DIY fox mug cozy

December 10, 2012

You know how sometimes it’s the materials that inspire you to make something? This is how the mug cozy came to life! I had the neck from a wool sweater that I used in a previous project, and I realized it would be perfect to cozy up my coffee glass. I know the fox isn’t the best of them foxes, but I couldn’t resist giving it a try. Who knows? Maybe next time it will look better.

What you need:

• scraps from a wool sweater
• felting wool & needle
• pen & paper
• needle & thread
• scissors
• a mug (I used a glass because it has no handle & that’s how I drink my coffee)
• sponge

First I measured the knitted wool to the size of the glass, and cut off the excess. I then drew a fox and cut it, leaving a paper stencil behind. I placed the former sweater neck over the sponge, and the stencil on top.

Then I filled the stencil with wool and started stabbing it with the felting needle. You can read more about this technique here – I promise it’s very simple and rewarding. Now, you can get the wool to be foxy-colored either by buying it this way, or by dyeing white wool yourself. I used the second version, as taught by Didi (the article is in Romanian, but you basically just dye the wool using onion leafs. If you’re interested, I can translate it for you).

Once the fox was done, I decided to make it snow. I used tiny pieces of white wool and stabbed them into the “canvas” at random, with the felting needle. Afterwards, I stitched eyes and a nose for the fox – you could also use dark-colored wool for that.

The final step was to stitch the lateral sides on the wrong side of the fabric, make any necessary adjustments, and to insert mug. And yes, it’s super cozy!

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