Custom Coffee Cozies

Hi-ya!  

Have you noticed how coffee cozies are popping up all over the internet these days?  Etsy is full of them.....stitched ones, crocheted ones, fabric ones, velcro ones, button ones....the list goes on and on.  Now that Papertrey has begun carrying its own line of 100% wool felt in its Perfect Match colors as well as its own line of exclusive dies, creating your own custom coffee cozies is not only easy, but it's also soooo fun!  Custom coffee cozies are not only cute, but they're functional and you can create one for yourself or make them for others -- they make adorable gifts!  The best part is that the design options just keep growing with each passing month, as Papertrey continues to add more felt colors and more dies to their product line!  I created a pair of cozies -- one for me and one for a dear friend's birthday.  I've put together a complete tutorial for you today, so you can whip one of these little gems up for yourself or a friend.  Let's get right to it, shall we?  

Here's what you'll need to get started....

 

I stopped in at our local Starbucks for a grande-nonfat-no whip-mocha-frappuccino and while I was there, I asked them for a couple of empty venti cups and lids.  :)  Having the cup in hand to create the cozy around, makes the process much easier.  

For this size cup, I started out with a strip of dark chocolate felt measuring 2 1/2" x 11 1/2".  Papertrey's felt comes in rolls measuring 5" x 30" so I just cut off an 11 1/2" strip, folded it in half length-wise and then cut along that fold creating two 2 1/2" strips.  (You'll only need one strip per cozy though.)

I wanted to add scalloped borders to this cozy, so I used the small and large scallop border dies to die cut two borders from vintage cream felt, these also measuring 11 1/2" long.  The dies themselves are 9" long so you'll want to run the die/felt thru your die cutting machine, then reposition the die moving it down your partially cut felt piece and run it thru your die cutting machine again to continue the scallops.  You'll also need some straight pins.

 

I laid the dark chocolate felt on the scalloped strips and pinned them both in place.  Then, I stitched them up with my sewing machine, using a simple straight stitch.  Keep in mind that if you don't have a sewing machine, you could easily hand stitch these felt pieces in place as well.

 

Here's a shot of what the front of the strip will look like after you've stitched the borders in place.

 

Now here's where the cup comes in......I wrapped the strip around the cup WRONG side out and pinned it in place, creating a line with the pins.  Then I stitched along side those pins.

 

Here's what the cozy looked like after I stitched it -- see where the pins are and how I stitched just inside the line they created?  

 

After removing the pins, here's what the cozy should look like on the cup.  (Keep in mind that it's inside out at this point.)
 

 

Next, you'll want to flatten out the two flaps and iron them flat just a bit.  Be careful not to keep the iron on for more than a few seconds at a time so you don't scorch the felt.

 

Now you can flip the cozy right side out.  Here's what it should look like at this point.  

 

Here's what it looks like on the cup.  Now comes the fun part!  You can decorate it however you'd like!!  You could add felt stripes or felt rick rack, a row of buttons, felt flowers, felt butterflies......really, the possibilities are endless!

 

I chose to create a cheery little felt flower by stitching together folded up raspberry fizz felt flowers that I die cut using the Beautiful Blooms II #2 die collection.  There is a large flat flower as the back layer with four folded up large flowers on top.  I stitched a simply chartreuse button over the top of all the layers to hold everything in place and while I still had the needle and button twine out, I stitched 3 leaves to the back of the flower.  The leaves were die cut from simply chartreuse felt with the large leaf die in the Delightful Dahlia die collection.

 

I used the same needle and rustic jute button twine to stitch the flower to the cozy with just a few stitches.  Ahhhhh.......I LOVE how this turned out!  Wouldn't you be proud to give this little gem away to a loved one?  

 

 

For the second cozy, I followed the same steps to create the basic cozy only this time, I used raspberry fizz felt for the main strip and dark chocolate felt for the scalloped borders.  To create those borders on this one, I used the medium scalloped border die as well as the eyelet lace border die.

 

For the accents on this one, I decided to add a couple of stacked butterflies created from vintage cream and simply chartreuse felt and the butterfly die.  I simply stitched them in place by hand with rustic jute button twine and added buttons in the same colors as the butterflies.

 

Here are the two little beauties together........ahhh.  Aren't they so cheery and happy?!  I love, love these colors together and can't wait to give my dear friend her custom coffee cozy as a birthday gift!

I hope you've enjoyed this COZY little project and are feeling a inspired to get a little COZY with some felt yourself!  :)  Tuck one of these coffee cozies in your car and you'll be all set next time you run thru the drive thru at your local coffee shop!

Thanks so much for visiting me today!  I hope you'll come again soon.

Take care, peeps...