DIY Hot Water Bottle Cover
This month, we went through the process of designing a hot water bottle cover using fabric scraps from our Staple Blankets. At first, we thought we would sell them on our online store, and maybe we will one day, but in the meantime, we’ll share the method so you can try and make one yourself!
A bit of background - we use deadstock fabric for our Staple Blankets, sometimes overdyeing it and always using a contrasting blanket stitch. Some of our colourways (Periwinkle, Mustard Check and Pink and Blue Check) came from fabric that was a different dimension to our other colourways. This meant there was a leftover strip of fabric from each roll. Naturally, we didn’t want this to go to waste, so we’ve kept it aside and are now making plans…
The opportunity: creating a new product that is useful, while also using up smaller pieces of fabric.
It took two prototypes, and help from our community via Instagram - but here we are! The result is cosy hottie cover that is a natural alternative to the synthetic, fluffy options that are rife in mega stores at this time of year. Plus, it’s pretty cute and snuggly if we do say so!
How to make a DIY Hot Water Bottle Cover
Trace around your hot water bottle onto tissue paper (IMPORTANT: be sure to fill your hot water bottle first - this was a mistake we made in our first prototype!). Make sure you add about 1cm seam allowance around the circumference of the hot water bottle - you don’t want it to be too tight to get the hot water bottle in and out. Make three pattern pieces: 1 the full shape of the hot water bottle, 2 the under flap, finishing just before the shoulder curves of the hot water bottle, and 3 the over flap, which we curved to mimic the cross-over shape of our Zigzag Sleeping Bag. You want pattern pieces 2 and 3 to overlap by about 6cm on the sides and at least cm in the middle. Tip: fold the tissue in half long ways and just trace one side of it, so your pattern is symmetrical.
We actually just folded pattern piece 1 (along the dotted line) when it came to cutting pattern piece 2 on the fabric, so you can do this too if you don’t have enough tissue paper. The perspective is a bit off in these photos, but you get the idea!
2. Use sharp scissors and cut your fabric using your pattern pieces. This design calls for wool blanket fabric - you could use a worn or ripped vintage blanket or old quilt (please don’t cut up good condition vintage wool blankets if you can help it!), or perhaps fabric leftover from a sewing coat. You could even felt up an old wool jumper and use that fabric. Perhaps you have shrunk your sister’s favourite sweater in the wash - make it into a hot water bottle cover for her to say you are sorry! If your fabric is not very felted and frays at the edges, you may need to overlock around each pattern piece first.
3. Choose a contrasting thread colour (wool or cotton) and blanket stitch along the opening edges of the flaps. Aim for the blanket stitch to be about 1cm into the edge.
4. Pin pattern pieces 2 and 3 (overlapping) to pattern piece 1 and sew around the edge. We sewed the circumference part using a 1 cm seam using the sewing machine to make it super secure, blanket stitching in the next steps covers this up. You can hand stitch this if you don’t have a machine.
5. Finish it off by blanket stitching around the circumference of the hot water bottle cover as you did with the opening edges. And, there you have it!
If you make one, we’d love to see it! Send us a message by email - hello@commonkind.nz, or tag us in your posts on socials - @CommonKind_ on Instagram or @CommonKind on Facebook.
