Cozying up for Christmas

Isn't this disgusting? When they all get thrown into garbage cans, it's easy to forget how much we consume. According to Cup Kozy, a company that sells a plethora of cozies, 14 billion cups of coffee are wrapped in sleeves every year, generating 2.8 billion pounds of trash! Yikes!

{Image via daily dose of imagery}

Back here, I talked about an easy way to be a little bit greener by using a reusable coffee cozy. So, staying with the homemade Christmas gift theme, I made my mom and dad (who go to Panera every Sunday morning after mass), cozies for their cups. The project was relatively simple, requiring only basic sewing abilities. There are a lot of patterns and tutorials online, but I just dove in and made it up as I went along, using a cardboard Panera sleeve as a size guide.


For my dad's, I cut felt for the inner insulation layer to the exact size of the sleeve and then cut the burlap piece about 1/2 inch wider on all sides. The edges were sewn quickly with a sewing machine (a little crooked because I was going fast, but it works with the rougher feel of the burlap) and then I hand-stitched the edges together.


For my mom, I made a reversible sleeve, one side with cut-out felt hearts and the other with printed pink polka dot felt. I cut both pieces (the grey and the polka dot) to the exact size of the sleeve and then used a blanket stitch to bind them together.


Listening to: "Wait Your Turn" Rihanna
Thought of the Day: "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." -Mae West