When you’re in a hurry, microwaving food can be a great timesaver, but running to the table with a microwaved bowl in your hands makes for a risky sprint! However, after completing this microwavable bowl cozy tutorial, you’ll soon be turning those mad dashes across the kitchen with a piping hot bowl into smug steps of satisfaction, complete with cool hands. Our friends at Peppermint magazine are back to show you how to make this quick project ensuring both ease and style the next time you zap your next meal.
Peppermint: Protect your hands from hot bowls and dishes with this sweet bowl cozy project. The cozy can go into the microwave with your bowl so there’s no need for a pot holder or towel to remove your hot dish. Beautiful for the home and a great gift, this satisfyingly quick-sew project will have you turning out bowl cozies by the bundle. It’s a great scrapbuster project for those clever quilters too!
An important note about fabric and thread choices:
Synthetic fabrics like polyester or nylon, plus fabrics with metallic detail, are not suitable for this project due to the fire/melting risk when used in the microwave.
Fabric: If you’re using a fabric for this project that’s different than our Petal Signature Cotton®, use an all-cotton fabric.
Thread: Use cotton thread. Do not polyester, synthetic or metallic thread.
Skill Level:
Confident Beginner
Materials
- 2 fat quarters of 100% cotton fabric—We’re using Petal Signature Cotton in Protea Abstract 4 Bottle Green and Graphic Jelly Shapes, both by mountvicandme. (Not synthetic fabric, see text above regarding the fire/melting risk.)
- Printed PDF pattern
- 100% cotton wadding/batting (We’re using Wrap-N-ZapTM)
- 100% cotton thread (Not polyester thread, see text above regarding the fire/melting risk.)
- Dressmaking scissors or rotary cutter with cutting mat
- Iron
- Sewing machine (A universal needle will work, but a denim or heavy-duty needle is a good option for the topstitching.)
- Turning tool or a DIY version, like a chopstick or knitting needle
Steps to Make a Bowl Cozy
1. Download and print the pattern.
Download and print your pattern via the link here. Feel free to increase or decrease the printing scale as required for your chosen bowl. The diameter of the template as is is just shy of 15″. If you want to play around with the scale of the printed pattern, it will increase and decrease the size of its diameter accordingly.
2. Cut out the pattern.
Cut out the pattern from the piece of paper.
3. Prepare your fabric and batting.
Fabric: Pre-shrink by putting it through a basic cycle in the washing machine, then dry and iron.
Batting: Prepare as per the product instructions.
4. Cut out your fabric pieces.
Take the pattern and lay it on your fabric. Be sure to follow the pattern markings and cut your fabric on the fold. Cut two pieces. If you would like to use two different fabrics to make your cozy reversible as we have done, cut one of each fabric.
5. Crease an ‘X’ pattern on the fabric.
Using an iron, press two diagonal lines in the fabric, one running top left to bottom right and the other running top right to bottom left. This will create an ‘X’ pattern through the center of the fabric.
6. Cut out the batting.
Cut two squares of batting which are slightly larger than the fabric squares.
7. Place and pin the batting.
Place one piece of fabric on top of a square of batting and pin.
8. Sew the fabric to the batting.
9. Trim the batting.
Following the shape of the fabric, trim the excess batting.
10. Line up the edges of the darts.
Line up the raw edges of the darts by folding the fabric right sides together to prepare them for sewing.
11. Sew the darts.
Sew each dart, backstitching at the beginning and end. Be sure to capture both the fabric and batting together so there are no raw edges on the right side. This can be tricky due to the thickness of the batting.
12. Pin both sides of the cozy together with the fabric facing inward.
Once you have sewn all the darts for both sides of the cozy, take the two sides and pin them right sides together.
13. Sew along all edges, except for a 3” opening.
Using your sewing machine, sew along all edges leaving a 3” opening in the middle of one of the straight edges—don’t have your opening on a corner!
14. Tidy up the fabric.
Clip the corners and trim the seam allowances.
15. Birth the bowl cozy through the 3” opening.
Turn the project right side out and sharpen your corners by pushing gently with a turning tool. If you don’t have a turning tool, you can use a DIY option like a chopstick or a knitting needle. (And, yes, when you push your project through a small hole, it’s called birthing!)
16. Topstitch all the way around the edge of the cozy.
Topstitch the entire way round the edge of the bowl cozy, sealing the 3” opening as you do. While you should be able to complete this project with a standard needle in your sewing machine, a denim or heavy-duty needle is also a good option—particularly for the topstitching. When topstitching your bowl cozy, pivot at the corners rather than stitching four independent straight lines as this will achieve a neater look.
And ta da! Your bowl cozy is now complete, you clever thing! Release your inner MasterChef and celebrate with a bowl of something hot and delicious.