Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tatting Tea Tuesday 8/25/09

I was blog surfing last weekend and found this
Felt Tea Bag Softies Tutorial
. You can click on the steps of the directions and they expand.

Well, naturally, I just had to try one ...or two...for Tatting Tea Tuesday! I couldn't find my white felt so I turned to the red felt and immediately thought of peppermint tea. It just so happens I have a huge peppermint cup to put them in! I think it's actually a soup bowl, but you don't know that from the photo, do you?


I couldn't stop at just one. And now I'm thinking...hmmm, I have gold and brown and black felt...nice Autumn colors. Maybe I should tat an acorn, or a mum or a tiny squirrel or Autumn leaves?


The space isn't really too large so you have to find small motifs. I decided to make an easy candy cane by tatting two short strips of the ricrac stitch (also known as Victorian set stitch and node stitch), joining the second color at the base of the first one before I tatted it. Then I twisted the two together and stitched it to the felt in a candy cane shape. The problem is, red on red is hard to see. If I were to do it again, I would stitch the candy cane on an oval of a different color and then stitch both to the "bag".


For the second bag, I attached a little motif I'd already made and tatted the "string" between bag and label. I used a blend of white and silver thread to blanket stitch around the outside. I really suck at letter embroidery but maybe if I practiced more, I would do better. I'd like to think so anyway.

If you have the motifs already tatted, the longest time is taken up stitching everything together. I think they would make nice sachets too. Embroider on little muslin bags and embellish with tatting.

Part of my surfing also took me to this intriguing blog named Embloggery. The stitcher committed to posting entries that were entirely hand-stitched. Many of the words are symbolic so you really have to think about them. See if you can figure this one out before you go to her blog. She's moved on to other things, but I thought it was creative and clever. If you click on the photo on her blog, it will take you to her Flickr site where you can see all of them with notes. You know what else is cool? She's in Indiana! Bloomington, to be exact.

7 comments:

  1. The tea bag softies are cute. You're right a little motif would look cute on them. Thanks for visiting my blog too.

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  2. That is cute. Those would make the cutest ornaments on a tea themed tree!

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  3. OH my, I love it. These would make such cute christmas ornaments. Thanks for sharing Gina!

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  4. I love the tea bags...and for what it's worth I think your stitched letters are just perfect for this project.

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  5. These are really cute! I think they could also make a nice bookmark with a longer string or ribbon between the bag and the tag.

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  6. Your softie tea bags are cute! I would hate to think what my letters would look like - I haven't embroidered for years! But these are a cute idea for small gifts - might have to try one or two.

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  7. Love that tea bag tutorial idea!! Of course, I love anything to do with tea and I'm having a cup right now...P.S. I've already forgotten how to get a french accent mark...I try alt 130 and nothing happens for me anymore...maybe I've lost my french savoir faire!

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Emails and comments both are welcome and always read.