Crafty Fishink. Make, do and mend.

I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the last year from careful eating and more exercise,

so when I came to get out my favourite winter sweaters, well they drowned me and

looked ridiculous, erm picture a match in a tee cosy, yeah right, well almost lol.

Now I’m a great believer in recycling.  I’m also a little cunning, careful and craft driven

when it comes to rethinking how to make the most from a given situation.

It wasn’t worth donating the sweaters to charity as the elbows had worn thin but I did want

a new hot water bottle cover, as the need was increasing to make use of one over these cooler

November evenings.  I had a brainwave.  I checked that the cotton and wool content

of the jumpers were high, ie over 75%, threw them into the washing machine

and put them on a hot 90 degree wash. They reacted as I’d hoped, coming out from the washer

like some toddler versions of the ones I’d put in. The fibres had also felted together,

becoming denser and much thicker in structure, perfect for my needs.

Without making a pattern (as I’m a little random like that sometimes),

I cut the jumper up the sides and placed them front to back, allowing one to fall a few inches

lower than the other. Then curved the back piece over the front and cut around the bottle,

using it as a guide, leaving a good inch all round and a few inches straight from the neck upwards.

I then sewed the two sides together forming a pouch inside the structure (with the back piece)

and letting the original front of the jumper form the bottom front edge of the bottle cover.

I turned it right side out, placed the bottle inside and pushed the long neck shape back in

on itself to cushion the neck of the bottle.  Allowing access for filling but giving it padding too.

Perhaps these drawings will help, or only help to confuse you further lol

Because the fabric had matted together so well, there was no need to finish off any raw edges.

Getting into the whole craft thing, I even cut some bird shapes out of the remains of the jumper,

added a small leather loop to the back and made some unusual knitted christmas tree decorations,

with very little fuss and in very little time too !

I then went on to make myself an artists leather wallet for carrying my sketchbook and pencils.

Using another piece of the jumper to add a degree of padding and protection for the book.

Quite a productive morning of recycling.

The new Green Man, from our trip to Holland earlier this year, appeared to be happy too.