Cup Of Cheer Mug Cozy

Happy Holidays friends!  I'm Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock (you may have seen my Cathedral Window Baby Playmat tutorial here at Moda Bake Shop last month).  I'm excited to be here again sharing a festive little tutorial with you.  This quick foundation-pieced mug cozy is bright and scrappy- your drink will feel so loved!  It's the perfect holiday gift for friends at work, teachers, or anyone who loves a hot cuppa cheer (and by cheer, I mean caffeine).  Tuck in a gift card to your favorite coffee shop or some chocolate-covered espresso beans (!!!) for a gift with a little more punch.  

-1 Charm Pack (12 squares makes 3 cozies, so you could make a whole slew of them from 1 pack)

-Lining Fabric- at least 5" X 13" 

-Batting- at least 5" X 13" (I used Insul-Bright, but any type of batting will do)

-Sashiko thread or embroidery floss

-Embroidery needle

-Cardboard cozy from your favorite coffee shop (to use as a template)

Select 12 charms from your pack- I chose a rainbow selection from MoMo's new line, Half Moon Modern, but choose what you like- sky's the limit.

Cut a 1.5" strip from each square.  You can do up to 4 at once to make it even quicker.

Now open up your biodegradable organic free-trade cardboard cozy from the unnamed coffee chain of your choice, lay it out on the wrong side of your lining fabric and trace around it.

Now, layer some batting below the shape you just traced.  I used Insul-Bright by The Warm Company, because hey, coffee's hot...but any batting will work, so use what you like.

Now don't freak out because you're going to have to do a tiny amount of free-hand artwork here.  No biggie- just use your pen to extend the ends of your traced shape by 1/4" on each side.  The shape is slightly curved so just do your best to follow that same curve.

Now, using your rotary cutter, cut out your fabric & batting, about 1/4" outside of your pen line.  This 1/4" buffer will be your seam allowance so it's important!  Set your lining fabric aside for now- we'll only be working with the batting for these next few steps.

Now lay out the fabric strips you want to use, and order them however is most visually pleasing for you- I chose in-color order because I'm OCD like that, but yours could be scrappy...(reminder: no rules!)

If you're wondering why there are only 10 strips in this photo instead of 12, it's because I needed to throw in one "mistake" to let you know I'm human.  So there you go.

Now, fold your batting piece in half lengthwise to find the center point and mark it with a pin.

Grab your 6th strip from the left (don't run away- I promise this is super simple- it's just an easy way to get everything centered), and align the right side of it with your pin, right side of the fabric facing up.

Take the next strip to the right and place it over your first strip, right sides together.  Stitch 1/4" along the right edge.

Now press open the top strip.  Be careful not to fry your batting during this process- use a cloth to cover the batting area if you aren't sure.  Cotton would be fine, but this Insul-Bright stuff would have a melt-attack!

Continue adding strips and stitching, until you reach the end of your piece.  Note how I've aligned my strips perpendicular to the batting piece and not to the previous strip- so you will end up with a gap.  This will help your piecing to follow the curved shape of the cozy.

Repeat going the other direction until the entire batting piece is covered.  Ooooh, looking pretty!

Here's what the back looks like.

Now take your piece of lining fabric and center it on your piece front, right sides together and pin.  It's important to feel around the edges to make sure there is batting under the entire lining piece.

Stitch on your marked line around the entire piece, leaving one end open.  Trim down to 1/4" from your seam.

Turn the piece right side out, poke out the corners with your scissors or a knitting needle, and press.

Your open raw edge will look like this- not to worry- he'll be sewn up soon.

Let's go ahead and embroider this puppy while one of the ends is open so we can hide the knots inside.  Using Sashiko thread or embroidery floss (both work great, just slightly different look), gather running stitches onto your needle and pull through.  Because this piece is fairly thick at this point, you might find it hard to build up stitches on the needle (depending on your needle).  No worries- you can just bring the needle up and down completely for each stitch.

Now turn under your raw edges 1/4" and press.  I love a shot of heavy spray starch at moments like this to help the fabric behave.

Now fold your entire cozy in half so the ends meet, patchwork sides facing in, and stitch a scant 1/4" seam along the edge.  The scant 1/4" is important so that you catch all of your turned raw edges from the opening.

Turn it right side out, press if you like, and voila!  

1 addictive little cozy that will be smiling at you the entire way to work.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my recipe!  If you like it, don't forget to leave a comment, and pop on over to my blog to say hi and check out my other tutorials and quilty ramblings.

Cheers!

Amy Gibson
{Stitchery Dickory Dock}