A Tea-pot Cosy

Cassell's Household Guide, 1870
We now give a design for a tea-pot cosy, in the button work. The cosy, originally a Scotch fashion, but now almost universally adoptedin England, is a useful adjunct to the breakfast-table; for, as it is thickly wadded and made to cover the teapot entirely, it not only keeps in the heat while the tea is infusing, but, when made, it prevents the infusion from becoming cold,
should the breakfast be a lingering meal, or be detained on account of any member of the family being less of an early riser than the rest.

The cosy should be worked on scarlet merino. It is worked in the two smallest sized white china buttons. In consequence of the dimension of our publication, the pattern (Fig. 1) is necessarily given in a reduced size; but the actual measurements should be, when completed, 15 inches in width by 10 ¼ in height. When the scarlet merino has been cut to about half an inch beyond this size, a piece of white glazed lining, rather shorter at the straight edge, is put under it, and the merino tacked upon it all round, and turned over it at the straight edge. The border is now worked, taking the stitches through to the lining; when it is finished, a small pattern is dotted, as it were, over the rest, as shown in the design. Fig. 2 or Fig. 3 may be used for the latter purpose, if preferred to the design given on the cosy.

Two pieces being worked in the manner described, they must be firmly stitched together round the curved part, on the wrong side, leaving the straight sides open. Now take a sheet of wadding, double it, and cut it to the shape of the cosy; cut to the same size a piece of white silk or sarcenet, tack the wadding down upon it at intervals, and having prepared two of these pieces (putting the skin of the wadding next to the silk), stitch them together; turn them out, and place them inside the merino and glazed calico as a lining, tacking them here and there, and neatly felling down the silk upon the merino, at the straight edges, on the inside. The cosy will now be complete, with the exception of the handle. For this fold a piece of merino to about half an inch in width, and five in length; sew on it a row of middle-sized buttons close together, and when finished stitch it by the two ends to the top of the cosy; on the edge where it is joined. It should lie upon the top quite flatly, and, being only stitched down at the ends, can be easily raised when wanted to lift the cosy by. It will give a cheerful and pretty appearance to the breakfast table. Although we have spoken of this work as being done in the white china buttons only, many other kinds may be used, according to the taste of the worker. Mother-of-pearl buttons have a beautiful effect, and when sewn on a ground of dark blue or violet velvet, present a very rich appearance.