Sewing a hot water bottle cover | Instructions

To help you enjoy those cozy moments even more, we'll show you how to easily sew a beautiful, individually designed hot water bottle cover.

And because we like to think about recycling when we sew: this is a great way to reuse old sweaters or jeans. The cute turtle appliqué made from fabric scraps is very easy to sew on and turns the simple cover into a real gem.

To sew the hot water bottle cover, you will need:

• Sweatshirt fabric, jersey, or knit fabric (denim works too!)
• A plastic zipper approx. 40 cm long - no metal, as it conducts the heat from the hot water bottle well: risk of burns!
• Fabric scraps for the appliqué
• Solufix for the back of the fabric - Solufix prevents the appliqué from puckering. You can also use embroidery stabilizer^* instead.
• Vliesofix for ironing on
• You can get our free pattern for the hot water bottle cover here: Hot water bottle cover
  

Then let's get started!

Cut out the shape twice for the front and back of the cover.

Mark the center of one piece of fabric and cut it down the middle. This creates space for the zipper.

Insert the zipper. I used a zipper foot for this. Topstitch the zipper with a 3.5 mm straight stitch.

Make sure you catch the folded fabric edge and the edge of the zipper on the inside. This prevents anything from getting tangled later.

Now cut out the individual pieces of the turtle appliqué and apply Vliesofix to them. This works best if you place everything between two layers of parchment paper. This protects your iron and ironing board. ;o)

Cut out the pieces and iron them onto the cover piece without the zipper.

Place a layer of embroidery stabilizer or Soluvlies under the piece you want to embroider.

You can also secure the stabilizer with a few pins so it doesn't slip while appliquéing.

Now sew the appliqué on with a satin stitch. I used variegated Madeira cotton thread for this. Make sure to reduce the presser foot pressure as much as possible to prevent the fabric from puckering.

Now you can peel off the excess embroidery stabilizer and iron the appliqué - a little steam will smooth out the fabric.

Then lay both pieces right sides together. If anything overlaps (everyone sews the zipper in a little differently), simply trim off the excess.

Sew the cover together using an overlock or an elastic stitch (or your sewing machine's overlock stitch).

Happy Simple Sewing

Your Sabine