British Biscuits Appliqued Cafetiere Cosy

'Sewing World' Magazine October 2015

Regular readers will know that my Patchwork Sprocket Cushion was featured in this month's Sewing World Magazine, however I'm delighted to announce that another of my projects also made an appearance;

This 'Sweet Treats' Appliqued Cafetiere Cosy 

Featuring iconic British biscuits such as Jammy Dodgers and Fox's Party Rings, it's just the thing to add some fun retro chic to any kitchen.  The appliqued biscuits conjure up such memories of childhood teatime treats, I was always partial to a 'Nice' coconut biscuit although I wasn't quite so keen on Pink Wafers!

The magazine includes a full sized pattern and should the teacup not rock your boat, simply change it for the recipient's initial;

The design is also perfect for tea cosies....

...time to get started on stitching all your Christmas gifts!

Keeping Cosy

Hot Weather Crafting!

We're having the hottest weather in a decade here in the UK and I'm sweltering whilst stitching a cafetiere (French Press) cosy and quilt but I'm not about to complain!  

We were given this 'Marks and Spencer' coffee set by a lovely friend earlier this year and Mr. Larkin found the coffee pot to be the perfect size for his desk at work.  My sister-in-law has a big birthday coming up, so I bought another set and stitched her a little personalised cozy to go with it.

It features cute appliquéd versions of traditional British biscuits including Jammy Dodgers, Party Rings, Nice Biscuits and Pink Wafers. These names probably mean nothing to overseas readers but for many Brits they invariably conjure up childhood memories.  Here's a potted history for those not in the know;

'Jammy Dogers' have been an iconic British biscuit for over fifty years, and were originally named after Roger the Dodger from The Beano.  The 'Nice' biscuit is a coconut flavoured delicacy which was first mentioned in an 'Army and Navy Co-operative' price list in 1895. Wafer biscuits have been around even longer and sailors used to be given a basic version as part of their daily rations but the Edinburgh based bakers 'Crawfords' made them sweeter and added bright pink colouring.  'Fox's Party Rings' are an iced fancy created in 1983.

Sweet treats for a sweet sister-in-law!

It's been a busy sewing week, as I've also written two features for upcoming articles in Sewing World Magazine and, in-between times, started my first ever 'proper' quilt!  I kept drooling over the fabulous creations made by all my bloggy friends and thought it high time I finally gave it a go.  I dutifully cut six hundred rectangles and started stitching.  It took just two blocks to discover that a pair of loose weave upcycled linen trousers did not equal a crisp finish!  Undeterred I rummaged in hubby's wardrobe and found an old blue shirt with a (very) worn collar to go with the equally well used duvet set I had already sliced up.  At this point the quilt dimensions shrank as I was only able to get 100 rectangles from the shirt, although this will probably be quite big enough for a first effort.

My big confession is that I am not loving quilting!  It took me hours and hours to starch and prepare the thin and out of shape upcyled fabrics before even beginning to cut the strips.  I then had an afternoon piecing before I got bored - I've got another couple of projects to finish but I guess I'll get back to it by Friday (perhaps).

Having a cosy Christmas time

We've had a joyful season surrounded by family and friends and I hope you have all had a wonderful time too.  Christmas Morning Mass was a beautifully chaotic affair and led almost totally by the children.  All three churches in the Parish come together at both Easter and Christmas and it's always lovely to see the children taking full part in the proceedings.  George delivered both the first and second readings, Alice read part of the bidding prayers, Rebecca sang the responsorial psalm and Lucy and Jenny read the Gospel.  Ayana and the girls also altar served ably lead by Joseph.  They were all fantastic and didn't seem in the least bit fazed by a congregation in the hundreds!

We only open stockings before church, so once the dinner (turkey wellington) was safely in the oven, we settled down to open the rest of our presents.  Mr Larkin and the children gave me a new hair dryer to replace the one I've had since school, as it is now inclined to cut out mid-use.  Hopefully this new one will also deliver thirty years of service!  Darling Mr Larkin also presented me with a beautiful poem fresh from his pen.

Alice was very pleased with a new school bag and complete box set of the 'Heroes of Olympus' books by Rick Riordan.  George had a couple of new games, a set of headphones and a seven book set of the 'Game of Thrones'. Mr Larkin was delighted with a Charles Tyrwhitt shirt and some new hi-vis cycling tops.

We spent the rest of the day fairly quietly as we were saving ourselves for 'Boxing Day'.  This is very much a part of a traditional English Christmas and many people chose to spend it with close friends or family.  We dragged some trestle tables out of the garage and had a full sit-down Christmas dinner with ourselves and three other families.  It was a glorious day and we built up an appetite for lunch with a walk around a local lake and ancient woodland known as 'The Scrogs'.

I was stitching right up until Christmas Eve and this year's theme was tea cosies.  The first one was for Alice's godmother who is also one of her teachers and she kindly gives up at least one lunchtime a week to teach Alice and a friend the flute.

  

As you can see I made it from a beautiful piece of purple tweed and I gave the teacup design a festive tweak with the addition of a snowflake. The back featured a personalised Christmas label.

The script was formed using free-motion machine embroidery and the black stitching used to highlight the applique pieces was applied in the same manner.  The cozy is very dinky and the perfect size to cover a pot of tea for one.  Just the thing at the end of a long day's teaching!

The next two were somewhat larger and should fit a family sized teapot.  They also had little personalised labels on the back but as the light was fading on Christmas Eve by the time I finished I didn't get any decent pictures.

 Happy Christmas!

Upcycled Cafetiere Wraps - Sew Cosy!

 Recycled Wool Sweaters

Last winter I made these cafetiere cosies and lots of people mentioned how much they liked them, so this week I finally got around to making a couple more.

I purchased some Starbucks' themed 'French Press' sets and got to work.  The first thing to do was discard the flimsy red wraps they came with, (I'm thinking I might turn these into hanging 'wool' hearts for the tree) as they were made from a synthetic yarn and were way too thin to offer any insulating properties at all.

I dug out my stash of felted wool jumpers and scarves to find a far more suitable wrap.  If you want to produce your own pure wool felt, just throw some old knitwear into the washing machine on a boil wash, it's that easy!  One quick point to note though, is that if you wash a load with mixed colours, then the fibres tend to transfer to each other.  You can see evidence of this on the dark brown sweater below.  I actually quite like this effect as it gives the final wool fabric a nice artisan appearance! 

This method creates the most gorgeous tactile material which any member of the family would be happy to snuggle into.

Once I had wrestled my choice out from beneath bad kitty, I got cutting and stitching and this is what I came up with........

French Press Cozies for two of George's teachers.  

We decided they deserved a little Christmas present as they write and produce the annual 'Panto' at school.  For non UK readers, Wikipedia describes this typically British Christmas tradition thus;

"Pantomime includes songs, slapstick comedy and dancing, employs gender-crossing actors, and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale.  It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers." 

"So now you know...........oh no you don't.........oh yes you do.........etc........etc.......!" 

The writing of a production containing 'topical humour' must take hours and this, along with numerous rehearsals, on top of their normal teaching week, represents a very impressive commitment. They take their production out, for free, to the local community and lots of primary school children and old folk get to share in this lovely tradition.

We chose a computer themed motif for the second cosy as the teacher for whom it is destined is an ICT teacher.  The other is for an Religious Studies teacher which as a subject didn't readily lend itself to a suitable design, so instead I came up with a cute coffee cup and spoon.

In homage to the traditionally British Panto I then added appliqued English biscuits to the design.  These are very different to the more American cookies and perhaps an acquired taste.  Pink wafers are a real blast from the past for me, although I'm not sure I would want to eat too many of them as an adult!

I was particularly pleased with how the "Jammie Dodger" turned out. They've been an iconic British biscuit for over fifty years, and were originally named after Roger the Dodger from The Beano.

Other classics featured are a 'Nice' biscuit, a coconut flavoured delicacy which was first mentioned in an 'Army and Navy Co-operative' price list in 1895.  A 'Bourbon Cream' introduced to the world in 1910 by 'Peek Freans' and finally the baby of the group a 'Fox's Party Ring'  created a mere 30 years ago in 1983.

I managed to rip one of the bags of coffee as I 'carefully' opened the original packaging and so I toddled off to the local supermarket to buy a couple more packs of Starbucks' grounds but as they weren't Fairtrade I refused to buy them.  So if you're reading this Mr or Mrs Starbucks I want my coffee to be Rainforest Certified and Fairtrade please!

More Tea M'Lords?

Personalised Linen Tea Cosy

Today saw the start of the children's first full week back at school after our six week break.  We've had such a wonderful summer, although it already seems like just a distant memory!  I didn't get much sewing done whilst the children were at home, hence the lack of blogging.  However, I did stitch a personalised linen tea cosy which my brother had requested as a wedding present for a couple who were getting married over the summer.  Their surname is 'Lord' which hopefully explains the theme!

My brother had found this picture of a vintage linen tea-towel, featuring an appliqued butler, which he wanted me to use it as a basis for my design.  

Whilst it was great to have a starting point for the tea cosy, I actually felt under a little bit of pressure as I was worried that it might not live up to the original and that he would then be disappointed.

Anyway, I concentrated on the butler and after a couple of attempts this is what I came up with;

A very snooty English butler!

The tea cosy itself was made using the same pair of upcycled linen curtains as the previous couple of posts.  There's still metres of the fabric left, so they weren't bad value considering they only cost £1.50 from the local car boot sale! I free-motion quilted the linen, adding a layer of wadding (batting) for warmth.  As it was for a wedding gift, I also embroidered a little label on the back showing the happy couple's names and the date of their nuptials.

At least this couple might now remember their anniversary each year, unlike Mr Larkin and myself as we have both been guilty of forgetting ours!

My brother sent me some photos from the day and it all looked beautiful

The wedding car showed the cosy off to its best advantage

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Lord!

Personalised Tea Cosy

Appliqued Embroidery Portrait

I recently sent my Mum a journal which she had requested as a retirement present for her church minister.  When she originally mentioned that she wanted a gift making she told me that 'anything would do', but after much discussion she finally decided on a journal which you can read about it here; 

  http://sewforsoul.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/appliqued-portrait-personalised-journal.html

However, once I sent it she decided that she actually wanted a tea cosy, so I gladly whipped her up one to match the journal!

The main fabric is some lovely natural linen which was upcycled from a pair of curtains.  I then added some batting/wadding and free motion quilting, to add warmth and stability, before using my original journal design for the applique.  The black detailing and wording were worked using my favourite free style machine embroidery technique.

Here's hoping the recipients will  be suitably flattered by their likenesses!

We thought it must be time for tea.....

The UK is finally getting some decent weather after years of poor summers and my attention has been turning to tea and coffee cosies!  The children's great grandmother used to swear by a cup of piping hot tea to cool her down on a hot day, so as I've been sewing I've been reminded of her theory.

We thought it must be time for tea...and it was!

In homage to the wonderful weather I picked a very pastel summer scheme with lots of lovely 'sugary' colours for this tea cosy. Could it be any more girly and chinzy?

The cosy is a present for my sister-in-law and the back features a monogrammed plate with her initials. This was one of the rare occasions when I used an embroidery machine and, whilst I don't dislike the finish, I really prefer creating free-motion embroidery on my basic machine!

I have also been stitching some cosies for cafetieres ('French press' for North American readers), this one was made for my mum and the coffee cups have her and my father's names embroidered on them.

The lining is upcycled from a beautiful pink wool scarf which felted in the wash

The tiny button on top of the appliqued coffee pot came from Granny's button box and I expect it might even have come from her mother's or even grandmother's collection before that.

Mr Larkin, my lovely husband, also wasn't forgotten and I have stitched a small cosy for his dinky little one cup cafetiere.  He likes to have a pot of coffee on the go when he is writing and I thought if he had a smaller size it might help keep a check on his caffeine intake!

His cosy also features an antique button closure and felted wool lining, although in a more masculine navy and brown.  If you look carefully at the above photo you can just make out some coffee stains under the spout.  These cosies are great not only for keeping your coffee warm, they also protect your table!

Quilted Tea-Cosy Tutorial

Sew your own appliqued tea cosy

A dear friend of ours is unwell at the moment, so I really wanted to make her a gift which would demonstrate how much both she and her husband are loved.  She lives in a university town and has helped tens and tens of students to feel a little less homesick.  She also gives countless hours of her time to the local community and her church as well as supporting many charities!

As soon as a visitor walks through the door of her home the kettle is on and so the obvious thing to make her was........

A personalised tea cosy

 

and here's how it's done.....

Firstly collect together some heavy weight material for the main body of the cosy and some wadding/batting for the insulation layer.  I used an old cushion as my main material as this was a nice heavy furnishing fabric.  You can use a thinner dress-making material, but this would just not be as cosy!

For the wadding I used the backing from an old ironing board cover, as it's good to be green and upcycle wherever possible!  I then free-motion quilted the two layers together; in the picture I have folded the fabric back over as the quilting is very subtle on the right side and it can be seen better from the back.

Next I drew a simple tea-cosy pattern onto a sheet of A3 paper.  I then drew around this straight onto the front of my fabric.  I find this the easiest way of doing things, as I can then insure that all the applique pieces are central.  Should any of them 'walk' during the making process I can simply retrace the pattern before actually cutting out the item.  I use a 'friction' pen to do this. They are sold in most supermarkets and stationers and are really meant to be used on paper and when you rub the writing with the pen lid, the heat this friction creates causes the ink to disappear.  When used on fabric simply use an iron and, hey presto, the marks have gone!

Now draw yourself a suitable design for the applique. Or, if like me art is not your strong point, find an image  on Google.  Your picture then needs to be traced onto your fusible web.  I generally use bondaweb as it is quite cheap, but today I am using a pack of steam-a-seam which I picked up in a sale.

I don't bother printing out the picture, I merely trace it straight onto the fusible web from my laptop;

  

Don't forget that when using fusible web the image needs to be flipped.  Now I'm not sure how to flip text on the computer so that it is a mirror image. So I simply used tracing paper on the laptop screen to copy the writing and then turned the tracing paper over and put that underneath the bondaweb/steam-a-seam.

Look carefully at the following picture and you will see the reversed text waiting to be applied to its fabric.

Lay out all of your pieces and once you are happy with the design,  iron to fix it.  You are now ready to stitch the applique into place.  I used an open-toe applique foot and a reduced stitch length;

If your machine allows you to stop with the needle down this will make turning corners much easier.  Simply stop, leave the needle in, raise the foot, pivot the fabric, drop the foot and resume stitching.  

If you prefer, you can also use a darning foot, drop the feed dog and free-motion quilt around the pieces.  Once all the stitching has been completed check that the design is central, and if happy cut out;

Then pin or tack a tab at the top of the cosy;

Okay, almost there!

Place the front and back of the cosy right sides together and stitch.  Turn right side out and press.  Now chose a lining fabric.  This can be a lighter weight than the cosy iteslf.  I chose a lovely cupcake design.

Use your paper pattern to cut two lining pieces.  Swing your sewing machine needle over to the left so that the lining will be ever so slightly smaller than the cover.  Do not forget to leave a gap in the seam so that you can turn the cosy right side out at the end!

Now pin the cosy and lining right side together and stitch along the bottom.  Turn it through the gap in your lining so that it is now right sides out.  Hand stitch the opening closed.  I then top-stitched the cosy a couple of  centimetres up from the bottom so that the lining was nice and secure and that's it.........

All finished