lately, i’ve been drinking my morning smoothies from a canning jar because i can put a lid on it and throw it in my bag on the way to work. the other day, i thought, “wouldn’t it be cute if i could have a little “cozy” to wrap around my jar and keep my smoothie a bit colder and also less likely to break?” i was also brainstorming giveaway ideas to go along with my “mostly clean challenge” and this project was the perfect fit. my first stop was pinterest where i saw this and this. my second stop was my stash of felted sweaters where i found a stripey sweater sleeve that was just the right size. i made a cozy. it was easy. i decided to put together a tutorial for you and here it is!
step one: gather supplies. i grabbed both a wide mouth and regular mouth jar so i could test them both for size. the finished product will (more or less) fit both. you’ll also need some felted wool. a sweater sleeve is ideal. i used regular felt in this tutorial for the bottom and handle, but i think i actually like the felted sweater scraps for the bottom better (it’s stretchier). the handle can be either.
step two: shove a jar into the sleeve and figure out how long you want the tube of fabric to be. cut the tube to that length.
step 3: trace a circle on your felt that’s the same size as the bottom of the jar. cut out the circle (err on the side of slightly too large).
step 4: pin your circle to the bottom of your tube. if you’re planning ahead more than i did, this would also be a good time to pin your handle on. (cut a handle to the length and width you want, tuck the ends between your jar cozy sides and the bottom circle). if you don’t plan ahead (or if you’re not sure if you want the final product to have seams exposed or seams tucked in), just rip out enough stitches from the bottom edge to tuck the handle in and put the handle on later.
(this is the optional seam-ripping step)
can you see the ends of the handle peeking out on either side?
this is what the bottom should look like if you decide to tuck in the seams (photo taken before i put the handle on).
step 5:Â sew the handle to both sides of the top edge of the cozy, then you’re all done!
but, little miss happy stuff, what do i do if the sleeve on my felted sweater is too big and floppy?
step 1b:Â figure out how long you want the tube to be and cut it to that length.
step 2b: make one cut through the tube to open it up. wrap it around your jar to see how long it needs to be. it should still overlap by about 1/2″ but only by stretching it slightly so it’s snug. trim the “tube” to that length.
step 3b: decide that you want a fancy applique on your cozy. cut that out of felt and sew it on.
step 4b: wrap the cozy around your jar and pin it. then, take it off the jar and sew it up.
step 5b: cut out a circle of felt for the bottom and a strip of felt for the handle. pin them all together as instructed above. realize that the handle you cut is too wide. instead of doing something simple like trimming it down to size, decide that you want to make this handle sturdy by pressing the edges down and sewing a zig-zag stitch on either side. attach it to the “tube” as described above.
step 6b:Â let your 2 year old son take a picture of the final product on your messy desk.
when you’re ready to drink from your jar, simply fold the top handle out of the way. the side strips become a handle for your hand to hang on to.
and that’s it! if you make one of these, i’d love to see it!
i stitched down the elastic to the background between each square. i used another sheet of printable fabric to make the faces of faraway family members. if you’d like to re-create this page more simply, you could easily stitch a felt shape (like a heart or a star) onto a square of felt instead of using the photo fabric. if i were making the page a third time, i might try leaving a little extra wiggle room on the elastic to allow more room for flipping the square over. if you’re looking for a source of round elastic, check out multi-packs of inexpensive elastic headbands. you might even find fun colors!
