A few years ago my daughter and her partner went to Africa. Now there's a country that knows how to use every little resource. They came home with shoes and bags and wallets made from tyres and inner tubes. And Meghann brought home a trivet made from bottle tops and scrap fabric. Last year Meg made me a trivet from bottle tops and scrap fabric and so that's what I decided to do with my excess of bottle tops and scrap fabric.
Here's how it's done....
First cut out your circles just a little larger than the bottle top.
Sew a row of running stitch around the edge
Place the bottle top onto the fabric circle and pull in the gathering stitches until tight around the top.
and then sew the ends together.
Make enough circles for your design and then sew them all together with a few little stitches where they meet at the edges.
Once all tops have been sewn together in your desired shape, trace around it. This will be the pattern for the back. Cut two frommatching fabric and sew a 1/4 inch seem around edges leaving one side unsewn so that you can turn it in the right way. Iron it and hand sew opening closed and place it on the back and sew edges where they touch the bottle tops to secure it in place.
I love that I can use up scraps of fabric that are too small to be of much use for anything else and save the bottle tops from going to landfill. And they are turned into a useful and practical item.
They make a nice little handmade gift, don't you think!
Very cool - well done :)
ReplyDeleteNow I know what to do with all RMan's beer bottle tops LOL - thanks.
Gosh, when you first mentioned it i have misgivings and was thinking of something that might get put at the back of a cupboard if visitors arrived, but i am impressed. These are really cool. I was walking through the factory the other day and saw under the Punch Press a box of circles and squares which come from punching holes in the sheet metal. I asked what happened to them and apparently they are scrapped. Thousands of bright shiny perfectly cut little discs. My mind started working over time and i first thought of an outdoor mosaic. What to you think? Any Suggestions?
ReplyDeleteHi lynda, not sure what I would do with all those off cuts but a mosaic sure sounds nice. Mosaics is on the list for future projects. One of these days!
DeleteOh really love this and have a friend who collects bottle tops so will be passing your grand idea on!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful to come and watch all the great things you do here.
www.mindfullygreen.com.au
What a great idea. Well done, as usual! :D
ReplyDeleteLove this idea. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteVery clever! What a great way to use up something that would normally go in the bin. ps- cider is our current favourite "unwinding" drink too. We enjoyed quite a few while camping, always finding the locally brewed ones the most interesting.
ReplyDeleteWow, yes they do! What a cool idea..(get it? cool? cool drink? sorry..I know, it's late).
ReplyDeleteWe were at the beach over the weekend at it made me so sad to see the sand was filled with bottle tops from people just tossing them off their stubbies. There was also a craft market right along the esplanade, and I'm sure people would pay good money for one of these..something so useful made from scraps, ironically with the materials lying just a few metres away! I know I sure would! Very cute. :)