Owl Tea Cozy

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Well what too dooo! Here is a pattern for you to make your own owl tea cozy! I make and sell a few of them @ a local shop in town.

Fabric requirements
15” x 44” piece fabric for main and lining
15” x 44” cotton or wool batting
8” square piece of fabric for tummy
1 strip 2½” x 44” for binding
3 colours of felt for the eyes and nose

Equipment
Sewing machine – oiled and in good working order, Walking foot (optional), open embroidery foot, Appliqué paper, neutral cotton thread for sewing and black for the appliqué, Iron and ironing board, big fabric and paper scissor, stitch and tear (optional), A3 piece of paper, temporary spray adhesive, pencil and general sewing supplies.

Here is the owl pattern in PDF format.


Make a pattern by tracing the pattern onto A3 piece of paper and add seam allowance as indicated, cut out with paper scissors.

Using the tea cozy pattern piece, pin the pattern piece on to the main fabric, this is folded into half (you need 2 pieces), cut out with your fabric scissors. Now do the same with the lining and batting fabric. Place the lining and batting pieces one side.

Using the templates, for the tummy, trace on the smooth side of the appliqué paper, adding at least ¼” onto the shape then cut out roughly – there is no need to be accurate at this stage.

Iron the tummy appliqué shape to the wrong side of the fabric 8” square piece of fabric. When cool, cut out the shapes accurately on the pencil line.

Take one piece of your main owl pattern piece, make a fold mark in the middle (line to be from top to bottom or right side meeting the left side) and the tummy appliqué piece after you have removed the backing paper from it. Position the tummy piece (right side upmost) on the right side of your background fabric, matching the fold lines. Iron into place when you are happy.

Tips when machine appliquéing

  • I move my needle to the most right position, then I use the edge of my open toe embroidery foot as a guide.
  • I also bring my bottom thread to the top to prevent a mess at the back

Pin a piece of stitch ʼn tear underneath design to be appliquéd (optional).  With the black thread on top and in the bobbin, outline appliqué in satin or buttonhole-stitch, the tummy into place.


Now cut out the eyes on the felt using the pattern pieces. Spray temporary spray adhesive on the back of each eye piece and place each piece in to place, then outline appliqué in satin or buttonhole-stitch.  After all the stitching has been done carefully remove the stitch ʼn tear and knot and sew all the thread to the back of the appliqué designs. Press.

Now place the appliquéd main piece of fabric right sides facing on to the 2 pieces of main fabric. Sew with natural thread using a ¼” seam allowance. Clip and trim excess fabric, turn right side out and press.


Place the two lining pieces right sides facing and a batting piece on either side of them. Sew using a ½” seam allowance. Trim the seam allowance to a ¼”.

It is very important the seam allowance for the main piece is a ¼” and the lining and batting is ½”.  This ensures a perfect fit!

Pull the appliquéd owl piece over the batting and lining piece, and make it fit each other.

Iron the binding piece in half and sew the binding on. Slip stitch on wrong side the binding into place.

Owl tea cozyNow have an owling good tea!

Love
NikkiM

277 thoughts on “Owl Tea Cozy”

  5. Oh this is just too cute! Visiting family soon and as I know my nieces will look at my for a new crafts project (sort of a tradition) I know we will be making these! Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  8. My younger daughter would live these! She’s setting up her first home, so I’ll have to show them to her. Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by The Brass Rag. Come back and see us again soon.

    Reply

  12. OMG! I love these! I don’t see a lot might might have to figure how how to make these :). Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    Reply

  16. Oh my goodness. An owl tea cozy! Love it! Now I am thinking about miniaturizing it and making matching egg cosies. My daughter would lose her mind, and we would have to have tea and hardboiled eggs every single day.

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  20. Hey Nikkim, hanks for visiting my blog and the like. You are very creative. My momin-law is fond of stiching unique things. I will show your blog to her. Very nice work. All the best……………

    Reply

  22. Hi Nikki,
    Thanks for visiting my blog! 🙂 I’m just starting out, but I’ve got lots of ideas for it. Just thought I’d pop over and have a wee rummage through yours, it’s looking good!

    Rowan

    Reply

  23. Cute! I’m a coffee drinker, myself, but since I am often warming up my cup with a few fresh ounces, or even microwaving (I sometimes get distracted from my cup), maybe I should keep it cozy for longer with something like this…

    Reply

  24. Thanks for liking my post FRESH. This owl cozy is a great pattern! I also enjoy many types of handwork – I previously did a lot of machine knitting, but at this point mostly hand knitting because it is portable. At this very moment I am dyeing wool with goldenrod that I collected on the roadside yesterday.
    I will definitely check out more of your posts. Keep up the beautiful work!

    Reply

  25. Hi Nikki! Thank you for stopping my by blog. I LOVE this owl tea cozy. I have some leftover fabric from making my daughters a dress and I just might try this with the fabric! This looks like it would be a great gift for tea lovers. 🙂

    Thanks again for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!

    Have a StitchTastic Day!

    Angela

    Reply

  36. I am so inspired by all your stuff.
    Going to make this Owl tea cosy using Japanese traditional fabrics for my mum for Christmas. I like how you have sewn on the eyes to give the impression that the owl is looking.
    Thank you so much.

    Reply

  40. This is SO cute! I love owls anyway, and this one is darling. I need to get back into my sewing room – – – I made a huge mess in there the last quilt I made, and to tell you the truth I have been putting off going in there because I will have to clean before I can create. Isn’t that silly? But I have so much on my plate, when I want to take a break I want to just take a break – not sort and clear tables! LOL

    Reply

  43. These are great! 🙂 I’m trying to be a bit more crafty this year haha, and these look like they would be fun to make! Not sure I’m quite talented enough yet though!

    Reply

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