What’s the number one sewing resolution for 2011? Get organized! We thought a great place to start would be to use up some of our scraps we can’t bear to throw away, but which are starting to take up almost as much room as the new stuff. We have a series of fun projects this month called, ‘Scap It’ – the first one is our girly-girl reusable hot cup jacket for your morning coffee or tea. There are lots of patterns out there for this type of thing, but none with our signature touch: the ruffle! Skip that boring ol’ cardboard sleeve and wake up your cup with a fun and frilly custom jacket.
Our instructions are for one jacket, but I ended up making three as I perfected the instructions. They are super fast and easy, and you can really get an assembly line going: cut-cut-cut, ruffle-ruffle-ruffle, stitch-stitch-stitch. These would be awesome for a craft fair or as an Etsy item.
Sewing Tools You Need
- Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome Jem Gold 3)
- Ultimate Ruffler (optional)
Fabric and Other Supplies
- Scraps of various cotton fabrics (you need two pieces for each body, both about 12″ x 4″ and one piece for the ruffle about 2½” x 36″): we used our collection of scraps from Heather Bailey’ s Pop Garden & Bijoux Collection: Sway in Turquoise and Lime for the cup bodies and Tiled Primrose in Canary for all the ruffles
- Scrap of lightweight batting (one piece about 12″ x 4″): we used Kyoto Bamboo Blend batting from Fabric.com
- Scrap of ¾” sew-in Velcro: approximately 1½”
- All purpose thread to match fabrics
- See-through ruler
- Iron and ironing board
- Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
- Straight pins
Getting Started
- Download and print the Hot Cup Pattern.
IMPORTANT: This pattern consists of ONE 8½” x 11″ sheet. You must print the PDF file at 100%. DO NOT SCALE to fit the page. - Cut out each piece along the solid line and tape together at the points indicated by the arrows.
- Using the assembled pattern, cut TWO pieces of patterned fabric for each cup body.
NOTE: Remember, you need to cut out your two pieces with your fabric folded either right sides together or wrong sides together. That way you end up with one front and one back. Otherwise, you could end up with two fronts or two backs that won’t match up when you place them together to sew. I like to work with wrong sides together so I can fussy cut my designs . - Still using the assembled pattern, cut ONE piece from the lightweight batting.
- From the fabric for the ruffle, cut ONE 2½” x 36″ strip.
NOTE: The length of your ruffle strip can be slightly shorter or longer. The perimeter you need to cover is approximately 23″. We wanted a shallow ruffle and so somewhat randomly decided on the 36″ length, which was about half again as long as the finished distance. If you’d like a tighter ruffle, start with a longer strip.
At Your Sewing Machine
- The ends of the ruffle are finished. To do this, fold both ends of the strip right sides together and stitch, using a ¼” seam allowance.
- Clip the corners and trim.
- Turn the strip right side out and press in half to match finished ends. Poke out the corners if need be so they are nice and sharp.
- Ruffle the strip to a finished length of approximately 23″.
- If you are new to ruffling, we have two tutorials you can review:
Accessories We Love: The Janome Ultimate Ruffler Attachment - I used my Ultimate Ruffler. I set the slot to “1” and the depth screw to “1”.
- Set aside your finished ruffle strip.
- Find your batting piece, and machine baste it to the WRONG side of one body piece. You basting line should be approximately ¼” from the raw edge around the entire piece.
- Pull apart the little chunk on Velcro. Place the loop side on the RIGHT side of the tab end of the fabric/batting piece. Align it in the center of the TAB end along the line of basting. Place the hook side on the RIGHT side of the remaining body piece, centered and 5/8″ from the raw edge of the STRAIGHT end.
- Stitch each piece of Velcro in place around all four sides, staying very close to the edge.
NOTE: You can pin the Velcro in place or use a small Glue Dot or a piece of double-stick tape. Once measured, I simply hold the Velcro in place with my fingernail until I get it in position under the needle. I check that it hasn’t moved by measuring again with my seam gauge before I start stitching.
- On the fabric/batting piece, place a pin at the top and bottom tab corner points.
- Find your ruffle strip and pin it in place, starting at one pin and ending at the other.
- Be careful to align the raw edges of the ruffle strip with the raw edges of the body piece. Also be careful going around the corners to keep your ruffles even.
- Stitch the ruffle in place with a ¼” seam allowance.
- Layer the remaining body piece over the top, sandwiching the ruffle in between. Again, you need to be careful to keep the corner ruffles out of the way of the seam allowance. You can pin them out of the way.
- Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch along three sides of the jacket, leaving only the tab end open for turning.
- If you used pins to hold your ruffle-corners in place, work them out before you attempt to turn the jacket right side out.
- It’s a bit of a tight fit, but just get the piece started, then you can use the ruffles to help pull the jacket right side out.
- Fold in the raw edges of the tab so they are flush with the edge of the Velcro. Pin and
- Steam and press nice and flat.
- The jacket will fit just perfectly around a standard takeout coffee cup.
Contributors
Project Concept: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Liz Johnson
Other machines suitable for this project include the Elna SewFun and the Brother BC-1000.
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