Upcycle Project 1 - Hot Water Bottle Cover

Once you have used a hot water bottle you will never want to use anything else. There is something truly comforting in that nice warm sensation as you snuggle a hot water bottle. But of course they need to be covered, there's certainly nothing comforting in snuggling a lump of rubber lol.

This project is super easy and can be made with an old blanket, or jumper or anything that is snuggle worthy.

For this tutorial I am using an old woolen blanket we were given years ago from The Man's Nana. We ended up with about 12 of the things so I'm sure I can use a few for projects about the house.

You will need:

1 x old woollen blanket (pure wool) or jumper

1 x Hot Water Bottle

1 x Washing Machine (for the felting process)

Paper for making a template (can use newspaper if need be)

Marker

Scissors

Sewing Machine (of course you can hand sew it and if it’s felts thick enough it looks super cool sewn together with blanket stitch)

Fabric, Old Sheet, Felt, crochet circle, crochet flowers, doilies. Anything really for embellishing

This is how I make mine

Felt your woollen blanket or jumper in your washing machine. I find this works best in a front loader. Simply pop your item in your machine, turn onto your hottest setting, add some laundry power and wash. Once washed check to see if the fabric feels a bit denser than prior to washing it. If yes and you are happy with it either hang out to dry or dry in the drier (I know, naughty J)

Make a template of your hot water bottle by tracing around it onto a piece of paper (newspaper works well too)

Add 2 cm’s around the whole template. This will be referred to as Piece 1

Now join the dots (note I have made a slight change to the shape at the top)

Copy this template two more times onto another piece of paper and cut out.

Measure 24cms from the top of Piece 2, rule a line a cut along this line. Now measure 21cmx from the bottom of Piece 3, rule a line and cut. You will now have 3 piece that look like this:

Place Piece 1 on your felted blanket (or jumper). Either pin down or mark with a fabric marker around the outside, then cut out. Repeat with Piece 2 and 3

Now it’s time to embellish template 1. I’ve used an old sheet here and appliqued a flower onto it with a button in the middle

Once you have finished embellishing take Pieces 2 and 3, fold over each edge by 1cm and pin down

Now sew along where you have pinned

Lay Piece 1 face up, grab Piece 2 and lay on top of Piece 1 face down as per the photo

Now grab Piece 3 and lay on top of both Pieces as per the photo. The two edges previously sewn will overlap.

Pin it all together and sew right around the edge

Snip the corners. This helps to make the corners nice and round. Be careful not to snip your sewing though ;)

Snip off any loose pieces of cotton, fold out the right way through the opening and you are done

Enjoy!