Gift card cozy tutorial

It's that time of the year when so many of us are buying gift cards for teachers, loved ones, nannies, etc. This year, I wanted to spruce mine up a bit with a little homemade gift card cozy.

I started with this tutorial from Make It, Love It, but I didn't like the way the cozies were assembled (it was hard for them not to get a little wonky in the final stages), so I switched mine up and thought you guys might enjoy a little tutorial. These are easy to knock out assembly-line style, and I finished seven in just a few hours one night. Enjoy!

Supplies:
* 2 pieces of backing fabric: 3.25" x 4.75"
* 2 pieces of midweight fusible interfacing: 2.75" x 4.25"
* 2 pieces of front fabric: 3.25" x 3.75"
* coordinating thread
* sewing machine and basic sewing supplies

Note: I chose to use one piece of each of my fabric styles for the front and back of the cozies, but you could use the same fabric for all four pieces or one fabric for the front and one fabric for the back, whatever suits your fancy. The front pieces are a great opportunity for some fun fussy cutting.

Instructions:
1. Center your interfacing on each of your backing pieces and fuse it on according to the package instructions. Set aside.

2. Place the two pieces of front fabric right sides together and stitch across the top edge using a 1/4" seam allowance. (This is one of the sides measuring 3.25". The "top" is only relevant if you're using a directional fabric.)

3. Press, then turn the fabrics wrong sides together and press again to create a crease along the top edge.

4. Topstitch along the top edge about an 1/8" from the edge.

5. Sandwich your pieces in this order (from bottom to top): the piece of backing fabric that you want to see from the front of the cozy (the green fabric in this case) right side up, the stitched together front pieces right side up, and then the backing fabric that will be on the back of the cozy (the large piece of candy cane fabric in this case) wrong side up.

6. Stitch around the outside using a 1/4" seam allowance and leaving a 2" opening at the top for turning.

7. Clip your corners, then turn the cozy right side out. Tuck in the seam allowance at your top opening and give the entire cozy a good press.

8. Topstitch around the entire cozy using an 1/8" seam allowance, thus closing the opening at the top.

 9. Insert your gift card and give to someone special!