Upcycle Old Shirts Into This Kitchen Tool For A Cozier Coffee Routine

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Recently, many of us have been embracing cozier kitchen designs and routines. Even the smallest touches can make a big impact on a little self-care. We're seeing this a lot with coffee. There's a growing trend of creating dedicated café corners in kitchens and making each morning's cuppa into more of a day-brightening ritual. Whether you've created a charming coffee nook in your home yet or not, there's a simple, affordable, and fun way to inject coziness into your java routine. It's especially perfect if you like upcycling items into kitchen staples.

The trick is to create cute, reusable coffee cozies from old shirts. Got a favorite shirt that's too worn out or stained to wear anymore? Don't toss it, keep your coffee warm with it. Its texture and pattern will add eclectic flair to your coffee setup, too. This project could be as easy as snipping off the cuff of a button-down shirt with defined cuffs — just think of how soft and warm a flannel cuff would be with your morning mug.

If the cuff doesn't fit your coffee cups, though, you can sew just one line of stitching to tighten it or add another strip of fabric to let it out. If you don't have a cuff to work with, you can turn any fabric into a cozy by tracing a cardboard cozy from a coffee shop onto paper, cutting that shape into your fabric, sewing on a backing, and sealing the edges with an easy closure like Velcro.

When you consider what cozies do for all manner of beverages, it's kind of surprising that more of us aren't already using them for our coffee or tea at home. Think of the way that little sleeve makes it possible for you to even hold your scalding cup at Starbucks, or how koozies keep beer cans insulated so the surrounding temperatures don't impact the beverage. A cozy can help your coffee or tea stay warm at home, too, and simultaneously makes even the hottest cup easier to hold.

If you venture beyond snipping cuffs off your flannel shirts, here are some specifics to keep in mind. A sewing kit is likely sufficient if you're just tightening or letting out a cuff, but a sewing machine is probably more reliable if you're creating a cozy from scratch using any strip of fabric. For that route, you'll need a cardboard cozy from a local coffee shop to trace onto paper, plus a ruler — you'll want to trace a shape about a half-inch bigger than the cozy if you want to sew edges down clean lines.

To make the cozy more truly insulating and protect the fabric from heat too, use backing like this HeatnBond Fusible Fleece, which can be ironed on. To make the cozy easy to get on and off different mugs, finish it with the adjustable closure of Art3d Velcro Strips.