I've seen those really cute tea cozies that tie like a drawstring.. but I wanted something a bit different... something more Moroccan, per my taste. Here's how I did it!
1. Gather your dimensions
Measure your teapot, across the top:
My teapot was 9" long, and 6" wide (roughly).
I wanted an oval shaped tea cozy, with an octagonal top like a circus tent.
2. Cut your cloth per your teapot dimensions, adding 1" to the top and 2" to the diameter for seams and batting.
I cut a square for the top ( 9" x 6"), plus one inch on all corners (so, technically, 10 x 7 square). I will stitch the panels of the "circus tent", and the sew a round body to it, trimming off the corners. I marked it where I would dart it:
Then I sewed along these seams, going from a 0" seam at the center, tapering each seam in to a 1/8" seam at the ends (In retrospect, I would have tapered each panel in by 1/2" for a more dramatic peak).
I measured around the teapot (it was 22" circumference), and cut a strip of cloth 24" long. The teapot is 5" tall, so I also cut the strip 12" for the seams and interfacing..
So my strip was basically 24"long by 12" tall. I was going to fold it in half with some nice padding inside so it would insulate the teapot.
3. Cut your batting to fit your fabric, and fuse it to the fabric.
For my batting, I used an old towel. Buy some fusible interfacing. This is nice stuff that will bond fabrics together if you steam-iron them. It's double sided, and awesome.
I cut my towel in the dimensions of my fabric (minus one inch so I could sew the seams. I did this to the top and side of my tea cozy.
 |
| Here's the top.... |
 |
| And the part that will wrap around... |
After I fused the towel to one side of the wraparound, I folded it in half, making sure the towel/batting met the fold (the fold will be the bottom of the tea cozy), and fused the other side, leaving space without batting for seams.
Here's my two pieces, ready to be sewn together!
4. Start sewing things!
You will first sew the ends of the long strip together, to make a circle.
Then, I sewed the top on inside out... (I had to hand stitch it and use a thimble, because the towel make it too thick for my sewing machine). Sew it to the lip of the wrapabout where you left space without batting.
Trim off the edges of the top...
I turned it inside out, and added a tassel to the apex of my 'circus tent'.
I realized that the seams of my tent are not as pitched as I wish they were (that's why I suggested at the beginning to taper those seams by 1/2', not 1/8'), so I bought some ribbon to accentuate the seams.
I just brought out the hot glue, and glued the ribbon along each seam. Since the tea cozy isn't going to be thrown in the wash, the ribbon should stay put!
This cozy keeps things warm for hours, especially since it's lined with a towel. Yay for insulation!
UPDATE: It's been 3 years since I made this, and it's still going strong! I use it every time I make a pot of tea.
I also bought a Teavana tealight cast iron warmer with a trivet
for my teapot, and use both the cozy and the warmer together. Even if it takes me half a day to drink that tea, it remains piping hot the whole time. I would definitely recommend that warmer for any tea lover. The whole thing gets really warm (as it is cast iron), and since it comes with a trivet with rubber caps on its feet, you don't have to worry about heat damaging your wooden table.And since my favorite tea is rather expensive, I am NOT going to throw it out because it got cold!!
