My gift to you for the holiday season: a quick and easy Coffee Cozy Tutorial! These are so fast to throw together and I love giving these for gifts!
Coffee Cozy Tutorial
Items needed:
1 cardboard coffee cozy to use as a template. (use one that has overlapping edges. *See below for details.) The TAZO ones from Starbuck's teas should work fine.
1 or 2 fabrics, approximately 5" x 12"
Insul-Bright, or batting
1.75 inches of 3/4 inch wide velcro
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1.) *Look at the template I have for my coffee cozy. The ends overlap. This is the kind you will want to use.
2) With right sides of fabric facing each other, trace the template onto fabric. This will give you 2 pieces, the interior and the exterior side. For this tutorial, I'm using the same fabric for both sides. Eyeball 1/4" around the traced template and cut out your pieces. Do the same thing with 1 layer of Insul-Bright (or batting).
3) With your interior fabric, lay it next to your cardboard template as seen below, so that the shape of the fabric piece is laid out the same way as the template. You should see the area on your template where you tore apart the flaps. Can you see where the adhesive was? Place the soft part (the female side??) of your velcro there, 1/4" from the right edge. Stitch in a rectangle near the edge of the velcro to secure.
Now, take your other piece (the exterior piece) and position the velcro in the same manner as above (right side, 1/4" from the edge, etc...). Stitch into place. I like to place this exterior piece on top of the Insul-Brite when stitching the velcro on. It just helps to hold the whole "sandwich" together when ultimately stitching all the layers together. You can see in the photo above how I did just this with the exterior piece.
****NOTE: You can certainly opt to attach the velcro at the end of the project, if that's easier or preferable for you. I did this once (it's pictured at the end of this tute, actually, if you look closely at the cozy on the left) and it looks totally fine IF you stitch very carefully, and neatly.
4) Layer your fabrics right sides together and place them on top of the Insul-Bright piece. The top layer of fabric should be your interior piece and should show your traced template. This serves as your stitching guide. Stitch all the way around the traced marking, leaving a 2-3 inch opening at the bottom center. I clip my seams along the curved edges and corners and pink them as well. It might be overkill, but it works for me.
Turn right side out (a knitting needle works wonders to get the corners poked out neat and tidy.) Fold in raw edges that were left open for turning. Press with iron. Top stitch 1/8th of an inch all the way around.
5). You are finished!
