My sewing project on Sunday night was to make a birthday present for my boyfriend's mama: a cafetiere / French press cosy in blue to match her kitchen.
She has long admired the red coffee cosy I made for my boyfriend's birthday last year, so (fingers crossed) it should go down well!
If you'd like to make a cosy for your own cafetiere...
You will need:
- a thick wool jumper/sweater, turned into felt (instructions for this can be found
HERE)
- co-ordinating fabric, washed and ironed before use
- sewing thread to match the felt (& white thread if you're using velcro)
- either narrow elastic & 2 large buttons OR sew-on velcro OR 2 large snap fasteners
- paper for pattern making, a tape measure, pins, scissors and sewing needle
- a cafetiere / French press
To make the red design (fastened with 2 elastic loops and buttons)
1) Draw a rectangle large enough to wrap around your cafetiere. 28cm x 14cm should fit a standard cafetiere, but I'd recommend measuring yours to get one that's just right. Use the tape measure to measure round the cafetiere and use these measurements to draw your pattern, cut it out then hold it against the cafetiere to see if you're happy with the size.
2) Pin your pattern to a piece of felted sweater, and cut around it. Then do the same with your fabric, this time leaving a 1.5 cm border all the way around it so you can fold the fabric over.
3) Pin the felt to your fabric, placing your pins in the middle of the rectangle and taking care that the "wrong" side of the felt faces the "wrong" side of the fabric. Then gradually work around the edge of your cosy, tucking the excess fabric under and pinning the edges in place.
4) Using neat running stitches, sew along both the long edges of the cosy twice - once a few mms from the edge and once 1cm from the edge, removing the pins gradually as you sew. Leave the short edges open. You may also want to sew a short diagonal line from each corner to sew the turned-under fabric neatly in place.
5) Securely sew 2 buttons in place on one end of your cosy (the positioning of these will depend on what kind of handle your cafetiere has), and sew two small loops of elastic in the same positions on the other end (sewing the ends between the felt and fabric to keep them hidden). I sewed the buttons on first, then held the cosy round the cafetiere to help me measure and position the elastic loops. Secure the elastic with a couple of loose stitches first, then test they're the right size before you sew them on tightly. Alternatively, instead of elastic buttons you could sew four lengths of ribbon to use as ties.
6) Finish your cosy by sewing along the short edges to match the other sides - one line of stitches near the edge, and a second 1cm from it.
To make the blue design (fastened with velcro or snap fasteners)
A) Follow step 1 above, but add another rectangle to your pattern so you have a section that will wrap right round the cafetiere (through the handle) with enough overlap for you to attach your fasteners. Mine was 8cm x 4 cm.
B) Follow steps 2 & 3.
C) Sew your two lines of running stitch around your cosy, stopping a cm or two from the ends and leaving the short edges open so you can sew on your fasteners:
D) Position your velcro or snap fasteners and sew them in place (use white thread for the velcro so your stitches are hidden). Sew one side first, then wrap your cosy around the cafetiere to help you perfectly position the other side so your cosy will fit tightly.
E) Finish your cosy by sewing the open ends to match the other edges (with two lines of running stitch).
This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it for as many cosies as you like for yourself or as gifts for friends but please don't make any for sale. Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!
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