Make a tea cosy

1. Download the templates. Using the tea cosy template, cut two from mustard patterned fabric, the front piece will be shorter than the back. Cut two full size from lining fabric and two from wadding. Trim one 7cm x 37cm piece from Liberty grass print fabric, back with iron-on interfacing and set aside. Use the template to cut out all the pieces for the teapot and cup and saucer, using a selection of fabrics, and back each with iron-on interfacing.

2. Back a 14cm circular coaster with interfacing and pin it to the right-hand side of the main body of the tea cosy. Secure in place with bright pink thread. Iron on the reverse. Place all the teapot pieces as shown, using pins or acid-free glue to hold them in place. Stitch using a teal coloured thread. Add a decorative stitch to the teapot.Iron on the reverse. Repeat for the cup and saucer. Trace ‘favourite tea’ from the template onto tissue paper. Pin in place, stitch over the paper and then tear it away. Stitch the steam lines from the cup.

3. Fold 38cm of bias binding in half lengthways and run a line of stitching down it to hold it together. Pin across the bottom of the tea cosy front on the right side so that the line of stitching you have just sewn is 1cm from the raw bottom edge of the tea cosy. Stitch it across. Fold the bottom raw edge under and pin it across the front of the grass print fabric interfaced earlier, allowing for a 1cm seam. Secure in place by stitching across the mustard fabric just above the pink bias tape.Iron on the reverse.

4. Pin together a lining piece wrong side up then a piece of the wadding and the finished front right side up. Hand or machine quilt around the edges of the teapot, coaster, cup and saucer, just underneath the pink bias tape and around some of the flowers on the grass print fabric. Stitch around the curve just in from the edge and set aside.

5. To create the back, pin together the lining wrong side up then the wadding then the back right side up. Quilt across the pattern of the fabric and stitch around the curve. Place the front and back right sides together and make a mustard grosgrain ribbon loop. Place in between the front and back with the raw edges sticking out. Stitch bias binding around the curved edge. Turn right side out. Starting at the back, stitch pink bias tape around the raw bottom edge.

Stitch a coaster

1. Using the coaster template, cut two from blue spot fabric, reversing the template for the back. Set the back aside. Cut out the teapot shape in floral Liberty print fabric, the middle band in mustard and the two lid pieces. Back them all with lightweight interfacing.

2. Pin the teapot to the middle of the blue spot fabric leaving an equal border all the way round. Use an acid-free gluestick to secure the middle band and lid pieces, allow to dry. Stitch all the details using teal thread stitching over it twice. Use the same technique as before to write the word ‘tea’. Iron on the reverse.

3. Cut a piece of wadding the same size. Pin the finished front right sides together with the back, placing the wadding underneath. Stitch all the way round with a 5mm seam allowance, leaving a gap at the bottom for turning. Clip into the curves, trim away the excess wadding and turn right side out. Iron flat and topstitch 3mm in from the edge using blue thread, closing up the gap. Quilt around the teapot to finish.