Mug Sweater: 30 Days of Christmas Crafts Day 17

There’s nothing quite like that first cup of tea

30 Days of Christmas Crafts Day 17: Mug Sweater

You may think I’m crazy for creating this mug sweater since we have all sorts of great insulated travel mugs, but let me explain. I’m a tea-drinker, and hot tea just doesn’t taste as good in tin travel mugs as it does in my ceramic mug. As soon as I get in the car with my mug on a cold day, my tea goes stone cold. So, I had to come up with a solution. I love this one because it insulates the bottom and the sides of the mug and keeps it warm on those cold winter days.

I’ve used an old 100% wool sweater and 100% cottont-shirt from the thrift shop.Natural fibers–especially the wool– retain heat better. I’ve washed them in hot water and dried on the hottest setting in my dryer in order to shrink the wool and make it sort of like wool felt–thick and warm.

Supplies:

recycled wool sweater

recycled t-shirt

ribbon

thread

hair elastic

button

Sewing machine (I used my Skyline S5)

Prepare:

Measure around your favorite t-cup (circumference)

Measure the height

Cut a piece of wool this height an circumference

Now, use the bottom of your cup as your guide and cut a circle

Cut a 1″ strip of t-shirt fabric the length of your piece of wool

Cut two 1″ strips of t-shirt fabric the height of your piece of wool

Sew:

Set your machine to a stretch stitch. On the Skyline S5 that stitch is mode 1 stitch 10:

(I’ve sewn on a lot of machines, and the Skyline S5 sews the best stretch stitch I’ve seen. It doesn’t stretch the material as it sews, and ends up looking like a straight line. Beautiful!)

To create a binding for the top of your mug sweater, with right sides together, sew the t-shirt strip to the top of your fabric. Do the same for one end of your fabric.

To create the button fastener, sandwich the hair elastic between the wool and the t-shirt strip.Sew using stretch stitch.

Turn binding to wrong side and stitch.

To create the circular bottom of your mug sweater, first place wool circle on the bottom center of your mug sweater, right sides together.

Now, attach the straight bottom of your mug sweater to the circle by sewing it to the circle. Start in the center of the circle and sew to the right attaching the right half of the sweater bottom. Next, sew to the left completing the circle.