Make this easy bowl cozy pattern

Today I’m showing you how to sew a bowl cozy with this simple bowl cozy pattern.

When there’s snow on the ground, there’s probably soup happening in my kitchen. Actually, leftover soup is one of my favorite lunches, and while I usually reheat my leftovers on the stove, my kids grab for the microwave.

Periodically, I’ll hear a yelp and know that they burned themselves trying to get the dumb bowl out of the microwave.

That’s where an easy bowl cozy pattern can make your life better.

This is a simple project you can sew from scraps and it’s easy enough for beginners. Sew it up, pop your bowl inside and microwave away, knowing that the bowl cozy will protect your hands from hot bowls.

If you love quick win projects that are practical for real life, I can’t think of too many better than this bowl cozy pattern.

So grab some cotton batting, and let me show you how easy it is to make a microwave bowl cozy.

Supplies to make your bowl cozy pattern

• 100% cotton batting (Pellon Wrap n Zap)
• 2 contrasting cotton prints
• 100% cotton thread (Mettler silk finish cotton)
• Clover air erasable Fabric marking pen
• Olfa Rotary cutter and cutting mat
  • Quilting ruler

Grab the free bowl cozy pattern

In this bowl cozy tutorial, I’m going to give you all the dimensions for making a pattern yourself.

If, however, for simplicity’s sake you’d prefer a printable bowl cozy pattern, you can find it in the Resource Library. Sign up below to get access to the library.

Once you’ve printed out the pattern, choose what size you’re using, and you can find the directions for the bowl cozy tutorial below.

FYI, there are 3 sizes to fit any various size bowls you have.

What kind of fabric should you use for a DIY bowl cozy?

Since your bowl cozy will be going into a hot environment in the microwave, you want to make sure you use materials that won’t melt or ignite on you.

You need to use cotton thread, batting and cotton fabric. Cotton can withstand high heat without melting or igniting. As long as your fabric is 100% cotton, you have a lot of choices for this project.

Good choices:

• cotton quilting prints
• muslin
• batik prints
• lawn
• shirting
• flannel

Be sure to get cotton thread. The typical all-purpose thread that sewers use in their machines is made from polyester which can melt at high temps.

My favorite cotton thread is Mettler silk finish cotton. It’s a beautiful thread to work with, and it comes in a good number of colors with a weight that is similar to all-purpose thread.

How to make a bowl cozy step by step

Cut your pieces

From your fabric, cut 2 pieces of fabric the following sizes for each bowl cozy:

• S: 7”x7”
• M: 10”x10”
• L: 12”x12”

Also cut 2 pieces of batting 1/4” smaller on each edge than your outer pieces.

Why not cut the batting and the fabric the same size? By cutting the batting just a little smaller, you’ll keep the layers from getting too thick as you’re sewing.

If you’d like, you can use a glue stick to hold the batting in place before it’s stitched.

Mark your darts

To create the shape of the bowl cozy, you’ll need to sew some darts.

First, lay a piece of batting on the backside of one of the pieces of fabric.

You could pin or baste the batting in place, but I’ve found that on such small pieces, it doesn’t move around too much.

From here, fold the square right sides together.

For the medium size, make a mark 5/8” on the fold and a second one 2.5” down from the edge of the fold. Use your marker to draw the leg of the dart. Repeat on the other fold.

Sizes of darts for all sizes:

S	mark 1/2” from the fold and 2” long (dart is 1” wide at the raw edge when not folded)
M	mark 5/8” from the fold and 2.5” long (dart is 1.25” wide at the raw edge when not folded)
L	mark 3/4” from the fold and 3” long (dart is 1.5” wide at the raw edge when not folded)

Sew the darts

Next, sew the darts you’ve just marked along the marked line. Tie off the thread in a square knot at the point of the dart.

Unfold your fabric and fold it the opposite way, matching up the edges of the outer fabric right sides together.

Repeat the marking and sewing of the darts on this side.

Optionally, you can test the fit on your bowl here. Put the bowl that you intend for your bowl cozy into the unfinished layer. If the fit feels a little too loose, you can sew the darts slightly deeper. You could also sew the darts slightly shorter and narrower if the fit of your bowl cozy feels a little too tight. This isn’t a garment, so perfecting your fit is not absolutely necessary, but this is a good project to help you start to see how darts turn a flat surface into one with dimension.

Once you’ve got your darts sewn, trim away the extra fabric 1/4” past the stitching line.

Now you have the outer part of your bowl cozy.

Sew the lining

Repeat folding the fabric, marking the darts, and sewing the darts with the fabric you’ve cut to be the lining of your bowl cozy.

Now you should have 2 shaped squares.

Sew the layers together

Place one bowl cozy piece inside the other, right sides together.

Sew around the edges with 1/4” seam allowance, leaving a hole on one side. As you’re stitching, you should catch the edges of the batting in the seam.

Turn the bowl cozy right sides out

Clip the corners, making sure you don’t cut through the stitches.

Turn the fabric through the hole. Smooth out the lining so that it sits inside the outer bowl cozy piece. Spend some time wiggling out the corners so they’re nice and crisp. Friends don’t let friends make lumpy edges!

Press the raw edges of the hole so that they’re even with the sewn edges.

Topstitch the bowl cozy

From here, lengthen your stitch length to 3.0 mm.

Stitch around the outer edge of the bowl cozy about 1/8” from the edge.

After you’ve stitched all the way around your bowl cozy, set your needle in one corner.

Tilt the opposite corner of the bowl cozy toward the machine as you stich through all layers to the opposite corner. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and start of this line of stitching.

Repeat this step on the opposite corner. You should now have an X sewn through all layers. This X will help reinforce the shape of the bowl cozy.

That’s how easy it is to make a microwave bowl cozy. To use them, simply put your bowl you want to heat up inside the middle of a bowl cozy. Heat up your food, and pull out the bowl by the cozy itself. The fabric won’t heat up, and you’ll have a nice cozy lunch ouch free!