(I have added this section of the finished project for the thumbnail)
I have been quite busy this past week : finishing the squirrel, doing a bit of embroidery and sewing and upcycling things. Today I will show you one of the projects I've been working on : a spectacle case using an empty shampoo bottle.
1 - The process starts with a humble empty shampoo bottle. The decision is always between recycling and throwing, but in this case the marks on the back of the bottle tell you the inevitable: it can't be recycled ! I do feel guilty about it as I don't even use this shampoo - it's one of my daughters who uses it, but as the 'recycling officer' at home I deal with the recycling every week and try to encourage more thought on purchases.
I had two possible bottles to choose from. I went for this one because I needed to line it and wanted to make sure there would still be enough space for a pair of glasses and a cloth to clean the glasses.
2 - At this point, I would suggest making a line either with pen or a Sharpie pen so when you cut you follow a straight line. As always my creative flow took over and my bottle was a bit crooked, but I used scissors afterwards.
3 - Next, I used a craft knife to cut off the neck and lid :
The photos above show two bottles but for the project I chose one. I am including the two photos because the second one looks clearer.
This process was easy with a craft knife. You are left with a lid and top; I reckon the lid could be made into a button or something.
** Incidentally, 
4 - I washed my bottles thoroughly, but they were still quite perfumed. I found an old children's sweater that my friend had given me and cut off one sleeve - I will use the rest for other projects.
5 - Then I divided the cutoff sleeve in half and I had the lining and the cover for the bottle.
The main issue I had was the shape of the sleeve, I had to sew off the tapering so it was a tube of the same width.
6 - I sewed one end of the sleeve tube and inserted it into the bottle. I used a ruler to push it as far as it would go.
7 - I then repeated the process with the other half of the cutoff sleeve, that is I sewed one end but this time I turned it the right side out and put the bottle into it:
It was quite hard to stop everything from moving while I sewed the ends of the lining and the outside of the sleeve.
8 - I found an elastic band to use (thank you, 
I used pins to keep things together but clips (or even) clothes pegs would have been okay (the pins kept on coming off...).
9 - I used 'invisible' stitch to join the two bits of sleeve (lining and cover).
Everything was beginning to take shape in the photo above. One more photo ...
I was just saying to 
Thank you for reading !
🌻 Thank you 
