Soup's on — and your hands don't have to suffer for it. A microwave bowl cozy cradles a hot bowl so you can carry it straight from the microwave to the table. It's a 30-minute project, a great stash-buster, and one of our most-gifted makes. Here's everything you need.
What You'll Make
A reversible, padded bowl cozy (about 10" across) that fits a standard soup or cereal bowl. Pop the bowl in the cozy, microwave them together, and lift the whole thing out by the cozy's edges.
Materials
- Pellon Wrap-N-Zap batting, 1 package — this is the important one. Wrap-N-Zap is 100% natural cotton batting made specifically for microwave use. Do not substitute polyester batting — it can melt. Get it at Linda's.
- 100% cotton fabric, 2 fat quarters in coordinating prints — one for the outside, one for the lining. Everything (fabric, batting, and thread) must be cotton for microwave safety — no metallic prints. Black Bella Solids makes a sharp modern cozy, or pick any quilting cotton you love.
- 100% cotton thread — we like Glide in Cork for a neutral that disappears into most prints.
That's 100% of the shoppable materials from Linda's. From your sewing room you'll also need: scissors or a rotary cutter, pins or clips, a marking pen, and a sewing machine.
Cutting
From each fabric and the batting, cut:
- Two 10" squares of outer fabric
- Two 10" squares of lining fabric
- Two 10" squares of Wrap-N-Zap
Steps
- Mark the darts. Fold each fabric square in half, then in half again. On each folded corner, mark a dart: 2" long and 1" wide at the raw edge, tapering to a point. Do this on all four fabric squares.
- Sew the darts. Stitch each marked dart on the fabric squares only (not the batting). This is what gives the cozy its bowl shape. Press darts to one side.
- Layer it up. Make two sandwiches: lining square (right side down) + batting square + outer square (right side up). Pin well.
- Quilt lightly. Stitch an X across each sandwich, corner to corner, to hold the layers together.
- Join the halves. Place the two quilted halves right sides together and sew around the edge with a ½" seam, leaving a 4" opening for turning.
- Turn and finish. Turn right side out through the opening, poke out the edges, press, and topstitch ¼" from the edge — closing the opening as you go.
Tips
- Microwave safety: 100% cotton everything — fabric, batting, thread. Heat in 2-minute intervals and never leave the microwave unattended.
- Make a set: Once you've made one, the second takes 20 minutes. Sets of four in coordinating prints make great gifts.
- Size it: Use 12" squares for large serving bowls or 8" squares for ramekins and ice cream bowls.
Where to Get Everything
- Pellon Wrap-N-Zap batting — Linda's Electric Quilters
- Quilting cotton (solids and prints) — Linda's Electric Quilters
- Thread — Linda's Electric Quilters
- Rotary cutter, pins, marking pens — most well-stocked craft stores carry these if you don't already own them.
