A personalized water bottle holder makes a great gift for a fitness enthusiast, health-conscious friend, or anyone who carries around a water bottle.
I’ve been trying to think of a practical, yet cute gift to make for my daughters for Christmas this year, and I noticed how often they carry around water bottles. I think it’s great that they are trying to be healthy, so I decided to make them water bottle holders personalized with their names. And I’m sharing the pattern I used to make the water bottle holders. You can click here to get the pattern, the instructions are below.
Also, this post is part of a Blog Hop, which means there are a bunch of Christmas gift ideas to make listed at the bottom of this post. So make sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to check it all out.
How to Personalize a Fabric Gift
Craft Supplies
This list contains affiliate links to Amazon.com. For more info on my affiliate links, click here.
- cotton fabric or another high-heat fabric
- ColorBox Crafter’s ink for fabric, wood, and more
- ColorBox Stylus Handles with Blender Foam Stamp ends
- ColorBox Art Screen stencils
- ColorBox Crafter’s ink
- rubber stamps
- freezer paper
How to Decorate the Fabric
First, I have to disclose that ClearSnap provided me with several of the supplies. I had so much fun crafting with them that I’m sure I will be using my ColorBox inks and supplies on many more projects in the future. One of the best parts is that Crafter’s ink cleans up with water. As long as it hasn’t been heat-set, it washes off easily.
I started my first design by creating a pink background with a round blender foam tip on a stylus. You use the foam tip the same as you would any ink stamp, but it doesn’t leave as much ink, so the color is more subtle.
Next I used the Mandala Art Screen to add pattern. I really like how the pattern looks a lot like splashing water. It went well with a water bottle holder. I did the full pattern and then kept moving the art screen around to add little splashes of pattern on the rest of the fabric. I used a stylus with a foam tip to add the color. I wanted it darker, so I just kept adding more and more ink.
For my second design, I used the Geometric Art Screen to add a background pattern. I gave it an ombre look by adding more ink at the bottom and less ink at the top.
I also used some rubber stamps on the second pattern because my daughter, who is getting this for Christmas, loves cats. I used the Crafter’s ink in bottles with applicators to paint the stamp with colors. Then I carefully stamped it onto the fabric. My canvas has a lot of texture, so the image didn’t turn out very dark. But it added a cute cat image, and that’s what I wanted. I also used my rubber stamps to add cat paw marks and hearts to the design.
After adding all of your ink designs, heat set it with an iron, and the Crafter’s ink will become permanent. If you’re embossing, save that for last because you don’t want to iron over the embossing.
To emboss the names, I printed each name out on freezer paper and cut it out with a razor. I’m sure a vinyl cutter would be much easier and work just as well if you happen to own one.
I iron the freezer paper onto the fabric and added ink. I pressed the Crafter’s ink pad straight onto the fabric because I wanted this ink to be nice and dark. Partly so there would be plenty of ink for the embossing powder to stick to, and partly because I wanted the name to be the most noticeable part of the design.
After coating the whole name with embossing powder, I shook off the extra powder and then peeled of the freezer paper. I used a razor to remove those extra parts of the letters.
Then I heated up the embossing powder by turning my iron upside down and placing the fabric on top. (Make sure there is no water in your iron if you do that.) There are lots of ways to setting embossing powder, but my iron was already out, so that’s what I used. An embossing heat tool would probably have been easier and more precise.
And those are my designs. With the fabric decorated, I was ready to put together my water bottle holders. You can use these same ideas on clothing and other fabric things that are already made, but it’s always easier to work with fabric when it’s flat if you can.
How to Sew a Water Bottle Holder
DIY Water Bottle Holder Parts
- Water bottle holder sides: 2 of fabric and 2 of lining
- Water bottle holder bottom: 1 of fabric and 1 of lining
- Fabric cut to 4X40 inches for the handle
- D ring or rectangular ring or slide buckle
- Print the free pattern by clicking here
I used white duck canvas for both my fabric and lining.
Water Bottle Holder Sewing Instructions
1. Sew the two sides of the holder together up to the large dot. Press the seam open. Decorate and personalize your water bottle holder now, while the fabric is flat. (See how I personalized mine above.)
2. Sew the other side of the holder together up to the large dot. Press carefully. You cannot iron over embossing.
3. To sew on the bottom circle, line up the small dots on the bottom of the sides with the dots on the circle.
(just a note: I found the circle too small to pin before sewing. I sewed one section at a time, then lined up the next small section. I also clipped inside the seam allowance of the sides before I sewed to make it stretch around the circle more easily.)
After you sew on the bottom, if there are small flaws or folds in the seam, it’s very easy to unpick just the small area with the flaw and resew it.
4. Repeat steps 1,3, and 4 with the lining.
5. Turn the lining right side out and put it inside in inside-out holder, so that right side are together. Line up and pin at the large dots.
6. Sew from the large dot along the curve to the top. Sew the second curve the same way. Clip the seam allowance of both curves. Sew up only one of the straight sides, from the large dot to the top.
7. The second straight side is left open so you can turn the whole thing right-side out. When everything is right-side out, tuck the lining inside the water bottle holder, and press the edges.
8. Fold the strip of fabric for the handle in half lengthwise, and sew together, stopping about 4 inches from the end.
9. Turn the handle right-side out. I used a bodkin. Press the handle flat.
10. Sew the open end of the handle onto the water bottle holder side that hasn’t been sewn together yet. (I’m sorry there’s no picture of this step. It should be pretty obvious where to sew on the handle).
11. Top stitch both sides of the handle and around the top of the water bottle holder.
12. Attach the second side of the handle to the water bottle holder with a D ring, rectangular ring, or slide buckle. I used a slide buckle on one water bottle holder to make the handle adjustable.
I used a rectangular ring on the other water bottle holder. Then finished the raw edges with a zig zag stitch.
Water Bottle Holders for Holiday Gifts
I created two water bottle holders to give to my two daughters for Christmas. I think they will love them. I can’t wait for them to try them out. Plus, I had a lot of fun playing and creating with the ColorBox Crafter’s ink made for fabric. 
Blog Hop
Okay, now for the fun stuff! Here’s several other handmade gift ideas from other great bloggers. I see so many ideas I want to use this year. I need to get busy making things for all the people on my list.
I wanted to thank the companies who provided supplies for many of us bloggers so we could create some fun ideas for you and for donating some pretty cool prizes for our Giveaway. Thank you!
- Clearsnap http://clearsnap.com
- Hydrangea Hippo etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/hydrangeahippo
- Hepp’s Salt Co. (food) https://heppssalt.com/
- The Twinery http://thetwinery.com/
- Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L https://www.scrapbook-adhesives.com/
- Stencil1 http://stencil1.com
- Buttons Galore & More http://www.buttonsgaloreandmore.com/
- DecoArt, Inc. http://decoart.com
- Walnut Hollow http://walnuthollow.com
- Graphic 45 https://www.g45papers.com/
- Iron Orchid Designs http://ironorchiddesigns.com/