5-minute Easy DIY Coffee Cozy from a Sock!

Warm up with a hot beverage without burning yourself with an easy DIY coffee cozy can be made from a mismatched sock in around 5 minutes! You can also make cup cozies from polar fleece scraps or other knit items.

By now you should know that I love to repurpose things. You may have also noticed that I love herbal teas and infusions. I have even showed you how you can make infusions from plants that you find in your own garden!

What I don’t love, though, is burning my hands on my hot cup of tea.

Make a Cup Cozy from a Sock!

Good thing for me that making a cup cozy is so simple and fun to do. You can even take advantage of a pretty, mismatched sock that you no longer can use. If you don’t have a mismatched sock you like, you can buy inexpensive pairs of socks on sale or at a dollar store, giving you the ability to quickly make two inexpensive tea cozies, one for you and one for a friend.

If you don’t want to do any sewing, it’s as easy as cutting the toe off of your sock and slipping it over your cup. I like having a double layer of fabric to keep my hands protected and help keep my tea warm, so to easily achieve that, you can double the sock over your cup with the heel part underneath and the upper, completely smooth part on the outside for all to see.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist, though. Although you have a smoother layer on top, the “bumpy” heel still makes the fabric stick out a little at that point. I prefer a more finished looking cup cozy, so I decided to cut my sock in half, removing the “bumpy” heel part of the sock.

I leave the upper hem of the sock intact and sew the two cut parts of the sock together with right sides facing each other. To accomplish that, you have to take one of the pieces and flip it inside-out over the other. Line up the two cut sides and sew along that line.

I used my serger to help finish it easily and neatly.

Once you flip it back right-side-out, this is what the cozy looks like. It now is much smoother when slipped over your cup. The other cut edge, where you cut the toe off, stays unfinished. I haven’t had a problem with mine unraveling, but you can finish off the edge if you are worried about it. That edge remains underneath the other layer so it isn’t seen anyway.

Try using other materials to make a DIY coffee cozy.

Polar Fleece

Polar fleece works relatively well because it has some stretch to it which allows it to conform to the shape of your cup. It doesn’t unravel either, so you can leave the edges unfinished.

In the case of polar fleece, though, it’s best to cut the sleeve in the relative shape of the cup you’re going to be using because, while it does conform to the shape of the cup, it doesn’t do it as well as a sock does. I like to measure the glass with a strip of paper the width of the cozy I want to make, and then use that strip as the pattern for the cozy.

I don’t really add any extra fabric for the seam because I want the cozy to have to stretch a bit, when slipped onto the cup, so that it stays in place.

After sewing up the edge, the bottom can be squared up and cut off. Because the polar fleece doesn’t unravel, there is no need to hem it. (The top hem that you see in my photo was already on my fabric, so I decided to keep it there and use it.)

You can repurpose other things into cup cozies, like sweater sleeves or an old knit hat, but you have to be careful along the cut lines. You need to finish them off somehow so that your cozy doesn’t unravel. I have tried using old sweater sleeves for cup cozies, and it can be done pretty well, but it depends a lot on the thickness of the yarn and the size of the knit.

For me, the easiest and best looking option is still a sock, but I do like to recycle and use whatever I can.

What will you use?

I’d love to see what you make!!

This post is also available in Español.