Hey y’all, today I’m going to share with you how to sew a water bottle holder. This post was originally for the Riley Blake blog, but I’m bringing it home.
For seven summers, I worked as a camp counselor at a day camp. A bunch of my friends from high school also worked there. The second summer, the hubs and I started dating while we both worked there. At the end of the third summer, we got married. And now Tater is a camper there. Full circle, so to speak.
Since it’s outdoors in the  Central Texas heat and humidity, it’s important to drink lots of water. We counselors took our kids by the water fountains constantly, but one of the suggested things to bring to camp is a water bottle. And I know my son – if it’s not attached to him, he’s going to forget it. Heck, even with this holder I’m only giving his water bottle a 50/50 chance of making it home on day 1 of camp. But I’m hoping the Speedster fabric that he likes will help him remember.
Want to make your own? It’s pretty easy. You’ll need:
- Two rectangles for the straps. I used 33″ x 3″ wide rectangles; for a taller kid you’ll want to make these longer.
- Fusible fleece for the strap, the same length as the strap but one inch narrower
- Two rectangle pieces that are the circumference of the water bottle + 1 1/2 inch wide by the height of the water bottle minus 1/2 inch tall. My pieces for this water bottle ended up being 7 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/2 inches tall
- Two circles that are the same as the bottom of the water bottle plus seam allowance
- Interfacing for the circle pieces
Tip – if you hold a kids washable marker against your bottle to trace the circles, you’ll automatically add a seam allowance. 
Start by fusing the fleece down the middle of the wrong side of one strap, and the interfacing to the backs of the circles.
Fold your side pieces right sides together, lining up the ends. Place your strap pieces right sides together. Sew down the side and strap pieces as shown using a 1/2″ seam allowance.
Turn the strap right side out. Press.
Sew a few straight lines down the strap to keep the fleece from shifting.
Pin your circles to the bottom of the tubes you made out of the side pieces. Stitch.
Clip around the seam to the stitching line about every 1/2 inch or so.
Turn one of the tubes right side out. On both tubes turn the raw edge of fabric 1/2″ to the wrong side and press.
Place one tube inside the other, wrong sides together and matching up the seam. Sandwich the strap between the two tubes, then sew around the top to secure the strap and enclose all raw edges.
And then let your camper go crazy! This is perfect for hiking (so you don’t have to carry the water bottle)
And they don’t even need to take it out of the holder to drink.
You can even share with your little brother.
Pennyp
What if I don’t have fusible fleece? I have regular quilt batting in various lofts. What if I used a bit of fabric glue to anchor the batting? I was thinking about watering it down and brushing some on to hold the the batting in place. But if I am going to sew it, does the fusible fleece make much difference? THANKS!!!!!
Claire Earley
Hiya Melissa, Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your patterns, this one is especially interesting to me as, although my two boys are now fully grown and have flown the nest, we now have a surrogate ‘child’ in the form of a Jack Russell who needs lots of walks, as I always try to take a bottle of water with me I can have trouble carrying that along with his lead and walking with my stick. So this is a very helpful pattern 😉 Thank you again so very much, I will be cutting and stitching this up as soon as possible. Good luck in all you do from one very thankful follower 😉
Melissa
this is fantastic! i love how it can be customized to the waterbottle. is the fleece an insulator and as was asked above, would craft batting work alright? excited to stitch these up for my kids, thanks!
Melissa Mora
Yes it would, but I wouldn’t stitch the strap the same way without fusible batting – it wouldn’t turn right. I’ make two strap pieces, fold in the raw edges, then sandwich the batting between them wrong sides together.
Jessica
Thank you so much! I’m VERY new to sewing, and typically even the “easy” tutorials have me confused by step #3. This tutorial was perfectly written!
Erin
I made these for my girls and they turned out great. It was one of their Christmas gifts from me this year and I couldn’t wait for them to open them and especially to use them on our next outing. I wish I could post a picture of them, oh well. Thank you and the tutorial was so easy to follow. I got your link from Sew Mama Sew Handmade Holidays.
Dave Jay
I really like your blog and I finally gave one of your tutorials a try. My water bottle holders turned out great! Thanks for the inspiration and the great tutorial.
donaerfuchs
Lovethemçupsgoodforcampers
Kathy
My 2 grandchildren are doing this as a project at Grandmas house this week. They are just learning to sew and love practical projects where they can use the sewing machine and some creativity. I hope to post a picture of the finished products by Friday.
Mercedes Anderson
Great pattern! I’ll be taking mine on my cruise next week.
Sadie
Thanks, this helped me out heaps on my homework,
five stars
Chooi Sien
Thanks! I have made one for my daughter and she likes it!
Kristina
Thank you for the pattern. I made these last year for my kids for school, and made new ones this year (only used cotton fabric that didn’t wear well). The only change that I made was to use belt webbing for the strapping and add a buckle to it so they could adjust how they carry it as they grow.
Valerie
Was looking for a water bottle pattern and found this. Looks like it won’t be too hard, so excited to try it! And I have to say, you have the most adorable models in the pictures 🙂
Priscilla
Thank you Melissa for this great idea. The best part is like you said, they don’t have to take the bottle out of the holder to drink. Plus since it’s a crossbody, they won’t complain of having to carry their own water bottle in their their little hands. Will be making some for us, for sure.