Hidden Kisses of the Heart Couple - Embroidery Pattern and Tutorial

In honor of lovers worldwide, I've taken a cue from my grandmother's era of youthful frivolity and freedom and embroidered a little boudior mini-pillow.

The embroidery is done here on red linen, upcycled from a women's shirt, and stitched using backstitch, stab stitch, and open lazy daisy in black and white embroidery floss.

The design lends itself to being cut as a heart shape and made into a Valentine's Day present or wedding or anniversary keepsake.

Rather than use a pom pom edging, I lightly rolled bits of wool into soft balls and tucked them inside a strip of chiffon handkerchief which is whipstitched along the edge between the balls. 

The embroidery pattern is for sale here in my Etsy shop.

The file for sale is just the embroidery pattern. The full-size pattern fits into a 6" hoop, but it can be enlarged or reduced.

Here's how I made the mini-pillow:

Stack the pillow-to-be fabric in this order: backing right side up then embroidered heart wrong side up.

In this case I used a vintage handkerchief which is very thin fabric so I have an extra layer of white calico muslin behind that.
 

Stitch around the heart shape, leaving a small opening along one side. Turn right side out and push the edges out with a chopstick. Press gently on the back side with a warm iron.

Using cotton balls or wool fleece, make enough little balls to edge the heart.
 

Using a strip of fabric 1 1/2 times the circumference of the heart, stitch around the heart, capturing a little fluffy ball inside. Use a whip stitch around the ball edges and the edging will start to look like fabric beads.
 

Tea Bag Tea Cozy - Part Two

Welcome back! The tea bag paper tea cozy how-to continues....

Here you can see the lady's dress of burn-out velvet and lace. The cap and yarn ball are both from the knitted cap I upcycled to make this. And her chiffon scarf hair is a thrift store scarf I wore once to hold up my very 1950s ponytail during a retro dress-up.

Once the front was completed, I traced and cut a back piece from a lovely plaid wool boucle jacket remnant. I decided to create a lining that was padded rather than pad the outer layers and then insert the lining as most directions require. I did this because the lining I wanted to use was a cotton sheet from the 1970s or 80s and the fabric is not very heavy. Stitching it to some flannel gave it some heft.

I stacked the front and back fabrics right sides together and stitched along the stitching lines. To reduce any possible puckering, I clipped little Vs into the edges. I turned this carefully right side out and pushed out all the edges carefully. I was surprised at how durable the paper was. It never threatened to tear at all.

 

Then I cut the sheet and flannel pieces and faux-quilted the sheet along the lines already in the print of the fabric, just the dark outlines. Stacking the lining - flannel, sheet, sheet (right sides together), flannel - I stitched these together, trimmed the seam allowance closer to the stitching, and pressed the seam open.

 

 

 

The lining was slipped into the outer shell and tacked in place by hand along the seams at the top and near the bottom edge.

I decided not to attach a bound edge and simply trimmed the whole thing along template lines, turned the raw edges of the lining and shell inward all around and stitched around to finish the lower edge.

I added the story written out on tea bag paper to the back and used a manly sort of bow tie I repurposed off another project of mine for the top.

And now it's time for tea. This cozy fits perfectly over both my 4 cup tea pots. 

Tea Bag Tea Cozy - Part One

This story came my way, sadly, without any source. What I know is that a man named Michael Bowron, somewhere, sometime, won a tea story competition with this tale:

"My grandmother was an avid tea drinker and knitter. She would knit a tea cosey to fit the tea pot. My grandfather would use the warm tea cosey as a hat when he went to milk the cows. Needless to say, there was always a ready supply of tea cosies in the drawer." 

This story came to life for me in this illustration by Amaia Arrazola. 

 

Putting these together, the tea bag paper tea cozy I'd been wanting to make came to life.

Here is how I did it:

First I made a template for a standard tea pot using this tutorial. I cut a piece of unbleached muslin (calico in Australia) large enough to fit the template. I covered it with used, dried, emptied, and opened tea bag papers. Then I ironed the papers onto fusible paper, peeled the back off and ironed the papers to the fabric. 

Of course, the overlapping ends did not fuse, but that's okay. It was just to create a base. 

Next I sorted out the more interesting and unevenly stained tea bags and started cutting out squares. The squares were machine stitched together in strips of seven and then the strips were joined together. Because the template tapers, I used a strip of six and then five at both sides. This made the front of the cozy.

 The seams were finger-pressed open and laid atop the original paper/fabric piece and pinned in place along the edges.

The template was traced onto the back of the fabric. Stitching lines were also traced and then the patchwork and fabric panel were stitched together in between the lines to hold the whole tea cozy front together.

I trimmed along the template edge and the front was ready for embellishing.

I traced the outline of Amaia's illustration onto the tea bag paper front, leaving out the top hat since that was to be a knitted cap. At first I thought I would embroider all but the cap, which would be a piece of an actual knitted cap. But then I decided on a mix of applique and embroidery.

The hubby needed to look like someone who would wear a tea cozy to go milk the cows. Yes, he needed a red plaid shirt. I used the drawing to make a paper template and basted the fabric to it and stitched it to the panel using an invisible applique stitch along the edges. I removed the basting thread and the paper insert.

I appliqued the crafty lady's dress from a bit of burn-out velvet from a small purse I had and edged it with a bit of lace. Her hair is a wadded piece of a teal chiffon scarf. And the yarn is pulled from the cap that I used to make his knitted tea cozy beanie.

But those pictures along with how I finished the tea cozy will be in Part Two tomorrow.

Needle Pointed Tea Ball

 

Welcome to the Curiosities! The Needle Pointed Tea Ball is the first oddity to be completed and unvelied.  

This 3" (7.5cm) diameter tea strainer has been knocking around in my supplies for a couple of years waiting for the moment I would have the nerve to actually stitch it. Because, of course, that's why I bought the tea ball. I have a laser cut tea strainer for my actual loose tea.

It is unbelievable how time consuming it is to stitch 15,000 or so almost 1mm stitches that make up the needle pointed image. Here is how I did this:

I traced this 1930 illustration onto a piece of lightweight white cotton fabric, pressed it inside the tea ball then basted it in place. Because the drawing was flat and ball round, it became a bit cartoonish, but I decided I really liked the look and continued.

 

And the stitching began. I used a beading needle which is ridiculously long and thin. It was the only needle that would move through the wire threaded with the one strand of cotton embroidery floss and fit between stitches.

Eventually the holes at the edges became too small to stitch and I rounded out the edges.

The branches of the trees and the flowers in front of the house were embroidered on after all the background was done. I tacked on a bit of matching ribbon from my stash and left a tail hanging.