What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

• Needle and thread or sewing machine
• Scissors
• Cup or jar
• Paper and pencil

Materials

• Fabric (2 kinds for outside and inner lining)
• Batting

Instructions

In essence, making coffee sleeves is sewing small bags for cups, just without handles or straps. Just like homemade bags, each sleeve has an outer fabric ring that wraps around the cup, with a bottom piece to keep all condensation contained.

You can use a few different techniques to create your own—our method involves cutting individual pieces of fabric to form sides and a bottom, but feel free to experiment until you find the strategy that works best for you. Others include using a single large pattern that wraps around the sides of a cup, rather than sewing three separate pieces of fabric together.

Or make a fabric sleeve that a cup can easily slip into: This follows the process as the one we outline below; you just don't need to make a bottom piece.

Measure Cup and Make Pattern

1. Measure the height and circumference of your favorite coffee cup or jar. Trace the dimensions on a sheet of paper to make your pattern. If you're unsure of your pattern dimensions, cut out the paper pattern and wrap it around your cup to ensure it's the right size.
2. 
   

Cut Fabric and Batting

1. Once the pattern is finished, use it to cut out pieces of fabric, making sure to also cut a piece to cover the bottom of your cup or jar. Use two different patterns or colors to differentiate between the outside and inner lining. Also, cut out pieces of batting to help insulate the sleeve and give it a more three-dimensional look.
2. In total, you should have:

• 1 rectangle for outer body
• 1 rectangle for inner lining
• 1 rectangle of batting
• 2 circles of fabric for bottom piece
• 1 circle of batting for bottom piece

1. Before cutting your fabric, consider adding 1/4 inch around the outside of the pattern for seam allowance.

Sew Body of the Sleeve

1. First, sew the piece of batting to the inner side of the outer fabric (the side you don't want to show). Once the batting is sewn on, join the ends of the outer fabric to create a cylinder and sew to secure. Make sure the right side of the fabric is showing outwards.
2. Create another cylinder using the lining fabric. Sew to secure.

Attach Lining Fabric

1. There are multiple ways to attach the lining to the outside cylinder. If you want to keep it simple, sew the top edges of the cylinders together, making sure the lining is turned inside out. Once sewn, fold the lining down inside the outer cylinder.

Sew and Attach Bottom Piece

1. Like with the cylinders, sew the outer and lining circles together with the piece of batting sandwiched between. After the circle is completed, sew it onto the bottom of the cylinder, finishing off the sleeve.