Cafetiere Cosy Sewing Tutorial Part 3: assemble your cosy

This is the final part of my tutorial on how to make a cafetiere cosy. If you’ve followed part one and part two, you’ll know how to create and embellish the crazy patchwork base, and you’ll also have discovered how to thread sketch an embroidered motif to your design. This post will now show you how to assemble the finished cosy ready for use.

You will need:

  • Ribbon (to tie your cafetiere cosy in place)
  • Sewing machine and matching thread
  • Pins and tacking thread
  • Iron and ironing board

Cut 2 lengths of ribbon, approximately 20cm in length, and pin to your cosy approximately 4-6cm apart. You’ll need to pin the ribbons face down to the right side of your cosy, so that they are lying inwards.

I find its helpful to use pins with coloured heads, and place them so they are facing outwards and slightly hang over the edge of your work (easier to spot when you are sewing everything together!)

Repeat this process with two other lengths of ribbon, this time pinning to the opposite side.

Now place your backing fabric on top (right sides together if it has a pattern), and pin in place. This is where repositioning the pins above is helpful as you can still see them sticking out between the layers. You can also now tack your backing fabric in place if you find that easier.

Sew round the edge of your work, using a 1cm seam allowance, and making sure you leave a gap. Use this gap to turn your work through to the right side, and give your work a quick press to flatten out and neaten up. Re-pin the gap.

Now hand sew the gap closed (I like to use ladder stitch for this), and you will have your finished cafetiere cosy ready to use!

As mentioned throughout these tutorials, this project was inspired by the theme ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’, as part of my Creative Sewing Challenge. If you want to find out more about taking part yourself, further information can be found here or you can sign up for free below:

If you use this tutorial to make your own cosy, please do tag me on Instagram @amylovestosew to share your makes, I love to see other people’s sewing. And here’s a handy pin for later…