If you love tea or know a special tea drinker, you can make a tea cozy to help keep that favorite beverage nice and hot. Tea cozies, once the standard home economics project, are still a popular and practical gift to make. Create one in a favorite fabric or in colors to coordinate with your kitchen. Depending on how you choose to embellish your design, tea cozies can be elegant or whimsical.
Free Tea Cozy Pattern
Making a tea cozy is a great beginner sewing project, and it's also an excellent way to use up excess fabric in your stash. You can show off your creative style by choosing cute fabrics for the project or by embellishing your cozy with fun designs.
The following step-by-step instructions will help you make a tea cozy in two hours or less. This cozy will fit most small teapots.
Things You'll Need
- 1/3 yard printed cotton fabric for exterior
- 1/3 yard coordinating solid or printed cotton fabric for interior
- 1/3 yard cotton batting
- One yard 5/8-inch-wide grosgrain ribbon in matching color
- Scissors
- 2/3 yard lace
- Sewing machine and thread
- Pins, safety pin, and hand sewing needle
- Iron
- Measuring tape
What to Do
- Click on the pattern below to open the .PDF file and save it to your computer. Print it out, and use it to cut out the fabric and batting pieces you'll need.
Click to download the pattern. - Adjust your sewing machine stitch length to 5.0 and sew a line of stitches 1/8 inch from the top and bottom edges of each exterior side piece. Gather the top and bottom of each side piece until the width is 8.5 inches. Adjust to make sure the gathers are even.
- Stack one interior side piece and one batting side piece together with the batting against the wrong side of the fabric. With your sewing machine stitch length to 5.0, baste the pieces together, sewing 1/8 inch from the edge. Repeat with the other interior side piece and batting side piece, as well as with the interior bottom piece and batting bottom piece. This will make it easier for you to work with the batting.
- Cut two pieces of lace, each 9.5 inches long. Make a rolled hem on each end of each piece of lace to finish it. After hemming, each piece should be 8.5 inches long. Place one interior side piece face-up on your work surface. Line up the bottom edge of the lace along the raw edge of the top of one side piece. The ruffle of the lace should be facing down, rather than out. Repeat with the other piece of lace on the other interior side.
- Fold the interior bottom in half and mark the fold at each side of the circle with a pin. Unfold the circle. Place one of the side pieces on top of the bottom, right sides together. Starting at one of your marking pins on the bottom, pin the gathered edge of the side piece to the tea cozy bottom. Leave 1/4 inch on each end of the side. Using a stitch length of 2.5, sew the side piece to the bottom. Repeat with the other interior side piece. Then repeat this process with the exterior pieces, using care to space the gathers evenly.
- Lay the tea cozy interior face-down on top of the exterior, lining up all the edges. Pin all the edges.
- Sew the top edge of each side piece using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Starting one inch from the top corner, sew down one side piece until you reach the tea cozy bottom. Repeat with two more sides. You'll have one open side remaining. For this one, sew down four inches and stop. You'll use this open area to turn your cozy right side out.
- Turn the cozy right side out, and use your iron to press it carefully. Hand stitch the opening closed using a slip stitch. There will be four smaller openings at each top corner. Hand sew the raw edges down, but leave these sections open.
- Adjust your sewing machine stitch length to 3.5 for top stitching. Starting 3/4 inch from the top corner of one side piece, sew a straight line to the corresponding spot on the other side. This creates a channel for the ribbon tie. Repeat with the other side.
- Pin a safety pin to one end of the ribbon, and thread it through the channel you made on one side piece. Continue on through the other side piece. Trim both ends of the ribbon at an angle.
- To use the cozy, simply place your tea pot on top of the circular bottom and position the spout and handle where the sides open up. Use the ribbon to draw the sides together at the top, and then tie the ends in a bow.
Embellishment Ideas
This standard pattern makes a simple tea cozy. If you want to embellish this basic design, try some of the following ideas:
- Applique a tea pot or other fun design on the outside of the tea cozy. Do this before you sew the pieces together.
- Attach vintage buttons all over the outside of your tea cozy. Use a solid-colored fabric for the outside, and then sew the buttons on after the cozy is assembled.
- Embroider a pretty design on the outside of your cozy. Popular motifs include flowers, vines, birds and leaves.
- Use more lace on the side seams to make your cozy even fancier.
More Patterns for Tea Cozies
The Internet is an excellent resource for tea cozy patterns to sew. The following websites offer great designs:
- Rusty Bobbin has a tutorial for making a cozy in a simple arched shape. This is a great beginner project.
- Martha Stewart Crafts Monogrammed Tea Cozy is a fun project you can make using felt. It's an easy choice if you're new to sewing.
- Wee Folk Art Watermelon Tea Cozy is another fun choice. It's best to have some previous sewing and quilting experience to make this design.
Let Your Imagination Guide You
Tea cozies make practical gifts, and there are lots of fun ways to add personality to basic tea cozy patterns. Let your imagination guide you, and soon you'll have hot tea and a cute tea cozy, too!
