The Green Parent

By The Green Parent

03rd December 2020

This #ThrowbackThursday we're sharing a simple sewing craft. Do you take a hot water bottle to bed on freezing winter nights? If you do, why not make a soft, cozy felt cover for it suggests Joan Gorman

The Green Parent

By The Green Parent

03rd December 2020

The Green Parent

By The Green Parent

03rd December 2020

You can buy needle-pointed felt or make it from an old pure wool sweater. To felt the sweater, pop it in a washing machine at a temperature of about 160ºF (70ºC) and, hey presto, when the sweater dries it will have shrunk and become felted, ready for you to begin sewing.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

  • Template
  • Paper and pencil for pattern
  • Approx. 16½ × 20½ in. (42 × 52 cm) very thick felt
  • Approx. 5½ × 8¼ in. (14 × 21 cm) red felt
  • Approx. 6¾ × 8¼ in. (17 × 21 cm) white felt
  • Needle and red and white sewing threads
  • Fabric glue (optional)
  • Large-eyed needle and red stranded embroidery floss
  • Long and normal pins
  • Scissors

In this project, you will use: Straight stitch and Blanket stitch (see bottom of article)

1 Photocopy the template, using the 200% zoom on the photocopier. Make two copies of the hot water bottle template. Cut out one whole hot water bottle for the front. Pin this onto the thick felt and cut round it. Now cut this template in half across the dashed line. Use the top part for the top half of the back of the cover. Pin it to the thick felt and cut round it. For the bottom of the back cover, use the second photocopy. Cut out the hot water bottle and cut it in half, this time across the dotted line. Pin the bottom part to the thick felt and cut round it. When you put the two back pieces together against the front piece they will overlap.

2 Now cut out the toadstool templates. Pin the templates for the toadstool caps to the red felt and the stalks to the white felt and cut out them out. Arrange the shapes on the front cover piece and pin them in position.

3 Thread your needle with red thread and knot it. Sew on the largest toadstool cap using straight stitch, beginning and ending on the back. Then change to white thread and sew on the stalk, still using straight stitch (make sure that the stem is touching the cap). Change back to red thread and sew on the other two caps with the smallest one overlapping the big white stalk. Change to white again and sew on the other two stalks.

4 Cut out lots of small circles from white felt, in an assortment of sizes. Arrange the circles on the paper toadstool cap templates and when you’re happy with the arrangement, transfer the circles one by one to the same positions on the felt caps to sew them in place. You don’t need to use as many spots as we have! Sew on the circles with straight stitches in white thread. Be sure to begin and finish the stitching on the back. (A shortcut would be to stick on the spots with fabric glue.)

5 Turn the decorated front piece over and position both back pieces on top of it so that the top piece slightly overlaps the bottom (to make an envelope opening). Pin pieces together with long pins.

6 Thread a large-eyed needle with red embroidery floss (thread) and sew round the edge of the cover with blanket stitch, removing the pins as you sew.

Start and finish the stitches inside where the knots won’t be visible. Use the envelope opening to put your hot water bottle inside the cover.

STRAIGHT STITCH - Straight stitch is used to sew one felt shape onto another.
To sew straight stitch, push the needle through from the back to the front (pulling the thread completely through the fabric) just inside the edge of the piece you are sewing on. Take it through to the back again just outside the edge. Pull it through to the front again a little way from the first stitch and so on. Single straight stitches are useful for embroidering whiskers on kittens or spikes on hedgehogs.

BLANKET STITCH - This makes a pretty edge when you are sewing two layers of felt together. Bring the needle through from the back to the front at the edge of the fabric.
Push the needle back through the fabric a short distance from the edge and loop the thread under the needle. Pull the needle and thread as far as you can to make the first stitch. Make another stitch to the right of this and again loop the thread under the needle. Continue along the fabric and finish with a few small stitches or a knot on the underside.

WHAT TO READ My First Quilting Book: 35 easy and fun quilting, patchwork and applique projects for children aged 7 years+

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