Laminated Cotton Cupholder Tutorial

Now that I've spent a bit of time with laminated cotton & how to work with it for CraftShare, I've been branching out into some crazy new ideas.  Here's one of them:

It's a cupholder with laminated cotton on the inside and out, so it is ideal for holding summer drinks while you're out & about.  I desperately needed this for our favorite stroller.  I love this thing & it does everything except push itself, but no cupholder.  Apparently the designer did not have any children or they'd have known this is key.  Have you ever met a kid (or a mom) who NEVER needed a drink while out in the summer?  Bizarre!  To top that off, they wanted an extra $12 for some flimsy thing made out of plastic & a thin metal chain you could clip on if you HAD to ruin the chic design with your water bottle.  So I said heck no, I'll make my own, thanks.  Now I'm going to show you how, so you can make your own too - even if you've got one, can you ever really have enough cupholders?

Materials:
- 1/4 yd laminated cotton fabric
- Sewing notions (shears, ruler, pins, thread)
- Bobby pins/clips
- Tissue paper or lip balm
- Two plastic snaps (or velcro)

First, you'll need to cut out the pieces, two 3.8 inch circles (I traced a jar) for the bottom, two 12 inch wide x 7 inch high rectangles for the sides and one 9inch wide x 7 inch high for the handle piece that snaps it onto stuff.

Now fold your side pieces in half widthwise and sew down the side with a .5inch seam allowance:

Then take a circle piece and carefully pin it onto one end of the "tube" of a side piece, right sides facing (Note: I have said earlier about not using pins with laminated cotton, but since this is a tricky curve & you're pinning close to the edge that will become the seam allowance, it's ok):

Sew the pieces together with a .5inch seam allowance and then carefully trim the allowance clip around the raw edge without cutting into the seam you just made to make the curve easier to turn (or just trim with pinking shears).

Do the same for the other rectangle & circle and when done, turn one cup right side out and slip the other inside it.  Fold in the raw edges 5inch inward and then pin together with bobby pins:

Now take your handle piece and fold in half widthwise, right sides facing.  Stitch around one short side and the long side (the other side is your fold), then turn right side out.

On the right side of the fabric, wrap tissue paper around your handle piece (or alternatively run some lip balm over where stitching will be) and topstitch around:

Ok at the seam part of your cup part carefully insert your handle piece in between the cups about 1inch down.  Wrapping tissue around your cup (or again, dab a line of balm), topstitch around the entire rim, making sure you backstitch over the handle part a couple of times for strength.

Now add a male snap at each upper corner of the handle piece & a female snap at each of the bottom corners (or stitch on a strip of strong velcro in each spot), so when your fold it down the snap sides will facing one another.  Ta-da!  Now you've got a cool looking, easy care cup holder to snap onto stroller, camping gear or anything else that strikes your fancy!

Have you tried using laminated cotton?  How did it go?  If you haven't what do you think would be a great way to use it?  Share your thoughts in the comments!


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