The main gift that I mentioned in my last post but couldn’t reveal, was a tea cosy for Ms P who had specifically asked for one for Christmas. A tea cosy? Was that it? All she wanted was a tea cosy? All right then, a tea cosy Ms P would have. A tea cosy to beat all other tea cosies. An olympic standard tea cosy. One that fellow tea drinkers would gasp over. One that would actually be too good for covering a teapot. And then reality hit.
I had never made a tea cosy before. It would need to have several layers, probably quilted. I’m not much of a quilter. I could appliqué ‘something’ to the surface or embellish it in some way, but with what? I mulled over a few ideas during the next few days and plumped for teapots which seemed appropriate, and then included tea cups. I made the templates and over the next week and a bit, free-motion embroidered a stack of pots and cups, each with a different design on different fabric. After I’d made what seemed like hundreds of fabric pots and cups, the actual teapot was delivered for sizing and I then had to re-think the initial design layout. I had wanted to do a circular arrangement but that didn’t fit the final cosy size so I settled for the arrangement you see below. With several pots and cups left over, I made an adjustable apron with a teapot on the pocket that matches the colour of the apron facings. I did make two pockets and can’t now remember why I only attached one to the apron but neither did I take any photos of the finished apron, so you’ll have to settle for one of the unfinished spare pocket and some of the crockery.
The tea cosy certainly doesn’t beat all others, nor was it made to any olympic standard and the only gasps to be heard would probably be in advance of some severe tittering, but it is quilted, lined, and I had fun making it, and Ms P said she was delighted with it so that’s all that matters. I don’t know what it’s being used for so far though, because the teapot’s still here….
carvingtimefromlife 