Tutorial Tuesday: Go-Go Coffee Sleeve

Hi there everyone!!

Remember these?

Well today I'm going to show you how I made them! I'm making a Thing 3 one today to give to Tony (Brandi's husband). Someday I'll make a Thing 4 for JJ, but she's a little young for coffee yet.

Materials:
Small bit of white fabric (a piece about 8.5" x 11")
Small bit of red fabric (enough to make a coffee sleeve)
Old coffee sleeve from Starbucks or other local coffee company to make your pattern
Freezer paper
Iron
Sewing machine
Heat 'n Bond (the purple, not the red)
Tiny elastic
Button
Excitement 

First you have to make your image. I used paint because I'm a bit simple-minded when it comes to graphic design. I just used a circle shape and text to make the images. (The text is Parade, in case you're wondering.)

And then I cropped it really close to the edges of the circle and cut it and pasted into MS Word so I could re-size it. I did that, because I can use the rulers in Word to tell me how big I want it to be. I made this one about 2.5" high because the whole sleeve is about 3" high so I had room for seam allowance.

After that, I followed THIS AWESOME TUTORIAL for printing on the fabric (minus the vinegar setting part - because I know this won't get washed all that often so setting it isn't an issue and if it is, we can always do that later).


Then you want to adhere your Heat 'n Bond to your fabric BEFORE you cut it out. I always forget that part and end up getting goo all over the place. So, adhere Heat 'n Bond, cut out your circle, then place to the side.

 (See? I cut out the fabric part first. Big no-no.)



Now to make the pattern for your coffee sleeve, take an old sleeve that you have laying around and trace it adding about an inch on top, a half inch on the bottom, and half inch on each sides. OR, you can use this pattern and just make sure that your height is about 3.5" to allow for seam allowance.

Once you have your pattern set, you can cut out your red fabric.

After you cut out your sleeve pieces, take one of them and turn it right side facing you, peel the backing off your white printed fabric, and put it on top of the red in the center and iron it on.

After you've ironed it on, go over to your sewing machine and topstitch around the black circle with black thread to add extra stability. (This is why you use the purple not the red Heat 'n Bond - so you can sew it.)

After this, put the red pieces right sides together and sew them together with either a 1/4" or 1/8" seam allowance (whatever you prefer or will work with your dimensions) leaving an opening at both ends of the sleeve (I backstitch at the beginning and end so the stitches don't pull so much when I turn the fabric.)

 When you get to the other side of your sleeve, you want to insert a small loop of elastic while you're sewing.

I also backstitch during this part to be sure the elastic is secure in there. I'm always nervous it will snap on me!

After all this is done, turn your sleeve right side out, press, and topstitch it so it's pretty.

Then place your button, sew it on, and admire your beautiful work!!

There you have it! A tutorial for how to make one of these really cute sleeves. I know there are a million tutorials out there for how to make coffee sleeves, but I wanted to share this with you because I love it and because I used that super cool technique of printing on fabric for it. If you make a sleeve using this tutorial, send us pictures! We'd love to see your creativity! You can email us at craftygirlsquared [at] gmail [dot] com or leave us a comment with a link to your blog and we'll check it out!  This goes for any of our tutorials. We love making new friends!!

Have a great week, everyone!