I Made a Tea Cozy!

A tea cozy was an essential tool in any lady's tea collection. The art of tea making died a slow death in our culture, but it's making a comeback. There is a proper way to make tea and when you go through the right steps for that perfect cup of Earl Grey, the last thing that you want is to let your tea cool too soon. This is why the tea cozy is my new friend. I made this cozy using extra fabric that I had in my fabric stash and I repurposed a thrift store sweater. This was an easy project that I finished in less than one hour. This afternoon I gathered my supplies, turned on the Hallmark Channel to watch a Christmas movie and began snapping photos. Here is how I did this....

1) I stretched the sweater over a teapot and gathered the sweater at the top of the lid. I made a mark, using chalk, and then flattened out the sweater and made a rough mark with chalk to cut out.

2) This is the piece that I cut from the sweater. I then placed the piece on top of my scrap fabric and traced the outline of the shape.

3) This is the piece that I cut from the scrap fabric, wrong side- out.

4) With the right sides facing each other, I sewed the sides and the top of the scrap fabric pieces together.

5) I inserted the scrap fabric piece into the sweater piece. With the wrong sides facing each other, I sewed all along the bottom. The result resembling a hat or a sac.

6) After pulling the scrap piece out from the sweater piece, the scrap piece and the sweater piece are joined at the bottom and are wrong side out. I the sewed the top of the sweater piece, leaving a gap in the middle.

7) With the gap in the middle of the top of the sweater, I was able to pull the sweater piece right side out. I was also able to pull the scrap fabric piece through, as well. I tucked the scrap fabric piece into the sweater, like a pocket. I then created a clean edge on the bottom by folding the excess fabric and sewing along the top of the lip, creating a cleaner edge.

8) For my final step, I used a needle and thread to sew up the gap. I used a hidden slip stitch to make it less obvious. The sweater cozy is done.

The tea cozy also happens to be reversible. I happen to like it this way, but I can change it to fancy the occasion or the season. Like I mentioned earlier, this is essential to your tea arsenal.  Yes, I DOES bring all the boys to the yard!

So, I finished a craft project and there are more to come between now and the rest of the year. Now, Once Upon A Time is on and after that The Walking Dead will be on. I intended to do a facial and document that for tomorrow. However, tomorrow's weather forecast shows a snow storm coming. I've decided to postpone my pamper session until then. Expect a post on that tomorrow! Until next time~ Toodahloo!