In 2016 I’ll be releasing a pattern a month for the purpose of making a mug cozy! I just released the first one this month, and February will be out shortly. Keep an eye out for all of them through the year.
There are basic instructions for sewing and finishing the cozy included with every pattern – every month. But I thought it might be nice to include a photo tutorial to talk you through the process, especially for those of you who are beginner sewers.
The first part of completing the mug cozy is to complete the cross-stitch pattern.
Once you have that done you’ll need:
– 1/4 yard of fleece fabric (there are fabrics that you can get at Jo-Ann that go with each month’s pattern, or you can choose your own. Make up your own color scheme for the cross-stitch while you are at it! This is YOUR creation)
– A single sheet of felt or other insulating fabric
– A pattern for the cozy (it comes with your cross stitch pattern)
– Scissors, thread, iron and ironing board, button, piece of elastic (or a hair tie if you are resource like me)
Fold your fabric in half and then in half again with wrong side facing
Place the pattern on the folded edge of the fabric as marked and pin it in place and cut the pattern out of the fabric.
Remove the bottom layer that you cut out of the pattern, and repin the pattern over the top layer. Cut out the piece marked for the top layer only and snip 1/4 slits at the corners as marked.
Fold your felt or insulating fabric in half and use pattern piece to cut out one piece.
You should now have 3 pieces that look like this:
This next part is REALLY important: How to layer the pieces in order to sew them together.
Lay your pieces in front of you just as they look in the picture above: The piece with the hole is wrong side up, the solid piece is right side up, and the insulating piece doesn’t matter.
First: Lay the piece with the whole (wrong side up) on top of the solid piece (which is still right side up).
Next: Lay the two stacked pieces, just as they are, on top of the insulating fabric.
Finally: Fold back the top layer on one side and place hair tie (or looped elatic) in between the top two layers. Make sure the end of the elastic are at least 1/4 of an inch inside the edge so that they will get sewn in.
Pin it all the way around. Sew around the edge using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
It’ll look like this:
Trim off the seam allowance, making sure to not snip the actual seam and to not snip the elastic loop!
Using the hole in the center, turn the piece so that it is right side out! (Exciting :-D)
Use a pin to pull out the corners in the tight spots. (Guest appearance from my baby bump at the bottom of this photo!)
Iron the edges of the piece to straighten the seam and prepare for the next step. BE CAREFUL!! I used a synthetic felt on the inside and when my iron touched it directly it melted onto my iron (I caught it early, so it wasn’t too terrible). If you use felt as an insulator either avoid touching it with the hot iron (just iron around it) or test a TINY bit to make sure it won’t melt.
Next you’ll need to center and trim your cross-stitch piece so that it fits nicely into the hole in the top layer.trim it so that it fits almost exactly into the full height of the cosy – this will ensure enough for the seam allowance you’ll need later on.
Fit the cross-stitch into the opening and fold under the flaps that were created when you made those slits back in the cutting phase of this project. Take a bit of time to fit it exactly as you want it, iron the flaps down, and then pin it all in place.
Top stitch as close as you can to the edge of the inside opening and around the outer edge of the cozy.
The final step is to try this baby on your favorite mug, pull the elastic a little bit to help you choose the best place for a button, and then sew the button on by hand.
The final FINAL step is to enjoy your favorite hot beverage.
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