Twelve Weeks of Homemade GIfts: [Week Four] Reusable Cup Sleeve

OK. I'm so excited about my brand new hobby, I made about 14 of these today:

Why yes, that is a reusable sleeve with a cute gold button.

Oh, and the drink? Dirty chai.

So, I know there are probs a million tutorials for this exact project around the web. Mine is going to be very tailored to those of us that started sewing two days ago.

If you want to get started sewing, I highly recommend taking a 'let's get oriented to our machine' classes at your local sewing shop. I don't recommend taking a class from Joanne's or Michael's--they're typically geared toward buying product/supplies and typically have too many people in them to really get a good orientation. If you're in the Portland, OR area, I highly recommend going to A Common Thread in Tualatin/Lake Oswego area. A lot of these shops will also offer 'machine rental' where you can sit in their shop for hours and work on your project [and get help from all the super talented folks that work there.]

There area  ton of 'no sew' projects out on Pinterest--typically they're way more difficult than just learning how to sew and don't stay together very well. So get over your fears [I had to] and hop on a machine!

This is a really good starter project. It involves a lot of basic skills; sewing in a straight line, turning corners, and turning things inside out.

Alright, let's get started!

Here's what you need:

I'm going button thrifting tomorrow for awesome buttons.
$2.50 for 3 buttons is highway robbery, Joanne's.

• Two strips of fabric (you need two strips that are about 4inches x 12 inches)
• Fusible batting (I used Fusible Fleece, it worked really well. You could also use batting and two sheets of iron paper)
• Starbucks cup sleeve and a piece of paper
• A hair tie
• Cute Button
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Needle/thread

[I spent about $12 on materials and have enough fabric to make about 20 of these things. So...]


Step One: Set up your machine. There's lots of YouTube videos on threading different models of machines. The newer machines also typically have little diagrams in their manuals. This will be the hardest part of this project. Seriously.


Step Two: Iron your fabric (not your batting) until it looks really pretty.

Step Three: Now we need to make our pattern. Take your Starbucks sleeve and un-attach the seam so it lays flat. Get a piece of paper. Trace around the sleeve leaving about 1/2 inch space between your tracing line and the sleeve [think in terms of, 'OK I want my finished size to be the size of this sleeve, but I need to leave myself enough space to sew a seam around and turn it inside out.']

Pretty, right?

Step Five: Pin your pattern to your fabric and cut. You'll need one strip of each fabric, and one strip of your batting.

I cheated and cut them all at the same time.
This may be a cardinal sin of sewing...but...

Step Six: Cut your hair-tie in half.

Step Seven: Grab one piece of your fabric [doesn't matter which one] and pin the hair-tie to the flat side of the fabric design-side up.

Step Eight: Stack them. First, your hair-tie attached fabric, then your other piece of fabric [design side down], then batting. Pin together and prepare your mind to sit at your sewing machine.

Super blurry, but you see how they're stacked. 

Step Nine: OK, deep breath. Sew around the edge [about 1/4 inch away from the end] Leave 2 inches at the bottom open so you have plenty of room to turn it inside out. Sew right over the hair-tie ends, for good measure, reverse your machine and sew over them twice.

Oops, sorry. Too excited. Forgot to take a picture. 

Imagine a curvy fabric thing with a nice stitch around the outside.

I left about 2 inches of an opening at the bottom. 

Step Ten: You did it! Now trim the corners and turn your project inside out.

Oops, sorry. Again...way too excited. 

Imagine a curvy fabric thing with a nice stitch around the outside 

with the corners trimmed.

Step Eleven: Iron it. If you are using the same batting that I did, get a super hot iron on the Steam setting and press for about 15 seconds each spot. This makes a huge difference. Make sure when you iron the bottom edge [the part you left open to turn it inside out] that you tuck the edges in so it looks just like the rest of the edges.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking.
"She forgot to take a picture of the most confusing step,
but took a picture of this?"
Yeah....sorry. I'll try to update later.

Step Twelve:  OK, second deep breath. Back to the machine. Carefully sew all the way around the project again [1/4 inch away from the edge.] Looking awesome, right?

I gave two fist pumps when this came out.

Step Thirteen: Button time! Loop your project around and measure where your button should go by taking a pencil and mark where your hair-tie ends. Like this:

You have no idea how difficult it is to hold an iPhone,
take a picture, and hold this pencil there.
You're lucky I kept breathing.

Step Fourteen: Sew your button [really tight] on your pencil spot. If you are using a button with holes that go through the button [regular button] put a toothpick under the button. This will make it so your hair-tie will have plenty of room to fit behind the button.

Four fist pumps, way high in the air, YEAH!

Step Fifteen: Force your husband to take you to Starbucks to test out your new creation.

Oh, yeah!

Simple, right? The most difficult part [besides setting up your machine] is remembering to take your cute sleeve off before you throw the cup away.

Make these in bulk for your warm-drink loving buddies, include them in a cute hot chocolate gift package, or give out to your kid's teacher!