Casserole Clasp

I made a casserole carrier for myself several years ago.  Love it.  It was designed for a 9x13" pan but my 10" springform pan fits great, too.  The carrier gets a fair amount of use.  I've been using a twist-tie to keep it closed.  It's does the trick, but I wanted something a little stronger and a little prettier.

So I made myself a closure from a bit of fabric, a scrap of batting and a snap.  It slips through one handle and remains attached to that.  To secure the cozy, the end wraps around the other handle and snaps to itself.  I have instructions on making the casserole cozy - this post is to go with it.

Start with a 4¼x2" piece of fabric and a skimpy 4¼x1" piece of batting (1).

Fold the fabric in longways in half, right sides together, and put the batting on top (2).  Sew along one short edge and down the long edge with a ¼" seam.  Trim the corners and turn it inside out.

Wrap the end with the raw edge loosely around one of the dowels.  Mark where the end fits around, remove the dowel, then stitch the raw end onto the rest of the strap (3).

Lastly, stitch the snaps to each end (4).  I would have liked one of those nifty rivet snaps - but sew-on snaps is what I had, so that's what I used.

This should hold a lot better than the twist tie.  If nothing else, it looks a lot better!  Plus there's no chance of it falling off, so I don't have to worry about losing it.  Works for me.