August 10, 2025 • Updated December 30, 2025

How to Make Your Own Bowl Covers - Spoonflower Blog

You finished your delicious dish for the dinner party and now all you need to do is get it to the venue. Food sitting out or traveling in the car without a cover? No thank you! You can buy lovely – yet pricey – cotton bowl, but why not make your own to match your style? After a bit of searching and some trial-and-error, we settled on two easy techniques to make our own using Lightweight Cotton Twill. Whether you choose the no-sew option or get out your sewing machine, these covers are perfect for resting your dough for baked goods, covering pasta or salad for a picnic, or even protecting your stand mixer bowl from dust. Read on for the full tutorial for two ways how to make your own bowl covers!

A completed no-sew bowl fabric cover sits on top of a small bowl to the photo’s bottom right. To the top right of the photo is a bowl of homemade chow chow in a green bowl. A head of cabbage, a red pepper, a yellow pepper and a yellow squash are to the le

Featured design: Dorset Garden Harvest by slumbermonkey

Skill level: Beginner, kid friendly or intermediate sewing option

Supplies List

1 fat quarter of Lightweight Cotton Twill (yield: one bowl cover)
Hole punch
Compass (optional)
Washable pencil or marker
Pinking shears or rotary cutter
1/4″ (0.61 cm) wide elastic (5″-6″ (12.7-15.24 cm) longer than bowl diameter)
Measuring tape
Bowl(s) of your choice
Sewing option: Cotton thread in any color—keep in mind it will show on the outside
Sewing option: Small safety pin

Materials all laid out to make a no-sew bowl cover on a brown wooden table. Clockwise from top left, a compass, a hole punch, a measuring tape, two long stripes of white elastic, pinking shears and three pieces of fabric partially layered on top one anoth

Steps to Make a Bowl Cover

Step 1. Prepare Your Fabric

Prewash your fabric with cold water, low-heat dry, and iron it.

Step 2. Measure Your Fabric

A photo of a person measuring the diameter of a yellow ceramic bowl that is sitting on a wooden table with a light green measuring tape. Only their hands are visible. A piece of a fabric featuring a design with tomatoes, cabbage and onions on a teal backg

Gather the bowls you are making covers for. You have two options here: 1. do some math and use a compass to make perfect circles, or 2. use your bowl as your template. Using a compass: With the measuring tape, measure the diameter (from one lip to the other across the widest part) of your bowl. Use your compass to draw a circle that fits your bowl on the reverse side (the plain white side) of the fabric. Example: if your bowl is just about 6″ (15.24 cm) in diameter, set up your compass to 3″ (7.62 cm) to make a circle that is 6″ (15.24 cm) in diameter. (Note: This circle is the inner circle that will serve as the marker for where you’ll punch holes in step 4.)

Now you need to draw another, larger circle just outside of the first circle. Add 1″ (2.54 cm) to your bowl’s diameter for the no-sew option or 2.5” (6.35 cm) seam allowance if you plan on sewing in the elastic. Does your bowl have a lip? Add another inch! Draw a second, larger circle with your compass. Example for the 6″ diameter bowl:

If you use the no-sew method and the bowl does not have a lip, set your compass to 3.5″ (8.89 cm) so you have a 7″ (17.78 cm) circle.
If you use the no-sew method your bowl does have a lip, set your compass to 4″ (10.6 cm), so you have a 8″ (20.32 cm) circle.
If using the sewing method and the bowl does not have a lip, set your compass to 4.25″ (10.76 cm) for an 8.5″ (21.59 cm) circle.
If using the sewing method and the bowl does have lip, set your compass to 4.75″ you would need a 9.5″ (22.86 cm) circle

An image of a compass being turned to draw a second circle on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. This second circle is larger and slightly outside the first circle.

Using your bowl as a guide: No compass? No problem! Flip your bowl edge-side down on the reserve of the fabric (the plain white side) and trace around it. Add 1″ (2.54 cm) to your bowl’s diameter for the no-sew option or 2.5” (6.35 cm) seam allowance if you plan on sewing in the elastic. Does your bowl have a lip? Add another inch! Mark out the seam allowance you need with your measuring tape and connect the dots so you have a larger circle outside of the smaller, bowl-sized circle.

Step 3: Cut Your Fabric

With your pinking shears, cut around the second, larger circle.

A person is using pinking shears to cut around the outside edge of the second, larger circle drawn onto the wrong side of fabric.

Step 4: Prepare for Adding Elastic

No-Sew Version: Using the hole punch, punch holes around the smaller circle you drew in step 2, spaced about 0.75″ (1.91 cm) to 1″ (2.54 cm) apart.

A person is using a hole punch to punch holes around the first, smaller circle drawn onto the wrong side of fabric with a compass.

Sewing Version: First create a “casing” for your elastic by folding and pressing a fabric edge twice, then sew along the inside edge of the fold to create a tunnel. Leave a 2″ opening so you can feed the elastic through.

Step 5: Add In Elastic

No-Sew Version: Lay out your elastic and cut it roughly 5″-6″ (12.7-15.24 cm) longer than the diameter of your bowl. Example: For the 6″ (15.24 cm) diameter bowl, cut 12″ (30.49 cm) in length of elastic.

A person uses measuring tape to measure a width of elastic. A piece of fabric which has been cut into a circle and had holes punch near the edge, lays toward the top of the photo. The design on the fabric has a teal background and vegetables, a pumpkin, p

Lace your elastic through the holes punched in the fabric, going in one hole and then out the next. To get the elastic all the way through the cover, you’ll need to bunch up the fabric as you go. Ensure both ends of the elastic are sticking out from the wrong side of the fabric. Once you’ve laced the elastic through all of the holes, tie them together so that they’re in a knot against the wrong side of the fabric. (i.e., the knot should not be visible when looking at the pattern side of the fabric.)

A person is lacing white elastic through a piece of fabric that is wrong side up, and has small holes punched around its edge. The elastic is being brought up through one hole and then down through the next.

A person pulling back the edge of fabric showing where two ends of white elastic have been tied together where they meet after being woven around the edge of a piece of fabric with holes punched near the edge. The design on the fabric has a teal backgroun

Sewing Version: Clip a safety pin to the end of your elastic. Do not cut your elastic just yet. Feed your elastic through the 2” opening into the channel. The fabric will start to bunch up like a shower cap, which is good. Once you’re through the channel to the other side, hold the safety pin end with your hand and spread out the bunching as evenly as you can.

Grab your bowl and place the cover over it. Tighten the elastic (always holding on to the safety pin) so it will be secure around the bowl. Mark your preferred length on the elastic with a pen or marker, remove the bowl cover, and then sew the elastic together. The elastic should still be inside the channel. Trim the extra elastic approximately 1/4” past your stitches. Finally, tuck the elastic into the opening and use one or two pins to hold the opening closed for added security. Stretch your fabric out gently and edgestitch with a seam allowance of 1/8” around where you left the 2” opening. Trim threads.