Da Aunties Tea Cosy

I have finally done it! I finally made Da Aunties Tea Cosy. 2 years, and a few practice runs later, I finally got it together. (I made 2 because there are lots of Aunties, and when one sees it, I am bound to be asked to make another).

Materials used: Crochet edging (roughly 30"), Wadding, Scraps of real Irish Linen from Ulster Weavers. So, it is up-cycled, re-cycled, etc, etc...

I did 2 different edgings, I preferred the bottom one, but the top one ended up the better cosy. I did 2 rows of just dc, 1ch, skip 1 st, because I thought these would be easier on the sewing machine than using solid crochet. And there was no point doing a motif, if it was to be sewn in and not seen!

I tried 2 different ways of sewing the scraps of linen. It was very fine, so you would be able to see any selvage. I though I would prefer the double sewn edge, but ended up preferring the simple version.

Then, using the same method as the previous teacosy's, (using The Rusty Bobbins method), I made 2 very traditional, very Irish, and very Aunty-ish tea-cosies...

Good God, I've sewn a Tea Cosy!!

There are a few things in my life I said I would never do, bungee jumping, waitressing, and sewing a tea cosy, to name a few...Not that I have anything against anyone that bungee jumps, or waitresses, they just aren't for me. I have issues with tea-cosy's, namely because of having done several disastrous craft fairs, where no one wanted to buy my hats, but made requests for teacosys. So, it became an issue. Just the same as the knitting thing before crochet became uber-cool, I don’t knit and I don’t make tea cosy’s, repeated at craft fairs like a mantra.

I was reminded recently of my poor Aunt, who asked 2 years ago for a tea cosy. That was before Rachel Allan, and that fish-cooking lady with the frilly apron, were around, and all things traditional and frilly could be found. It was hard to get a simple traditional tea cosy that didn’t cost €50 in Avoca. But I have a bad history with sewing; it involves black smoke, flying electric cord, broken needles, to name but a few. And I kept putting it off...

Still fresh from my sewing weekend in Cork, and as part of the withdrawal programme, I felt it was time to tackle the tea cosy. After browsing through a few blogs, websites, YouTube videos, I settled on the simple, clear instructions on The Rusty Bobbin website...

A bit of tweaking and cursing, I managed to produce not one tea cosy, but two!! For both my teapots. The fabric I used is left over duvet from making last year’s Electric Picnic Bananas, and the edging is some scrap fabric I salvaged a long time ago. So, I now feel ready to make the Aunties tea cosy. Thought this time I am going to go all out, and use a patchwork of Irish linen, and crochet the edging. Might take another year yet to make it...