Project by Helen Bowes
Spring has sprung and summer is on its way. Now is the time for sitting outside with friends enjoying nothing better than a good cup of tea. Make this lovely tea cosy to ensure that your tea stays warm whilst you enjoy the cool spring breeze.
Step 1: Assemble equipment
To make this tea cosy you will need the following:
Patterned fabric for outside –
Contrast fabric for lining –
Wadding – Heritage quilting wadding
Double sided fusible interfacing
Ribbon
Sewing machine and needles
Thread – Gutermann Col 889
Pins or clips
Scissors
Tape measure
Fabric pencil, pen or chalk
Iron and Ironing Board
And most importantly…… Your teapot
Step 2: Measure your Teapot
To ensure the perfect fit you need to measure round the widest part of your teapot and the tallest part. Your tape measure needs to wrap all the way round the teapot in both directions as shown in the photos. My teapot was 18” round its widest sections and 15.5” round its tallest section.
Step 3: Make your template
To create your template, you first need to do a little maths to get the right measurements.
Width = (width circumference / 2) +1.5
= (18/2) + 1.5
= 10.5
Height = (height circumference / 2) +1.25
= (15.5/2) + 1.25
= 9
Take a piece of A4 paper and draw a rectangle on it 9” high and 5.25” wide. The width line needs to be half of the width calculated as you will be cutting out on a fold. With this drawn you can now create the shape you want for the cosy. The cut out your template.
Step 4: Cut out your fabric pieces.
Place your template onto folded pieces of each of your outer fabric, lining fabric and wadding so the fold line matches the fold of the fabric. Cut out two pieces of each outer, lining and wadding.
Step 5: Get sewing
Lay a piece of the exterior fabric right sides together on top of a piece of lining fabric. Stitch along the bottom straight edge with a 3/8” seam allowance. Repeat for the other pieces of exterior and lining fabrics.
Take 3” of ribbon and fold in half. Find the uppermost centre point on one piece of the exterior fabric and pin the ribbon in place so the raw edges of the ribbon match the raw edges of the fabric. This creates your pull loop
Attach your wadding to the wrong side of each piece of exterior fabric using double sided interfacing. Next layer your fabric pieces together. Place the fabric piece with ribbon face up on the work top. Lay the other exterior/lining fabric wrong side up so the right sides of the fabric are facing each other. Make sure your seams for the join between exterior and lining fabrics match up. Pin all around.
Once happy with your placement, sew around the fabrics with a 3/8” seam allowance. Remember to backstitch at beginning and end. You don’t want to sew all the way round as otherwise you won’t be able to turn it. Leave a 3” gap in the lining fabric.
Step 6: Finishing your tea cosy
Turn the whole thing the right way round through the gap you have left.
Press everything flat including the seams at the gap making sure they are pressed inwards. Sew the gap closed.
Pull the tea cosy open at the base of the exterior fabric and push the lining fabric into the tea cosy.
Top stitch around the bottom of the tea cosy to stop the lining fabric coming out completely. Give the whole thing one last press.
Step 7: Make a pot of tea and enjoy
To see more from Helen follow her on Instagram @phoenix_crafting or Facebook @PhoenixCrafting1.
Made by Helen Bowes for The Craft Cotton Co 2022.