I started this tea cosy in 2007, I think, and it was supposed to be a quick project
for friends of mine who were moving inter-state...and four years later, Voila!!
This is the final item in my 'Mexican Teaparty' series, where I made woollen scarves, garments,
tea cosies & embroidered purses with imagery based on this theme, lots of skulls and flaming hearts!
This cosy is a very simple one in structure. I started with a base of wool I bought from Waverley Woollen Mills in Launceston, and lined it with another layer of old wool blanket and cotton fabric I had printed by Spoonflower with a photo I took in Paris of an enamel 'fire hydrant' sign (Bouche D'incendie), which ties into the friend's new second home in the South of France!
When I rediscovered the unfinished tea cosy in a pile of half-started projects awaiting my undivided attention to complete, I remembered why I'd left it alone for a while (I didn't intend to leave it this long!)- it hadn't been 'working' visually because I'd not put enough colour on it. So I ransacked my scrap bags and found the most Mexican-colourful pieces of silk and linen I could rummage out of the bags and once I started pinning them onto the cosy everything fell into place and I knew how it ought to look!
I've covered all the seams with fancy embroidery stitches and added 'Tea Party" and embroidered in Spanish on one side. I had a tiny piece of German cotton folk ribbon left over from a series of cushions I'm working on now, and this has tied a small brass 'tea bell' onto the top of the cosy.
So what started out as a guilt-ridden rediscovery of a belated and uncertain tea cosy, has turned into a colourful celebration of stitch and textile!
Olé and
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beber té más!
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