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You’ll Love Sewing These Easy And adorable Fabric Bowl Covers

ByPetro Neagu Published Updated
50 Comments

Create personalized fabric bowl covers and tote your side dishes to potlucks and barbecues in style! Make your own customized DIY bowl covers with this easy and quick sewing tutorial!

Fabric Bowl Covers

Bowl cover

Reusable fabric bowl covers are less wasteful than plastic wrap to cover leftovers. Make your own customizable bowl covers with my simple tutorial! This way the bugs outside won’t be flocking to your food but the people will!

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I love soup in any season, be it cold or hot: chicken, tomato, vegetables, beef etc. But fall and winter feel so much more special with a bowl of my favorite soup, enjoyed in front of the fireplace. We enjoy a bowl of soup almost every day, sometimes twice a day; we just can’t imagine a meal without a bowl of soup! And these lovely fabric bowl covers really come in handy when we eat outside, in the garden, keeping the bugs away from our food while we gather around the table.

Fabric bowl covers

Making your own customized fabric covers is so easy and quick with this tutorial! Use my tutorial to make covers for all your bowls to transport goodies to a potluck, or to keep bugs away at picnics.

This is a great beginner project! And the best thing about these DIY bowl covers is that you won’t need an actual bowl cover pattern, you get to make it yourself in the size you need. This way your reusable bowl covers will fit your bowls perfectly!

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I had so much fun making these, I didn’t stop at just one and I played around with the fabric and the elastic, creating slightly different designs. It was such a quick and easy project!

DIY bowl covers

Please note, these reusable bowl covers are not water resistant and if you want a tighter seal you will need to use a lid or foil or plastic wrap. But it’s washable and you can make it in all kinds of colors and patterns and you can use different methods to sew the elastic so you’ll get slightly different designs as I did. Plus it’s a great project for some of those scraps you keep collecting!

If you want your food to stay warm longer you could use chips bags instead of the second cotton fabric piece but you’ll need to leave a larger opening and turn the fabrics out carefully as the chip bag might break. Or you can use insulation between the fabrics.

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How to sew Bowl Covers

Bowl cover pattern

Materials:

  • 2 pieces of 100% Cotton fabric, large enough for your bowl measurement (coordinating or contrast fabric)
  • Thin Elastic (the length depends on the size of your bowl)
  • Sewing machine (optional; you can easily sew these by hand too)
  • Matching or contrast thread
  • Scissors
  • Safety pins

Directions:

  • Choose the bowl you plan to make the cover for
  • Flip it up side down and place it on your fabric

Bowl cover pattern

  • Cut two pieces of preshrunk cotton fabric, 3″ wider than your bowl

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 2

  • Place the fabric pieces right sides together

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 3

  • Sew around with 1/2″ seam allowance

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 4

  • Leave a 2″ opening so you can turn the fabrics out

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 5

  • Clip around the circle formed with the 2 fabric pieces. This will make it easier to press the fabrics once turned right side out.

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 6

  • Pull the two pieces right side out

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 7

  • Finger press the 2 pieces of fabric around the edge then iron press on both sides

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 8

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 9

  • From the edge of the pressed seam, sew with 1/2″ seam all the way around to create a case for your elastic(I’m sorry, I forgot to take photos of this step)
  • Measure towards the top of your bowl and subtract two inches; that is how much elastic you will need. You want it tight but not too tight

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 10

  • Stick a safety pin through the end of the elastic

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 11

  • Thread your elastic through the casing, all around the circle

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 12

  • Evenly distribute the casing so that you have even ruffling
  • Stitch the ends of elastic together
  • Close the opening in your circle by top-stitching. Avoid sewing through the elastic

Bowl Cover Tutorial step 13

  • Place your covers on top of your bowls and you are ready for your gathering!

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Bowl covers made out of fabric

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about petro

ABOUT PETRO

Hi, I’m Petro, author and founder of Easy Peasy Creative Ideas. Sewist, crafter, avid DIY-er, foodie, photographer, homemaker and mommy to one. I’m an expert at coming up with quick, clever sewing tips, recycling crafts and simple, easy recipes! You can find my ideas featured in reputable publications such as Country Living, Good House Keeping, Yahoo News, WikiHow, Shutterfly, Parade, Brit & Co and more. Thanks for stopping by and hope you’ll stay for a while, get to know me better and come back another time. Stick around for real fun projects! Read more…

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50 Comments

  1. Thank you for the easy way to make cotton fabric bowl covers. They will be very useful for using in my kitchen. I no longer use plastic wrap as don’t think it is safe to use around food. I have been using was paper and foil. The pretty cotton bowl covers will be so pretty to carry food to a picnic. I think my friends will like getting some for gifts.

    Reply

  2. Hello Petro,I’m keen to make some of your reusable bowl covers can I use rubber backed curtain material (instead of cling wrap)& then use them for covering food in the fridge?
    Kind regards & thanks for the pattern. Fee

    Reply

    1. You can use blackout fabric with the appropriate needle and thread. You might also need a teflon foot.

      Reply
  3. Pat Morris says:

    I think I can; I think I can; I am giving it a great try! I am creative “in my mind.” However, when I try a finished project (unless it is baking, cooking and things that don’t require sewing); I just get frustrated. I will try anything new; but many times; I just waist material; my needle breaks and/or thread knots up, etc. I retired a few years ago; and want to make things that are useful; but don’t cost an arm and a leg and are at least “sort of fun!”

    I bought the material and actually followed 2 different posts with directions. I wanted to make some proofing bowl covers (I guess you can use this for proofing bowls?) The results??? I decided to give up sewing (I never learned how to sew–but can figure out many projects). I have been up during the night (when I should be getting my beauty sleep) to try and find different instructions that don’t “assume” the reader has “some” sewing savy–Finally I check out your instructions. Yea!!!!

    Petro, your demomstration has given me the excitement to “try again.” Thanks, Petro!!!!! This well layed out and explained tutorial gives me “hope” that an old dog—-I mean lady can learn new tricks without getting frustrated.I don’t want to go back to sleep now (It is 5:16 AM) but I will for a bit—then I will go buy some more material and get cracking!!!!!

    Reply

    1. Aww! Thanks so much, Pat! This is such a sweet comment, you made my day! I’m very happy you found my instructions easy to follow and decided to give my project a try. I’m sure it will be a success! Happy sewing!

      Reply