Tie Coffee Cup Cozies

Here it is folks, part two of my tie tutorials.  I think once I am done making tie related items for this baby shower I might be over my obsession with ties.  While I still love the colors, patterns and fabrics they come in I am also learning that they can be a bit hard to work with.  I am in no sense of the word an expert seamstress, so I am sure there are much easier ways to sew ties than how I am doing it.  But, even if it's a little frustrating I am still able to sew them.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine gave me a fabric cozy to use on my daily coffee run.  In those days I would go get a cup of fancy schmancy coffee every morning (large mocha, no whip cream, soy milk).  It always seemed like a waste to have the coffee cup, lid and the paper wrap around it to keep your hands from getting too hot.  My friend found this cozy at a craft sale and I faithfully used it for several years.  Now, we have a Keurig in the office and I use that for my morning coffee.  It's not quite as good but the cash it saves me is worth a little sacrifice on the taste.  Every once in a while I still go get my fancy coffee because some days you just need that pick me up.  Upon contemplating what to do with all of the ties I have and how to make them into baby shower favors I decided that they would make excellent coffee cozy's.  So, here is my little tutorial on how I made these little guys.

P.S. if anyone knows the official name of what these are called I would love to know.  I think I just made the name up myself!

The Inspiration

What to avoid

You will need:

Tie (shocking, I know)

Button that corresponds with your tie

Ponytail holder

Cut off approximately 14" of the tie, using the larger end of the tie. 

Fold the unfinished edge of the tie over two times and pin in place.  I folded over about 3/4 of an inch and then folded that over again. 

Folded once

Folded twice

Pin in place

Next, sew up the folded over, pinned edge.

I am going to just tell you right now that I had a bit of trouble getting this to sew smoothly, for some reason the material did not want to move through the machine so I had to pull and prod it through a bit.  Not sure if this was the material, the machine or my sewing skills.  It was probably my sewing skills!  But, I wanted to throw that in there so in case you have the same issue you know it's not just you!

I sewed this edge 2-3 times to make sure it was really closed and solid

Next, sew the ponytail holder onto the tip end of the tie.  I did this part by hand and did not sew right on the tip but a tiny bit in so that it would be secure. 

Next, grab your button and measure about 7" from the tip of the tie.  Sew the button between 7-8" from the tip of the tie.  I also sewed mine towards the top of tie so that the opening was smaller at the bottom and would form a cone around the cup. 

Lastly, wrap around a coffee cup, secure ponytail holder around button and sip your favorite hot beverage!

This cup is not the best example since it is so short, but you get the idea, right?

Here are a couple I have done, only 12 more to go before the shower!

This could also be a fun addition to a coffee lovers Christmas gift!  Grab a basket, a coffee gift card, some actual coffee and throw in one of these babies and you will have one happy coffee drinker!