I don't very often go into town to the shops. I have to declare an aversion to shopping and crowds of people.  Occasionally I will meet up with a girlfriend for lunch though and take a wander around the nearest large town of Basingstoke. I did this recently with the lovely Lucille. I met Lucille when both our daughters were at 6th Form together, as well as Charlie and Robyn becoming best friends, Lucille and I hit it off too. We have both been on similar journeys battling cancer and depression,  and have several interests in common.

This interest tends towards crafts, and like me Lucille is always on the look out for something that might be useful in a project. We spent longer in the charity shops than we did in the department stores; that says pretty much everything you need to know about me!

I noticed in the corner a vast array of gents shirts, mostly in traditional City stripes or checks, and in wonderful quality cottons. Many were from Jermyn Street and would have cost between £70-100 new.

I am aware from friends who have vast sums of money to spend, that the men are in the habit of replacing their entire wardrobe of shirts every three months, and sending their seldom worn off casts to charity shops.  This for a long time has been a rich vein for me finding quality fabrics to recycle.

I have a great love of textiles, and collect antique needlework, much of which is used everyday, including beautifully embroidered sheets and household linens that in some instances are over 100 years old.

I took 6 of these shirts in the fabulous cottons, and decided they would be very nice cut up and recycled in patchwork. I paid about £10 for my haul and have enough fabric to make a full-sized quilt. As I had a quilt in progress I decided what I needed was a quick fix to make me feel like I had achieved something, so yesterday afternoon, I decided that a hot water bottle cover would be quick and easy, and I had all the materials I needed to hand.

I cut the shirts up, and then cut some random strips, and then joined them to make a larger piece of fabric of patchwork stripes.

I then laid a hot water bottle on some batting and used it as a template to get the pattern for the shape I needed.

Then I placed a larger piece of shirt material (one of the shirt backs) right sides together with the patchwork piece. I then placed the batting on top of this, pinning through all three layers.

I cut around the pattern I had made and left a seam allowance. In hindsight this should have been larger by a good half-inch, but live and learn.

I machine sewed around the margin of the 3 layers, leaving a 1 cm seam allowance and leaving a gap of about 3 inches in one of the sides so that I could later turn the whole thing  inside out, leaving the batting in the middle and the right sides of the patchwork and the lining facing outwards.

I made some small ribbon ties using the rouleaux loop technique I learned at school and attached these to the inside  shoulders of the bottle shape.  These would be tied in a bow to prevent the bottle slipping out of the case.

Then I put the two lining sides together, and neatly over-stitched the outsides of the case together, leaving enough room at the top on both sides to allow the bottle to be put in easily.

I started making this at tea time yesterday, and by dinner time it was all but complete. I waited til today to do the hand sewing, as I find it difficult to sew  except in bright daylight.

I think I will make a few more although I am not sure what I will do with them all once they are done!