I am starting my holiday gifts mostly because I am really slow and if I don’t do it now it will never get done!  I have a few things planned but the easiest and quickest is this fun little project.  I am making reusable, eco-friendly coffee cozies.  I made 4 of these in just over an hour last weekend.  Now that I have the process figured out I should be able to move faster with my next batch. 

Supplies:

 

Step 1:  Using the paper coffee cozie as a template, trace around on the felt with a pen/marker.  Cut out.  *If your felt has a wrong side, place that side up before you trace and cut.  My felt was the same on both sides so I didn’t have to worry about that.

Step 2: Using the paper coffee cozie as a template again, trace onto the fabric.  The fabric pattern should be facing up.  Cut out.

Step 3: Trace again on both the Therm O Web Heat N Bond and Iron On Vinyl.  You will want to make sure the fabric and the vinyl match up so when you put the two together they line up properly.  To model this arrangement, place the fabric right side up on to the vinyl shiny side up.  For the Heat N Bond, the orientation doesn’t matter.

Step 4: Using the Heat N Bond, iron the felt and the fabric wrong sides together.  First iron Heat N Bond to one piece following the directions on the package, peel off the backing and iron the other piece.  

Step 5: Iron the Iron On Vinyl onto the fabric, wrong side to right side, following the directions on the package.  DO NOT PLACE IRON SURFACE DIRECTLY ON THE VINYL!  Use the backing paper or a press cloth to protect the vinyl. 

Step 6: Trim up the edges for a clean finish… unless you cut all of your parts perfectly and they all fit together without any variance.  I obviously don’t cut perfectly and I had to trim the edges. 

Step 7: Machine stitch around the edges.  *You could easily make this a no-sew project by using No Sew Heat N Bond instead. 

Step 8: Using a paper coffee cup as a guide, wrap the felt/fabric strip around the cup.  Align it and then tape it together.  This will hold it in the correct spot while you sew it in place.  *I tried Scotch tape and it worked fine but I think I will use painter’s tape next time as it might be easier to peel off after the stitching.

Step 9: Sew the two ends together in a circle.  Remove the tape.

Step 10: Embellish with buttons, flowers, etc or leave plain.  Carry it with you to your coffee shop and say “no thanks, I have my own cozie” and be the envy of everyone in the place 🙂