Hot water bottle cover tutorial......

Finding the hot water bottle covers yesterday reminded me of a pattern I once made to make my own covers.

Years ago I had a beautiful Alpaca wool jumper that I loved. Unfortunately it went into the washing machine by mistake and ended up shrinking to the size of a small dog jumper.

I had the brilliant idea to make a hot water bottle cover out of it. Back then I just cut a pattern around the bottle insert and made sure the cable knit pattern was in the centre down the front and used the roll neck on the jumper as the neck for the bottle.

I have no idea what happen to that cover but the following pattern is just as simple as that basic one I used so many years ago.

I have a green cable knit Ralph Lauren jumper that is so worn and faded that I can't wear it any more, so I might use that for my cover.

Happy sewing and don't forget to send me a photo of your finished product.

HOT WATER BOTTLE COVER

With basic sewing skills, you should be able to make your own hot water bottle cover. Choose a soft fabric, such as felt, flannel or fabric fleece. A third of a yard should be plenty of material for a single cover.

INSTRUCTIONS

 1-Measure the length and width of your hot water bottle. Add 1 inch to the width and 5¾ inches to the length. With a ruler, mark and cut a newspaper rectangle according to your measurements

2-Fold the fabric in half. Pin the pattern to your folded fabric and cut around it. You will have two pieces.

3-Place the fabric--- right sides together---and pin around the two longer sides and the bottom side. Sew the three sides with a ½- inch seam. Remove the pins as you sew---do not sew over them.

4-Press over ¼-inch at the top of the cover and then fold over another 4-inches and press again.

5-Pin, all the way around, close to the last fold. Sew around where you have pinned, leaving a 3-inch opening. Stitch all the way around the cover, 1 inch above the last stitching, forming a tube.
 
6-Measure around the neck of the hot water bottle and add three inches. Cut a length of ¾-inch elastic to this measurement.

7-Attach a safety pin to the end of the elastic and work it into the opening and all the way around to the opposite side, through the tube. Lap the two ends of elastic, one on top of the other, and sew across them several times for strength.

8-Push the elastic ends into the tube and hand sew the opening closed. Stretch the elastic area to get the hot water bottle inside the cover.

Country girl......

I am suddenly loving these patchworks skirts.
Yes, I was raised in the country but I have never worn a patchwork skirt so I have no idea where my sudden obsession comes from.

Maybe it has something to do with one of my favorite photos.


It is of Bridget Bardot in a check gingham skirt.
(Not that she could ever be called a country girl!)

Or maybe it is because I have always loved this vintage pinup image.

Whatever the reason my sewing machine will be in use this weekend as I have finally found a reason to use my collection of vintage pastel floral sheets and pillowcases from the 1950s.

FREE PATCHWORK SKIRT PATTERN

This skirt is very simple to construct in an afternoon.
Compliments from
http://craftstew.com/sewing/free-patchwork-skirt-pattern

You will need:

This skirt is approx a size 10 and you will need 48 x 5 inch squares. It could work as small as a size 8 but will be more gathered around the waistband.

1/4 yd fabric for waistband - cut 2 pieces 6" wide by 16" long

1/4 yd fabric for skirt band - cut 2 pieces 4" wide by width of your fabric

1" wide elastic

This is a diagram of how this skirt is constructed. Each side (front and back) of the skirt will look like this when finished. The dotted lines indicate gathering stitches.

Okay to begin:

1- Sew 6 squares together to make skirt front row one. Press seams to one side. Repeat for skirt back row one. Set aside

2- Sew 9 squares together for skirt front row 2. Press seams to one side.

3- Sew 9 squares together for skirt front row 3. Press seams to one side, the opposite way to pressed row 2.

4- Sew row 2 to row 3. Press.

Repeat steps 2-4 for skirt back.

5- Sew skirt band to row 3 of skirt. Match right sides together and place skirt band over the top of row 3. After stitching fold down and press seam towards skirt band. Repeat for skirt back.

6- Run 2 rows of gathering stitches in the top of row 2. Pull up on gathering stitches and sew so that the top of row 2 matches the bottom of row 1. Stitch together row 1 to row 2, right sides together. You do NOT want any puckers or gathers in the bottom of row 1, only the top of row 2.

7- Matching side seams, sew skirt front to skirt back. Make some kind of mark so that you know which seams are your side seams, this will be important later.

8- Sew your 2 waistband pieces together at short sides. Press seams open.

9- Zig zag or serge the 2 longs sides of your waistband.

10- Run 2 rows of gathering stitches on the top of row 1. Pull up on gathering stitches until row 1 matches up with your waistband piece. Pin skirt to waistband, right sides together and matching side seams. Stitch.

11- On your waistband piece, fold the top down 1 1/4". You are folding with wrong sides together. Stitch in place leaving a 1" opening to feed your elastic through.

12- Cut your elastic to size and feed through the casing you just made. When finished stitch elastic together and close the opening in the casing.

To finish bottom edge of skirt:

13- Fold under raw edge of skirt band 1/4" and press.

14. Fold skirt band so that folded edge lines up with the seam between the skirt band & skirt. Pin in place well.

15. On the right side of skirt band top stitch to hold the skirt band in place. You are going to be top stitching as close to the seam between the skirt band/skirt as possible.

Clip strings, press and enjoy!!

Pirate cushion..

I'm going to make this pirate cushion.
Mine will be a lot larger though as the front will be an actual pirate flag with the back lined in plain black cotton canvas.

It will be the perfect huge floor lounging cushion.

Going to buy the pirate flag and the back lining for the cushion tomorrow and I will remember to show you the final results.

Life is for the birds....

As I am originally a country girl, I grew up with sounds of birds chirping morning, noon and night. When I moved to Melbourne I used to think how quiet it was.
Yes there are birds in the city but nowhere near the symphony of sound that I was used to in my country life.

I remember that at one house we lived in The Knight made me a wooden bird house and Blue Wrens made their home in it.

I have no idea what birds are in the Abruzzo region of Italy but I can tell them that there will be bird houses for them when we arrive.

These two designs I am going to make myself.

Old fencing wire manipulated with needle nose pliers and a small hand made willow tree nest will make a great home for a small family of birds.

Old wood fence palings, water washed paint, round router holes and a few nails will make a two story home for a family of private birds.

Scarves As Cushions

I did a post a while back about making these pink rose scarves into cushion covers.

They will fit the design idea I have for some outside furniture in a very girly enclosed cottage garden section at the Italian villa.

Since then I have been on the lookout for some great scarves to turn into dog cushions.

Our four dogs all love to lounge around on padded cushions so I have been searching for something special.

I finally came across the perfect scarves on ebay. I made an opening bid of 99cents on 30 of them and managed to win 18.

So my dogs will now be sleeping in the designer style they think they deserve on Burburry, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Fendi and Chanel cushions when we get to Italy.

Of course their fakes! (So ssshhhh, I won't tell them if you don't)

(A small portion of the scarves)

Couture kitchen pantry labels

In my mind my kitchen pantry/larder in Italy is large and very, very organised (not like my currently very squashed tiny pantry)

There are rows of glass bottles filled with everything from oatmeal to crushed nuts.

All are neatly labelled in black text on white sticker labels that have red borders.

Each recycled jar has red ribbon braid trim and a vintage jewel or charm dangling from the lid or tied around the jar.

OK so I know that I sound like an over the top control freak!!!

But this is an ancestral home, my ancestral home.

I want my daughter, son and grand children and great grand children to grab the glass bottle with the jam or milo in it and know the story of how I spent 3 days of my life making the interior of the pantry look pretty.

Also, as I am having glass doors on the front they will all be displayed and as the kitchen will have red electrical accessories the jars in the pantry will look great.

When I told Beauty what I wanted to do she look at me, pursed her lips, shook her head, gave a big sigh and said "OK what do you want me to do to help?"

I love my daughter.

Ideas, ideas, ideas.

Family monogram

Every step of this renovation will bring me that much closer to completing a family home that will be passed on to my children and then their children.

With that in mind I have been collecting initial/monogrammed V's for my surname over the last few years.

I'm going to embroider the bed linen, make mosaic stepping stones for the garden, etch it on everything from drinking glasses to the glass in the french doors.