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Tuesday 18 June 2013

Lavender tea cups -tutorial




Fabric lavender tea cups

Do you have a favorite collection of fabrics that you cherish so much that you want to use every single scrap out of it? Even the selvages????Or you've been admiring some of the awesome selvage projects, wanting to try some of these and use some of the selvages you've been collecting? Or you have smaller quilt leftover pieces that you don't know how to use?

Fabric lavender tea cups


Well, I have a perfect project for you!

Fabric lavender tea cups

It is simple, it is useful and it is so fun to make and it's gorgeous! It can be a great present too:)

Lavender tea cups :)

TIP:If you are allergic to lavender, you can always substitute the lavender with the stuffing and make these cups to be cute pincushions.
Or they can be filled with wheat, rice, or another grain that you can warm in a microwave and can use to keep warm on a cold night or to soothe tired muscles. Your cups can be heated in the microwave, approx. 2 minutes on the max. temperature

Fabric lavender tea cups


Needed supplies: 

- sewing machine
Please note that I used mostly serger to assemble these (as it is much quicker), but sewing machine is more than enough:)
- scissors and pins
- iron
- lavender seeds
- paper template
download it HERE, there are 3 dimensions to mix and match!
- cotton fabric scraps
I used the gorgeous fabrics from the Rock 'n Romance fabric collection by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery fabrics that are great for this project (the quality and the weight are just perfect)

- piece of ribbon or cord-for the handle 
 (even that you can totally use just a strip of fabric cut on the bias, folded along the longer edge), approx. 3-5" per cup

Fabric lavender tea cups

To start, you just need to download the template HERE , print and cut it.

Fabric lavender tea cups

Before cutting the fabrics into tea cups, the fabrics have to be assembled the way you want them to be as cups(so if you want little patchwork cups, you need to do that before cutting)
You can embellish your fabric pieces with some embroidery (you can embroider the name of the person, the tea name, some quote etc.), buttons and similar details.

Fabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups

Cut the fabrics into desired shapes-you need 2 of each shape to get one tea cup.

Fabric lavender tea cups


Making the handles: to make simple handles, you can use any cute ribbon or strip of fabric cut on the bias, folded along the longer edge. Or you can make nice handles with fabric strip , placing some cord inside. To do that, fold the fabric strip in half(preferable cut on bias), lengthwise, right side inside and sew along the long side using 1 cm seam allowance. Turn the tube piece inside out using the safety pin. With a safety pin than place some cord within the fabric tube. To obtain nice rounded handles, the tube has to be just slightly larger than the cord (mine are not perfect, as I was in a hurry, I made them too large-but next time I'll have that in mind;)

Fabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cupsFabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups

Sew the handle to one of the 2 tea cup's shapes-be sure to avoid placing the handle close to the corners: place it at least 1/2" away from the both corners.

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups
Now you just need to place the cup's shapes right sides together(handle inside) and using the straight stitch ( 1/4 "(1 cm) seam allowance) sew the shapes together, leaving the bottom side-gap open that will allow turning the cup inside out.
Fabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups
Fabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups
Fabric lavender tea cups Fabric lavender tea cups

Secure the end of your seams with back stitching or a lock stitch to prevent the sewing from ripping.

Fabric lavender tea cups

Turn it.

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

Now, you'll need to fill it with lavender, (or with the stuffing if you are making them as pincushions) just before closing-sewing the gap;)

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

You can sew it with the machine and maybe add some embellishing stitch, you can sew it all the way around with the straight stitch or you can use just the "invisible" ladder stitch ( HERE is the great tutorial about ladder stitches)

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

Fabric lavender tea cups

Happy sewing!:)
Katarina