Cap and Gown Champagne/Wine Bottle Cover

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It's graduation season! I'm sure you all know a few people who are graduating this spring. This champagne/wine bottle cover makes a cute and festive addition to a bottle of wine or champagne, making a nice gift for the college graduate. You could even use it for high school graduates by putting it over a bottle of sparking grape juice.

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, but when I went to the page, it was a dead link (so frustrating when that happens!) I tried searching for the original blog, but the blog had been removed. A further search brought up some results from Etsy, where these were being sold for $20. I knew I could figure out how to make this myself, and sure enough, I did, and was able to make it for about $2. I can spend that extra $18 on my graduate friend!

It took a little bit to figure out the pattern, but once I did it really wasn't so bad. Now I'm sharing the pattern with you, so you don't have to figure it out for yourself!



You will need:
Two pieces of black felt
Embroidery floss to make the tassel (I used yellow-gold, but you could use black or the school colors of your graduate)
Craft glue such as Aleene's Tacky Glue
A small scrap of white paper
A yarn needle
Sewing machine and thread

Cut out your felt pieces. You will need:
One rectangle 12" (the length of the felt) by 6"
One rectangle 12" by 5"
One 2" square piece of felt
One rectangle 1" by 4"

Fold the 5" x 12" rectangle in half lengthwise (or what we teachers call "hotdog style"). Sew 3" in on each end (where marked in the picture below in white chalk). Leave the center 6" open. The sewn parts will form the sleeves of the gown.

On the folded edge, cut a triangle (a diamond when it is unfolded) piece out of the center, roughly an inch and a half wide.

Through one layer only, cut from the tip of the diamond you just made through to the edge. This will make the front opening of the gown.

Now comes the finicky part, but I promise it's not that bad, it's just a little hard to explain, so bear with me. You're going to connect one of the 12" sides of the 6" x 12" rectangle to the top part of the gown you just created in order to make the bottom part of the gown.

The 12" length of the rectangle will wrap around the top part of the gown from the front, under the sleeve, across the back and under the second sleeve, and back to the other front edge.
This is your end goal:

I found it was easiest to sew this in three separate seams.

Keep right sides together. Start by lining up the end of the rectangle with the open edge of the top part of the gown; pin it from there to the start of the sleeve seam. Sew just this length. Hopefully this picture will illustrate this a little more clearly.

Repeat this process with the other end of the rectangle, matching it up with the other edge of the front opening.

Now sew the rectangle the rest of the way across the back of the gown. If either seam is slightly bigger than the other, just fudge it a little. The fit doesn't have to be perfect, it's going on a wine bottle. :)

You've now put together a mini little graduation gown!

Turn the little gown right-side out.

Topstitch the front closed from the neck edge down to the seam (or a little above it, it doesn't really matter).

Set the gown aside for a bit.

Cut a scrap of paper 2" by 3".

Roll up the paper across the 3" side, so that you have a little diploma 2" tall. Tie a bow around it with embroidery floss.

I put a little drop of glue on top of the bow to keep it from coming untied and to help hold it to the diploma.

Slide the gown over the wine/champagne bottle. Run some black thread from one sleeve to the other, as shown in the picture below.

Pull the thread tighter to bring the sleeves together at the front of the gown. You can leave a small gap between the sleeves (1/4-1/2").

Run the needle and thread through both sleeves another 3 or 4 times. Don't cut the thread yet.

Run the needle through the embroidery thread on the back of the diploma.

Pull the thread tight to bring the diploma up to the sleeves. Knot the thread and add some glue to make sure the diploma is extra secure.

Take the little rectangle and sew the ends together using about 1/4" seam allowance.

Flip it so the seam allowance is on the inside. You should now have a cylinder.
Run some glue along one of the circle edges.

Glue the cylinder onto the center of the square piece of felt.

While the glue is drying, make a tassel from the embroidery floss. I like this method by Martha Stewart, and used cardboard about 1 1/2-2" high.

I just love this little tassel! So adorable!

Thread the hanging part of the tassel through a yarn needle.

Poke the yarn needle through the center of the graduation cap. Make sure the needle goes from the outside of the cap to the inside.

Pull the needle and tassel through the cap.

Pull the tassel all the way through so the top of the tassel is against the top of the cap. Don't worry, it won't be like this when you're finished.

With the tassel being pulled all the way through, it gives you some more room to knot off the tassel from the underside. Put a decent-sized knot in the embroidery floss about an inch from the top of the tassel and cut the thread.

Pull the tassel back out until the knot stops it, and it should hang neatly off the edge.

Put the cap on top of the bottle and you're done! You have a fun gift to present to the special graduate in your life.

If you want to give a little something extra (like maybe the money you saved making this yourself instead of buying it), I think it would be fun to roll up some money and slide it down inside the diploma. All graduates love cash!

What special people do you know who are graduating this spring?
What were your favorite gifts when you graduated from high school or college?

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