Mug Muff

While y'all were out partying last night, I was making a muff for my new Cuppow. For those of you who don't know, the Cuppow is a brilliant little invention: a BPA-free, hard plastic coffee cup lid that fits over a wide-mouth canning jar (I refuse to say mason jar, because I don't want to remind you of that godawful blues rock band. Oh, shit. Sorry.), turning it into an adorable travel mug! If you're as picky as I am about beverage vessels, then this thing is a game-changer. Shit just doesn't taste the same out of plastic or metal travel mugs. I'm thinking mainly of chai here, which is something - when made properly - you just don't want to fuck with. After a friend posted about the Cuppow on her Facebook page, I knew I had to have one. Luckily, the bright kids at Kid Icarus are now stocking them, though keeping them in stock is proving to be a challenge because they're selling like crazy. You can buy one there for $12, as well as the perfect sized jar for another $3. The only problem with this new portable drinking system is that your fingers will burn like a mofo! And the weird size of the jar means that your average drinking glass cozy won't fit (don't act like you don't have a drawer full of drinking glass cozies). Adapting a Denyse Schmidt pattern for a patchwork muff (a thing to keep your hands warm, you dirty birds), I made a mini muff to slide around my jar late last night. Below are some step-by-step(ish) photos of how I did it (apologies for shitty photo quality, it was dark in the studio). If you have Denyse Schmidt's Quilts, you can probably figure it out, but if you don't, here's how it all went down: I wanted my muff to pretty much cover the entire jar, hoping that it might also help to keep my drink warm. If you want something similar, then your finished muff should be about 3 inches high, and 10 inches around (to fit a standard wide-mouth jar). So I started with two strips of fabric (a checked blue cotton for the outside, a charcoal grey wool for the inside) each measuring 4 by 11 inches. I used a strip of cotton quilt batting as the insulating layer which should be the exact size of your desired muff (3 by 10 inches). Folding each piece of fabric in half (right sides together), sew the short end shut (using a 1/4 inch seam allowance) and press the seam open. You now have two squat little sleeves. Slip the inner sleeve fabric into the outer sleeve fabric (again, right sides facing), and sew them together at one end (using a 1/2 inch seam allowance). Then turn the inner sleeve out, and press the seam against it. Next, I wrapped the quilt batting around the jar and whip-stitched it shut (shown in the very first photo up top) to make sure it fit snuggly. You don't want your muff slipping off! Then I placed the insulating sleeve around the outer sleeve fabric, and folded the edges of both sleeve ends in about 1/2 inch, pressing them flat. I don't have a photo of the next step, but all you do next is turn the inner sleeve down over the batting so that the folded edge lines up with the folded edge of the inner sleeve. I also tucked the batting into the folded edge of the grey fabric before lining the sleeves up so that it wouldn't stick out or be visible. With the batting tucked into place, sew the edges of both sleeves together, and you're done! I added one more seam along the other end of the muff, too, for symmetry. And boom! You got a mug muff. Environmentally friendly container, proper tasting beverage, and finger protection. Time to step up your travel mug game, commuters.