Do you enjoy hot chocolate, coffee, or tea on the go? Jazz up your travel cup with a decorative cozy to keep your hands heat-free and to show off your fun personality. These wool felt cozies also make fun and creative gifts!

Materials:

• Wool Felt Sheets
• Cardboard Travel Cup Sleeve
• Hot Glue Sticks
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Sharpie Marker
• Paper

Step 1: Find a cardboard travel cup sleeve. Starbucks or gas station sleeves work great. Open the template by gently pulling it apart to release the glue. 

Step 2: Trace the template onto a piece of felt. Be sure to leave a half-inch to one-inch on either end of the sleeve to find the best fit for your mug.

Step 3: Cut out the felt sleeve.

Step 4: Wrap the felt sleeve around the cup or mug. Pinching the sleeve ends together, gently remove the sleeve while keeping its shape.

Step 5: Glue the two ends together where you pinched them. 

Step 6: Decorate the sleeve with felt shapes and patterns on the outside. The design can be representational or abstract. 

Step 5: Glue each felt shape with hot glue. Tip: avoid white craft glue as it will bleed through the felt, turning it a darker color while also hardening the material.

Step 6 (optional): In this tutorial, the cozy is a sleeve. To make it truly cozy, close up the bottom by attaching with glue a circle that is a little larger than the cup or mug. Use a large sewing needle and yarn to sew the bottom of the sleeve and top of the circle together, creating a stronger hold. 

Learning and Discussion Questions:

1. What is wool, and how is it created? Sheep produce wool, grown from their body to help keep them warm. We shave it off and process it to be made into many items and various projects, big and small. How many other ways do you think we use wool in our daily lives? Compare it to our list below:

• Fashion industry: winter coats, boots, purses, jewelry, and more!
• Architecture/Buildings: wool is used as insulation because it is flame resistant and does not produce toxic fumes.
• Sports and outdoor gear: helps keep athletes warm in winter sports.
• Medical textiles: wool is used for it’s hypo-allergenic, anti-bacterial, and natural thermoregulation properties. 

2. Wool is often used by those who knit, crochet, and weave. Before it can be knitted or woven, it goes through a particular processing order. Watch this video to learn more about the processing of wool.

3. Coffee has had a great impact on culture across the globe. Many cultures have taken claim to be the first coffee drinkers. However, the Netherlands was home to the first known coffee houses in the late 1600s. America’s well-known coffee shop, Starbucks, first opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market when CEO, Howard Schultz, wanted to bring Italian cafe culture to the states. Visit The Evolution of Coffee Culture to learn more about Starbucks and other intriguing facts about coffee and its origin. 

Thank you to our sponsor, PNC Arts Alive!, for helping to make this video possible!