The nieces have these insulated food jars they use for hot lunches.

[conuly]

But they say that by the time they get to lunch, the food's warm, not hot. No doubt warmer than it would be without the insulated jar, but....

I'm thinking that like a tea cozy would help keep them warm longer. What would be the best material to make such a thing out of? (Can't find anything on Etsy, and the company doesn't make any of its own.)

Comments

[dragonwolf]

Pretty much regardless of what you make it out of, you'll want layers. I'd say a sandwich construction of something like wool or fleece, with a sturdy cotton batting in the middle. The key in any insulation is to trap the warm air and keep it from dissipating. It's the air pockets in a given piece of fabric that make it warmer than others.

[karalianne.livejournal.com]

Some kind of wool is probably your best bet, especially if you go with felted. Do you knit or crochet? You can ask in crochetcrochet or knitting and I'm sure people there will have some ideas.

If you're thinking of just sewing something, Polar fleece is probably your best bet, maybe with an outer layer of flannel or wool.

(Edited to fix a comm link)

[conuly]

My mom crochets, so I'll almost certainly just ask her to add the food jars to her hat list, but I was thinking sewing might work. I could do both, I suppose, hedge my bets.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

I thought of quilted covers--you know, like the tea cozies you mentioned.

Buy that prequilted stuff you can get at fabric stores, sew it into a cylinder around the jar, seam across the bottom and put a buttonhole on the top so it can fold over and button to itself. Completely washable and reusable.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Get a worn-out but warm old adult-size parka or sweater and cut the sleeves off; they ought to be just right for making thermos cozies.

If you wrap the thermos in aluminum foil first, it'll hold its heat longer, or if you want to get fancy, you could construct an inner liner from a 'space blanket'. That stuff is pretty fragile, though, so you'd do best to put something over it to protect it; an inner-inner liner so it doesn't get shredded in use.

I'd make it so the layers all come apart for easy washing, or replacing as necessary.