Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Fabric Coffee Cozy

I bookmarked this project several months ago, and recently pulled out my sewing machine to give it a try! I thought these re-usable fabric coffee cozies were a very cute (and green friendly) alternative to the brown cardboard ones that you receive at coffee shops. I just stick mine in my purse, so I have it on hand if I decide to stop in for coffee.

I followed this tutorial and the photos & descriptions are so helpful! The directions were fairly easy to follow, even for a beginner sewer.

I used fat quarters of fabric and could cut several patterns out of each. I chose two fabrics that complimented each other...a solid for the inside and a patterned fabric for the outside. I tried out several different combinations of fabric and loved the variety of patterns & colors!

I used Insul Bright as my insulation. (You can buy it by the yard like fabric at a fabric store. I purchased mine at JoAnn's.) It will keep both hot and cold in, so it's perfect for use on iced drinks as well as coffee.

I did run into one trouble spot with the tutorial and made a modification. I photographed just the steps that I changed. (I apologize for the poor photo quality. I tend to always be working on projects at night when it's dark and the lighting is poor!)

In making my first cozy, I had problems tucking the fabric in and over the Insul Bright layer, hiding it, in the step where I flipped it inside out and sewed the end closed. My solution of cutting the Insul Bright layer a bit shorter than the other two made that step much easier and allowed me to get a cleaner seam when I closed it up.

After pinning my three layers together, I cut one end of the layer of Insul Bright about 1 centimeter shorter than the 2 fabric layers. (See photo above.)

After it is flipped inside out, it will look like the photo above. This was the only step that I changed. Otherwise, the tutorial worked perfectly!

I liked the width of my coffee cozy to be a little wider, so after I used my initial pattern, I widened the pattern on the top and the bottom. It's easy to adapt your pattern and I would recommend sewing one complete cozy, then deciding if you would like to modify your pattern at all before cutting any more.

As a final step, I sprayed the finished cozy with Scotch Guard fabric spray to make it easy to clean. If I get any coffee drips, it will be easier to wipe them right off with a damp cloth with the layer of Scotch Guard protection.

I am really happy with how they turned out! I sent one as a surprise to a friend and she really liked it. I think they make fun little gifts!

7 comments:

Free Art Printables said...

Those are so cute! I love the fabric! jen

Sarah said...

This is so clever--and a great way to "dress up" a cup of coffee!

Dawn said...

That is really cute! What a great gift idea, too - and you could even include a small coffee shop giftcard with it if you needed a little "more" gift.

Nicole said...

These turned out so cute, you did an awesome job on them. Thanks for entering my little giveaway, and good luck! Hey they would make another cute little raggumuffin, didn't you win one of those from the nester??? I was a little jealous :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE mine!!! Thank you so so much! I took pictures and plan to do a little post about it too! I'll for sure include this post so people can see how to do it. Thanks for thinking of me! :)

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

Those are a perfect little gift foe someone who loves coffee. Adorable! :)
Carrie

Andrea said...

I love these! SO cute!! Let me know if you decide to sell these. :)