Decorative Jar for the Bath

My daughter and I went candle crazy last summer, buying about 8 big candles between the 2 of us from Yankee Candle.  The jars that these candles come in are very pretty - too pretty to recycle conventionally. I had to make something from one of these.

My downstairs bathroom is my bathroom, sort of.  I keep hair thingies and nail polish and a few other things in there for quick fixes.  My hair thingies were all over the counter and driving me crazy, especially when I had to clean.  I didn't want another basket so I thought of one of the pretty empty candle jars sitting in the cupboard in my laundry room. 

I eventually, someday, don't know when...hope to redo the downstairs bathroom in a cream color with burgundy accents.  I may not be in vogue when it comes to trendy colors, but I like what I like.  I decided, in anticipating this makeover,  that I would use cranberry felt to decorate this jar.

First I cut a piece of foam I had saved from some packing to fit the inside bottom of the jar.  I didn't want to drop anything in the jar, like tweezers or nail clippers and crack the jar.  I also cut a piece felt about 1/8-inch bigger than the outside base of the jar.

I placed the foam inside the jar.  I didn't bother to glue it in place.  Next, I cut a strip of felt about 2 inches wide and the length was the circumference of the jar plus a little wiggle room, about 1 inch.

Using overcast stitches, I stitched this strip to the circle base such that the stitching would be on the  right side of the jar when completed.  So I had to stitch neatly!

At least I tried to stitch neatly!  Once I had stitched all the way around the base, I overlapped the strip by about 1/2 inch and stitched this seam close.  I then placed the candle jar in the "cup" I had formed only to find that it was too big at the top of the strip.  I guess the felt stretched while I was stitching.  I thought about how to fix it (rip it out and start again - NO! or add elastic - nope).  Then I remembered some lace that I had and stitched that to the edge using a running stitch.  I just gathered up the excess, after placing the candle jar back in the felt cup and tied a knot to hold.  Fit perfectly!

I had a felt flower that I had made and goofed up on while making flower brooches.  Since I never throw anything away I dug in my felt bag and found it.  It needed a bit of sprucing up, including adding a few more petals.  I had already made the center from a similar lace so it matched the base.  I then glued the felt cup to the base of the jar and the flower to the cap. 

Here is another picture of it completed.  You can see the gathering at the top of the base cup. 

 

A bonus is that it still holds some scent from the candle (I believe this one was Clean Cotton) and it holds all my little hair thingies and gadgets neatly and prettily.  And, best of all, it didn't cost me anything!

Happy Crafting and Recycling!

Kathy