Coffee Cozy from Our Soft Spot to Land

This is the coffee cozy I made...

And this is how I made it...

Materials:  

Fabric for exterior, 6 x 14"

Fabric for interior, 6 x 14"

Lining, 6 x 14" (I used a stiff white interfacing)
Coordinating button
Coordinating hair elastic
Thread
Sewing machine
Pencil
Iron
Scissors


Directions: 
***I followed the tutorial from House on Hill Road, but had to make a few adjustments b/c of my lack of skills!

First, I cut out the template provided on the tutorial.  I made sure it matched the Starbuck's cardboard coffee wrap (which it did), plus an extra 1/2" all the way around.  Using the template, I traced and cut my three pieces of fabric - the exterior, interior, and lining fabric.

Still following the tutorial directions, I pinched the elastic in the middle, creating 2 loops and sewed the elastic at the "pinch" to the right side of the exterior fabric with the zig zag stitch, ensuring that the loop pointing towards the fabric was about an inch.  I sewed over the elastic a few times to give it some sturdiness.

I layered my fabrics on top of each other - lining fabric, exterior fabric right side up, and interior fabric right side down.  I sewed around the cozy with a 1/2" allowance, making sure to leave 3" open at the bottom so I could flip it right side out.  Once again, I sewed over the elastic a few times 'cause you can never be too sure.

Here is where I deviated from House on Hill Road... I cut around my cozy allowing just 1/4", leaving the opening as it is (not cutting it).   I then went back and cut just the lining at the opening.  So the exterior and interior fabric were not cut at the opening, but the lining was.  My lining fabric was so thick that it was visible  when I tried to sew the opening shut.  More on that later...

I flipped the cozy right side out and used a knitting needle to push the corners out - all nice and sharp and pointy-like.  Both the exterior and interior fabric were folded in towards each other (one piece of fabric folded down over the lining) and then I pressed the opening with the iron.

Busting out the sewing machine once more, I topstitched the entire cozy with a 1/8" allowance.  At this point I was doing a happy dance b/c I was close to finishing and, gosh dangit, it looked good.

Finally - I folded the cozy so the elastic side overlapped the other side by about an inch at the top.  I marked the spot that the button should go (making the mark just inside the elastic band).  I sewed the button on by hand and then BAM...

... my cozy! I plan on making another one for Big Bubba's preschool teacher, wrapping it around a gift card to a local coffee shop.  B/c I bought 1/4 yd of each fabric, I have enough materials to make at least 5... prob more if I wanted to sit and do the math.  Which I don't. 

Just to be completely clear - I cannot take credit for this idea.  I relied heavily on House on Hill Road's tutorial, just tweaking it a touch b/c I don't always have the sewing skills that pay the bills.  You should really check out House on Hill Road's blog - lots of great tutorials. 

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See more from Leslie on her blog Our Soft Spot to Land

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