Sewing Day

I feel like I have been very neglectful of my sewing this year. Uni has completely taken over my life, but now that exams have finished it's time to get cracking on a brand new batch of hot water bottle monsters.

It does always feel odd making something for warm cuddles when it is so hot outside, but I find myself preparing for the northern hemisphere's winter as well.

Today I started with some new ideas of what I was going to make so new it was going to be a fun day (sewing days are always fun, but today was going to be more fun)

I knew I wanted to tackle a line of 'woodland' animals with a twist so was starting with some basic shapes then introduced the felt...

I love working with felt. It's like drawing with fabric, and why I always hand sew. This lets me get the details just right and continue to play around with placement so I can let my characters come to life while I make them.

A sneak peak at the 3 new hot water bottle monsters that will be hitting the store tomorrow.

There are more to come... and all are new designs, so stay tuned.

Fun With Hot Water Bottles

I love hot water bottle covers. Which is odd, because I live in the Sub-Tropics. Brisbane only get's about 2 weeks a year that you would need a hot water bottle cover. But I love to make them - I think because it's something fun that everyone can enjoy, not just kids.

Here's some of my favourites that I've made...

 

Check out my current hot water bottle covers here

So monsters have been my major love - which I guess is because they really let you go nuts on creativity. But just the other day I had someone ask me if I could make a raccoon for them.

I'm not the type of person to say no to a challenge - I actually love making new things - so here's my steps to making a raccoon hot water bottle cover.

I made this little guy out of pre loved fabric - some herringbone pants that were useless as pants, but still had heaps of fabric in the legs to work with...

Step 1 - cut off enough from one of the legs to fit the water bottle.

Step 2 - I marked up the basic shape of the ears with chalk then cut out the design.

Note - leave a little extra fabric (about 2 inches) at the bottom of the back piece (that isn't cut). That way you'll have enough fabric in the mouth so that it stays shut when there's a hot water bottle in there.

Step 3 - Hem the two edges of the open mouth. I used a zig-zag stitch for this to prevent any stray threads getting away.

Step 4 - Sew the head onto the back, then sew the bottom on - remember you should have some overlap from the head onto the bottom of the body. Now you can turn this the right way out.

Step 5 - Go to town on your design. I use felt and just add shapes as I think it needs it. This is part of the reason why I sew them on after I sew the body together. If you want to, add these features before step 4. Also, I'm an illustrator by heart so I like to play around with shapes with it all laid out in front of me, which I find hard to do early in the process.

Step 6 - Enjoy your new hot water bottle cover!

This little guy sparked off some ideas for new designs... so I'm going to share a sneak peak with you here. In about 3 weeks these new designs will be in my Etsy shop ready for Christmas - so stay tuned... 

p.s. let me know if there's a style of hot water bottle cover you'd like to see