn penny rug circles were then attached to a background fabric producing a penny rug.

Why is it called a penny rug?

In colonial times coins, like a penny, were used as the original templates to cut out wool circles. Hence the name penny rug and the circles are called "wool pennies". While researching this topic, I discovered an interesting fact that colonial pennies were larger than a penny today. 

I also discovered that sometimes a penny was stitched inside the mat to make it lie flat.

WHAT YOU'll NEED to make penny circles:

• Circular Shape  

  The first thing you need to do is get your circular shapes.  You can use any circular object for a template such as coins, plastic containers, plastic container lids, bottle caps…anything round and of the desired size.

• Freezer Paper  

  The next thing you will need is freezer paper which can be purchased right at the grocery store.  The freezer paper has a shiny side and a dull side. When you lay the shiny side on the fabric and iron the dull side, the freezer paper adheres to the fabric.

• Fabric for Penny Circles

  Traditionally penny circles were made using scraps of wool and felted wool.  Modern-day penny rug projects use wool, wool felt or even thick felt or flannel which comes in so many colors making this a colorful Americana craft for the home.

• Iron, ironing board, scissors and pencil or pen

INSTRUCTIONS for making penny rug circles :

STEP 1: grab freezer paper

Cut a sheet of freezer paper from the roll.  The size of the sheet will depend on the number of pennies you wish to make.

STEP 2: Trace circle patterns onto freezer paper

Decide on the circle templates you will use.

Lay the freezer paper, shiny side down, on your work surface.  Place the circle template on the freezer paper and trace around it with a pen or pencil.  

Continue tracing until you have the desired number of circles.

STEP 3: CUT AND IRON

Using a paper scissor rough cut-out sections of circles from the freezer paper about 1/8 - 1/4" away from the drawn line. This does not have to be neat. Do not cut on the drawn lines. 

Lay your freezer paper pieces on top of the chosen fabric. Shiny side down. Put them close together, leaving just enough space to cut between them. Conserve your material.

Use an iron on a hot/dry setting to iron the dull side of the freezer paper pieces. Move your iron around over the freezer paper for a few seconds. Don’t use the steam function.

Check to make sure the paper is adhered to the fabric.

STEP 4: CUT OUT THE PENNY CIRCLES

Allow it to cool.  Next, use fabric scissors to cut the circular shapes apart along the tracing lines.

That's it!   It's easy to cut the fabric with a paper pattern ironed to it. Perfect circles! Ready to stitch!

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make penny circles.  Be sure to pin, bookmark and share.  Come join our many followers on our YouTube channel. While you're there, please be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss future videos.

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