A New Sewing Experiment - Watercooler Cover!

Part of the fun of sewing is scrapping patterns, dots, and protocol and trying to make something you've never made! I was challenged to do this recently when a friend asked me to make a cover for her 5 gallon watercooler jug. Was I up to the challenge? You bet!

It was so easy, anyone can do it! Here are the deets in case anyone out there is wanting to pretty up your water jug with a fancy-schmancy cover. Lets get to it, shall we?

First step: Buy your fabric. DUH! :) We bought a meter, but it doesn't take quite that much...3/4 a meter would probably do it.

Cut out two pieces: a circle 11" in diameter, and a rectangle that measures 16 1/4 x 36" (You may want to cut it a little wider (17"?) depending on how you normally hem things...keep reading and you'll see why).

I have a serger and like to use that to finish my edges, but if you don't normally finish your edges (or have no clue what I'm talking about) just skip that step.

Next, sew the 16 1/4" edges together to make that rectangle a "loop" of fabric.

Sew a basting stitch along one edge of the loop and gather it slightly. The fabric we used was quite thin, so only one basting stitch was needed. If you are using a heavier weight fabric, you may want two of these to gather your material.

Once your "loop" is slightly gathered, pin and ease that edge to the edges of your 11" circle.

When it is done, it should look something like this:

Sew that edge together.

Hem the bottom edge however you want. Again, I serge my edges, so if you want to finish it a different way, you might want to cut your rectangle a bit wider (maybe 17"?).

Aaaand, you're done!

The pictures are horrible, of course, because it was night time and bad lighting and we have a cheap camera. Go us. But you get the idea, and you can see how nicely it fits over the water jug. The color of mine was a nice hunter green, to match these curtains that I made over a year ago. How nice will that look in her house?

This was super easy to make, if you have even the slightest bit of sewing ability in your big toenail, you can do it! It was fun to learn how to make something new, and not rely on a pattern or worry about doing it "right."

Anyone else doing any experimental sewing these days? These long winter days are perfect for sewing! How about any other crafts?


Someone suggsted to me that possibly these water cooler covers might be hard to find, so I hope this tutorial is a help! I'm wondering though...would this be an item you would like to see in my Etsy shop? Just in case you don't have any sewing ability in your big toenail, haha! I would be willing to offer these as custom orders (to match the theme/colors of your kitchen) in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested! Leave a comment or contact me for more details!

Linked up with Alicia's Homemaking!