Coffee Cozy

This is a Tutorial Tuesday after a very disappointing first effort. Oh well. Mistakes happen, right?

My first effort was to make one of my shirts into a dress, based on Make it and Love it’s Tutorial.  Super cute.

Epic. Fail.

I even managed to sew THROUGH my finger. Ouch.

Although, I will attempt that tutorial again, I decided to do something to help me regain a little confidence. So, I decided to make a coffee cozy. What’s that, you ask? It’s an eco-friendly sleeve to put around your delicious Starbucks. Or maybe a pint of ice cream (if you make it big enough. Make it and Love it has one for that. Found here. )

These are SO easy. It takes longer to cut them than to sew them, and you can whip up a few during a kiddo’s naptime.

You can give them as gifts.

Excited yet?

You will need:
fabric (scraps work)
felt
elastic
button(s)

First thing I did was steal acquire a Starbucks coffee sleeve.  I busted it open and I laid it on a piece of cardstock. I wanted my piece to be bigger than the sleeve so I traced it on the curve on the top and bottom, moving it around a bit until I filled the paper with my curve.

Now, the Starbucks’ sleeve is not completely symmetrical. I made my ends symmetrical. This is important because you will be sewing right sides together. I folded my pattern together to check and ensure this.

Then, I cut out my fabric and a piece of felt.

(I did this to a lot of pieces of fabric. It’s that easy.)

I also cut a piece of thin elastic. You could also use a hair elastic, if you wanted. I saw that on a tutorial somewhere. I decided how many buttons I wanted too. If you want to use more than one button, then you’ll need more than one elastic. Got it?

Then, I pinned the right sides together with the felt on one of the sides. It should be like this: felt (against a wrong side), fabric, fabric. Then I pinned the elastic loop (loop on the inside) between the two right sides.

Then you sew around the fabric, leaving a space to turn the fabric. I like to leave the gap in the middle as opposed to a side. Clip the corners so that your corners are nice and sharp when you turn it around.

After you turn the fabric, press it with your iron.

Then, sew a topstitch around the fabric (this will close up your gap).

Then, sew on your button.

THAT’S IT.

I’m serious.

And, no fingers were harmed in the making.

**I’m sorry there weren’t more pictures, especially of the finished project. However, here are some links to some tutorials to give you a more comprehensive picture of it, if you need it.

House on Hill Road’s tutorial. 
The Cottage Home’s Tutorial.

(These are basically the two I followed, although I made some deviations. Also, I didn’t use any Wonder Under.)