Another Gift Done!

I finished my hot water bottle cover and probably took only 6 hours or less.

I used an old cashmere sweater someone had given me for the body. So it is super soft. The green stalks used to be cashmere socks. The flowers another soft sweater and the flower centers old yarn. I outlined the stalks with left over yarn too. The buttons are from my grandmothers collection of old buttons. The ribbon I bought for another project and I put pearl beads to keep the ribbon from getting pulled out.

The sweater was obviously a turtleneck that had been felted. I sewed the neck down so it wouldn't move around. Then sewed the ribbon on. Since the turtle neck was a little loose, I decided to put two ribbons and not one in the middle. This sweater was one where they have an extra shoulder seam. Instead of having a front and a back match up. There was fabric in between. I started cutting the sweater on the bottom to fit the hot water bottle. Which was a mistake with this kind of sweater. I should have started from the shoulder and worked down. The sweater is ribbed, so the line I was following curves in towards the neck. By working that from the bottom, I miss gauged where I was cutting and my front and back didn't match up. So I fudge it and folded the shoulder seam like a gift. Sewed that together and then started hand sewing down. I could done the sides on my sewing machine but didn't want to take a chance since I had already goofed up.
I love making flowers. So I grabbed a loose silk flower and used it as a pattern. I sewed the flowers in place and felted the yarn centers. I then tried to felt the green cashmere sock on but the cashmere wouldn't felt to the cashmere. So I decided to use yarn to sew it on. It was rough on my fingers. The fabric is fine and thick, so the needle and thread struggled to go through. Then I put the buttons on and cut holes. I think it came out good. My fingers are too tired to add leaves or balance the picture. Not everything has to balance anyways. This is definitely a project anyone can do.

So don't throw out those old sweaters.