Umbrella Fabric Water Bottle Cozy

I love my reusable water bottle. I love filling it up with ice water and having a free, sparkling cold drink all day long. I do not love the way it sweats all over my hand in warm weather. My wristband repurpose was a nice stopgap measure, but I was looking for something a little more permanent, and came up with this custom quilted cozy.



Upcycled umbrella fabric is the perfect water-resistant material for lots of sewing projects, so I decided that would be the outer layer. (In fact, I made this project from the outer sleeve of a new umbrella since I knew I'd never use it for its intended purpose.)

For the inside, I just used some leftover scraps of fabric from another project and sandwiched some batting between the two layers. The batting is optional, and you could try just about any material on the inside, the more absorbent the better. (Recycled felt or a sweatshirt scrap would be ideal.) Besides fabric, you need a small piece of elastic, scissors, and needle and thread or sewing machine.

How-to:

1. Measure the height and diameter of your bottle. Cut your fabric rectangles the same height with a width slightly larger than the bottle diameter. (After you sew the pieces together, you'll lose a little width, which you'll then make up for with the elastic.)



2. Sandwich your fabric together, right sides facing in, with elastic between the two pieces of fabric. Batting or felt, if you're including it, gets pinned to the front or back.



3. Sew layers together with a 3/8" - 1/2" seam, leaving a gap of a couple inches in the end across from the elastic.



4. Turn layers inside out, leaving the same gap open, and sew around the edges again to reinforce everything - I always like to put some extra stitches at the elastic. You can also add some decorative extra stitching for a cool quilted look.



5. Put the sleeve onto your bottle and insert the end of the elastic into the gap, pinning it securely into the fabric. Sew all the layers together at this point, and voila! Your very own insulating and semi-waterproof bottle cozy!