No-Sew Felted Mug Cozies: an Easy but Adorable Handmade Craft

These no-sew, felted mug cozies are a simple and thrifty project perfect for people who do not sew nor have a sewing machine. This project is quick and the results are super cute. Plus, these felted mug cozies make awesome gifts for any warm-beverage drinker in your life!

Materials

• Felted sweaters in different colors – see full instructions in this post.
• Scissors
• Mug or Mason jar
• Felting mat
• Needle felting tool
• Wool roving

Make it!

For this project you will only need the cuffs of the sleeves of a felted sweater. If you felted the wool properly, it will not unravel when it’s cut. Sweaters that have less wool and a higher percentage of synthetics are likely to unravel more, so look for sweaters that are mostly wool. Each sweater is different, so you’ll have to experiment. Save the rest of the felted sweater for other craft projects.

Measure the mug’s length and then measure the sleeve starting at the top of the ribbed cuff. Cut the appropriate length. If you have mugs without handles or want to use it for a Mason jar cozy, then congratulations! You’ve made a cozy and can skip over to the needle felting applique.(If you have a mug with a handle, then read on.)

To cut a slit for the mug’s handle to slip through, measure about ½ inch down from the top of the cuff and start cutting until you reach about ½ from the bottom. Slip the cozy onto the mug at this point and make adjustments if needed. Flip the mug to the front and make sure you like what you see. At this point you are technically done, but it could use a little something extra.

What makes wool especially fun to work with is that you can use other pieces of wool as appliques and bind them by another felting process, needle felting. To do this you will need a felting mat and a needle felting tool.

Cut a shape out of another piece of felted wool sweater, or you can use wool roving or wool yarn. Slide the cozy around the felting mat (be sure to not felt the applique to both sides of the cuff as you will stick it together) and center the applique onto the cuff.

Use the felting needle tool to punch in the applique onto the cuff. You will need to make several passes until the applique adheres to the cuff. If you are using wool yarn or roving wool, you will adhere it to the cuff the same way, except use little pieces at a time to create a design.

The sky’s the limit as far as appliques go. Try a flower motif or monograms. You don’t have to applique; you can make a pretty cozy with sweaters that have interesting textures and colors.

Brew a cup of tea or coffee and slip your custom cozy onto your favorite mug. It will feel like a warm, soft  hug every morning.