Pinterest challenge Winter edition -DIY Coffee sleeve

Winter??? Says who?  Well, either way, this is the winter edition of the YHL and Bower Power Pinterest challenge.  If you remember I shared the news last week and hinted at what I would tackle.  Well, I decided that I needed to stop eying this cute little cup sleeve and just make one already.  I really need to do projects like these to build some sewing skills.  Did I build sewing skills?  Maybe a little…. I DID realize that I need a basic sewing class very badly.  Adding that to the list of things to get taken care of this life-time. 

 

On to the tutorial… oh but first, see where I started from!

 

I pinned this a while back

 

Isn’t it cute!!????  Well I am an avid coffee and Starbucks lover, so this was something that I would put to good use on a regular basis.  The tutorial over at Crafty Staci is a pretty good one.  There was some impairment on my part since I really don’t know how to sew.  My mom was such a HUGE help.  She helped me get through most of it without throwing in the towel.  Here are the steps that I followed:

 

First I picked the materials that I wanted to use.  I used one piece of cotton I had just purchased and some silver stretchy material from a pair of pants that Hannah had in her dress up clothes (she was getting rid of them).  In retrospect… use all cotton! 

 

 

I had printed out the template that Staci had provided and cut it out.  She was specific to state not to let it scale down to print… I didn’t think I had, but possibly did a little. 

Next I used a fabric marker to trace it on my materials. Be sure to flip the template over for one of your outside fabrics. 

 

Here are all of my pieces laid out and ready to put together.  I ended up being able to get some batting that was lined with a heat resistant material from my mom (told you my mom hooked me up!).  I forget the name of it.

 

 

Before I could get to pinning it all together though, I had to make my little “hook”.  I took the hair band cut it in half, then used some super glue to hold the ends together until I could sew them down.

 

Next I layered all of my pieces together. This was actually kind of complicated for some reason.  Maybe because the tutorial I was using had used batting and ironing board material so there was extra pieces, or maybe I am a little slow… not sure on that one.  Either way, my mom and I figured it out. 

1. batting material

2. printed fabric face up

3. “hook”

4. printed fabric face down

 

Seems simple enough once it was put together.  My mom actually pinned it all down and turned it right side out to make sure it would work. 

Next it all got pinned together to get it ready for sewing

 

I would probably pin it in more places next time around.  Then sew an edge around it using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I had major problems with this step (hence my mention of needing a sewing class).  It kept gathering on my and was really frustrating.

And using that stretchy material was exacerbating the issue for sure.  Here it is all stitched together.

And you notice that I stitched the whole thing?  Yea… I was supposed to leave a small section open to turn it all.  I just used my seam ripper and opened up a little spot.  Then I trimmed up all of the edges outside of my stitching.

 

And then turn it right side out and see how you did!  Just a couple more steps now…. take your turned piece and do a step I missed… IRON it!!  That should make things nice and flat.  Then take your whole piece and stitch as close to the edge as you can get all around it.  I had trouble with that little spot that I used to turn it but thanks to the advice given to me from Melanie over at The Crafty Cupboard, I think I can do a better job next time around.

 

Ok, down to the wire now…. we have to sew on that button!  I didn’t have any toothpicks, so I just used a spoon handle that seemed the appropriate thickness.  I closed up the sleeve and made a mark with my fabric marker where I should put the button.  Once I sewed it on I  wrapped the thread around underneath the button several times to add some support.

 

And voila!! Here you have it!  One coffee/drink sleeve made to order!  Whadya think??   I am, of course, my own worst critic, so I am not 100% happy with it.  There will be repeats of this!!  I am going to try one with all cotton and see how I do.  Oh and sign up for that sewing class   Notice the blooms on those trees??  Winter Sminter.  It’s spring in Virginia!!

 

Anyone else decide to jump into the challenge??  Go link up if you did, and please share here too!

 

younghouselove

Bower Power

The Great Indoors

Hi Sugarplum!

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