Easy Upcycled Feed Sack Coffee Sleeve {Pattern & Tutorial}

Skip the single use coffee cup and coffee cup sleeve by making your own reusable sleeve out of a feed sack (lord knows we have a bunch of those kicking around here). In our quest to cut down on single use plastics, and single use everything, I’ve created a simple coffee cup sleeve template and tutorial.

Since most of the feed we use at the farm is packaged in the poly bags, I am always trying to think of what to make from the empty sacks. All that reusable material has to be good for something, right? There are not enough hours in the day for me to upcycle every used feed bag here, but there are a couple of uses that you might consider.

My business partner is very industrious and makes many tote bags for us to offer to our customers at the feed store. We started making them back in 2010 and they remain popular still, today. Many people have caught on to this wonderful use of potential trash for the landfills. These tote bags are sturdier than most other tote bags. My bag is going on three years old and gets weekly use, if not more often. It has no rips and the handles are still sturdy and intact.

Image courtesy of The Happiest Camper Homestead.

If you haven’t seen the feed bag totes, the directions can be found on The Happiest Camper Homestead.

Other uses for Feed Bags

Make recycling bins. Use one sack to collect baling twine, another for scrap metals, one for beverage cans to be recycled, etc.
Protect your floors when painting or staining. To double the surface area covered beneath your painting/staining project, cut a feed sack open to lie flat.
Share heavy produce. An empty feed sack is perfect for sharing extra sweet corn, potatoes, pumpkins, or other garden goodies.
Line your pantry shelves. Cut a sack open and then trim to the dimensions needed.
Make a mini-garden. Fill a feed sack with dirt and grow potatoes.
Reduce weeds. Put several sacks down in your garden as weed barriers. Just scatter a few inches of mulch on top to hold them down.

How to Make a Coffee Sleeve from a Feed Sack

My latest reuse is making coffee cup sleeves from the feed bag fabric. For this project I used a quilting term known as “fussy cutting” to cut out specific pictures in the needed pattern shape. I began with a Purina Mills Flock Raiser bag and a sleeve from the local coffee shop. This bag has many different types of poultry pictured on the front and back.

I made a pattern from a cardboard coffee cup sleeve and cut out two pieces, making them just a bit bigger than the finished size. Make sure that you mark the pattern with “top” and “bottom” before cutting. If you skip this, you could end up with a sleeve that has an upside down turkey or duck on it. Trust me on this. I just know it can happen.

Now, holding the two cut pieces together, right sides out, begin sewing the outside edges together. I used my serger but you could use a zig zag or other decorative stitch on a regular sewing machine too. Trim your threads and fold it into position for joining the two ends. Refer back to your sample sleeve to make sure it is going together correctly. Using a regular sewing machine, stitch the two ends together.

Trim threads and slip onto standard shaped coffee cup. Be proud! Go make yourself a fresh pot of coffee!

I think these would be a very cute gift for a co-worker or neighbor packaged with a packet of hot drink mix. Tie it up with a piece of twine or ribbon and voila!