Quilted Mason Jar Cozy

Posted on by quiltedl

Jenna over at Cold Antler Farm issued a challenge at the end of October for her “Crafty Antlers” to design and make a mason jar cozy to help keep her coffee warm while doing chores around the homestead.

Jenna had two criteria:

(1) Said cozy must have handles or a way to carry it.
(2) Cozy had to be made entirely from materials already on your homestead.

As a quilter, I have a stash (for the uninitated – a closet overflowing with fabric and notions).  I wasn’t worried about not having enough of the right materials on hand to construct the cozy.  I was also fairly confident I could draft the pattern (similar to a bolster pillow with only one end closed).  The challenge was finding a quart size mason jar without having to shell out $10.39 + tax for a set of twelve jars at my local grocery store.

None of my nearby friends had quart size jars – plenty of pint and half-pint jars – but no 32 ounce jars.  I borrowed an antique Ball mason jar full of vintage sewing notions to use as my guide.

I pulled random 2-1/2″ batik strips from my scrap bag and sewed them together.  I found a piece of beige linen blend fabric to use as the backing and sandwiched the two with a scrap of Warm & Natural cotton batting in between.

The quilt sandwich was then free motion quilted on my vintage Elna Carina sewing machine in an all over meander pattern.  I don’t typically free motion quilt, but I was curious to see if I could on this machine since it has a speed controller, DC motor and larger work area than my computerized Pfaff.  I love piecing on my 61 year old Featherweight and making this cozy on my recently acquired vintage Elna Carina (one of the last metal Elna sewing machines made in Switzerland) was a true pleasure.  There’s something to be said for sewing on vintage machines.

I “borrowed” a few finishing touches from my Vera Bradley bag – bound interior seams, cute button the outside and extra stitching on the straps. 

Rough measurements are as follows:
Base – 5″ circle (1 fashion fabric and 1 lining fabric  + 1 batting)
Body – 7-1/2″ x 14-1/2″ rectangle (1 fashion fabric and 1 lining fabric +1 batting)
Straps – 2-1/2 x 18″ (interfaced and turned) (cut 2 of fashion fabric and 2 of interfacing or fusible fleece/batting)
Seam binding (if desired):  1″ x length of seam (cut 3 strips to length – body, base and upper edge of bag)