Cheep Ideas

Ruffled Coffee Cozy

Here’s your legitimate excuse to go to your favorite coffee shop and get a Grande Pumpkin Spice Latte with White Mocha Syrup (tastes like Pumpkin Pie!) Get one for yourself, and ask for a clean empty cup for this project. And don’t forget the cardboard sleeve, which we will be using as a pattern for the cozy.

And P.S. – This year during the month of November, Burger King is offering a free 12 oz. hot Seattle’s Best Coffee during breakfast hours.

Materials:
Clean coffee cup and sleeve from your favorite coffee shop
Pencil and 8.5″ x 11″ paper
Scraps of fabric for the front and back
One 2.25″ x 23″ piece of fabric for the ruffle
Sew on Velcro
Coordinating thread
Cereal box
Sewing machine

First, make the pattern for the cozy. I wanted my cozy to be thicker than the cardboard sleeve, so I traced about 1/2 an inch wider than the sleeve. I also wanted a good overlap for the Velcro closure, so I continued tracing the sleeve to the edge of the paper. This you’ll have to eyeball, but it’s not too tough.

Cut out the paper pattern and check it using the coffee cup. Mine took a couple tries to get just right, so don’t get discouraged. Next, grab a box of cereal, cut the side and flatten it out, and transfer the paper pattern to the cereal box. This will make it much sturdier and last through multiple cozies.

Fold the fabric in half, right sides together, and trace the pattern onto the fabric. Keeping the two pieces of fabric together, cut around the traced lines, leaving about a 1/4″ to 1/2″ seam allowance. Place these pieces of fabric onto the lining (either batting or fleece) and cut out the lining using the fabric as a guide. This doesn’t have to be perfect because you’ll be trimming it anyway.

The fabric/lining should now be stacked like this:
Top: Fabric with traced line, facing right-side down
Middle: Fabric facing right-side up
Bottom: Lining
Pin, and sew along the traced line leaving a 3″ to 4″ gap in the middle bottom of the cozy.

To keep the cozy from being bulky around the sides, trim the perimeter to about 1/8″ away from the stitching. Trim the lining, but DO NOT trim the fabric around the opening, you’ll need this fabric to close the cozy.

Stick the fingers in-between the two pieces of fabric flip it right-side out. Use the scissors to gently poke out the corners. Fold the opening inwards and iron.

Sew an 1/8″ seam around the cozy and set aside. Cut the fabric for the ruffle. I made mine about 2.25″ by 23″. I figured the 23″ by doubling the length of my cozy.

Sew a quick 1/4″ hem around the ruffle.

Wrap the cozy around the coffee cup and place a pin as shown in the picture below. This will help with the placement of the velcro and ruffle.

Cut the Velcro pieces just a tad smaller than the ruffle.

Pin the velcro pieces as shown in the picture below, making sure they line up when overlapped. Sew the Velcro on the cozy.

Here comes the best part – sewing on the ruffle! Below, you can see how I folded and pinned mine, but feel free to experiment here, there’s no right or wrong way!

Sew down the middle of the ruffle.

Now, for the part my wonderful-fix-it-man hubby helped me with – I was having issues with the cozy sliding down on the coffee cup, and here’s what he suggested … wait for it … put three lines of hot glue along the back to make it stick. Worked like a charm! If you don’t have a hot glue gun, I would think clear puffy paint would do the same thing, though take longer to dry.

Experiment with colors, textures, patterns, ruffles, and use up your scraps to make lots for friends and family this Christmas!

These are also really cute with buttons, and if you’re good at applique, the possibilities are even more! Here’s a cozy I made for my Dad (who was born on Halloween). I appliqued his favorite monster, Frankenstein, on the cozy, and I just love the buttons, don’t you?

About the Author

Katie is a graphic designer turned stay-at-home-mom currently residing in beautiful Washington state. She loves Jesus and all things related to design, photography, saving money, and fancy coffees. She has gone Mac and will never go back. She also loves feedback, so please leave the good, the bad, and the ugly.