Wine Snuggly

If you're like me, most of your friends are winos.  Next time you visit, bring them a snuggly to help hide their shame.  This design is inspired by Adventures in Dressmaking.  

First, clean out your husband's closet.  If he's testy, go to the thrift store.  Think cheap, act like a lady.   You're looking for a basic button-up shirt for this project.  Get yourself a pattern you'd never wear.  Go nuts, it's a present.  

Cut one of the sleeves off, about the length of a wine bottle.  I like my snuggly to hide the whole bottle, so that I can lie about what's inside.  You may be high class.  You might have bought an expensive Cabernet, and want to show it off to the world.  In that case, Moneybags, you can make your snuggly to reveal a little neck.   Have fun and don't stress about measurements.  

Next, flip the arm inside out, and straight-stitch the open arm that you just cut off the body.  Give yourself about a 1/4" seam allowance.  If your sleeve is an extra large, like the one shown here, you may want to "box" the seam.  That means you start at the hemline, and start stitching, almost perpendicular to that line.  You're basically creating a rectangle from a more triangle shape.  Look closely at the picture below, and you'll see these lines in orange thread.  

Now is a good time to do a fitting.  Grab one of the dozens of wine bottle lying around the house, flip the sleeve right side in, and play dress up.  If the measurements seem right, move on.  If not, there's nothing wrong with shortening the hem, or grabbing the seam ripper and giving it another shot.  When you're happy with the look, it's time to trim off the excess.  

A nice finishing touch is serging.  I don't have a serger, but you can use the zigzag setting and sew right along the edge.  In case your wine bottle rides a lot of motorcycles, or likes jumping on trampolines, this ensures durability and strength.  And it looks nice, too.

With a simple tie of a ribbon, your snuggly could be done at this point, but if you're feeling industrious, go grommet.  I got a great 1/4" grommet set from the hardware store, and it was much less expensive than the sets at the craft store.  Mark six equidistant spots along the cuffline.  Again, this is a matter of preference.  Close it up top, or give it an Izod flipped collar look.  Cut small holes where marked, and get to work with the grommet set.  It will inevitably come with instructions.  In short, you punch a hole, stick the male part of the grommet through the hole, fit the female grommet end over that, insert the grommet tool, and hammer it together.  Did I mention not to do this craft late at night? 

Now that your grommets are in place, thread a yard of ribbon through the holes.  For the aforementioned industrious crafters, use another part (like the pocket - thanks for the idea, Mom!) to sew up a cute bag to attach to the snuggly.  This can hold a business card, a petite corkscrew, or a gift card to your favorite shoppe de hooch.   Throw a grommet on the corner, and you have a way to hang it on the snuggly.

Place bottle in sleeve, and make some friends!

FYI, this is the second attempt at the Wine Snuggly, and the grommets are a little lower than previous pictures.  I like to show some wine cleavage.  Again, you could go without the grommets, but I love pissing off the neighbors.