Vintage Tea Cosy.

(From The Art of NeedleCraft, 1935.)

Ribbon Flowers (Figs. 259, 260).

—Pretty ribbon flowers of different shapes can be made. This is a good method of using up odd pieces of ribbon. Cushions and cosies are pretty, decorated with ribbon flowers of different colours. Fig. 261 shows a pretty cosy; the flowers are made of ribbon and the leaves are embroidery stitches.

The flowers are very easily made. Pretty little flowers can be made from ribbon 1 inch wide. Gather along one edge of a length of ribbon and pull it up tightly to make a circle, as in Fig. 259. Cut off any that is not needed and join the two ends neatly together. A piece of ribbon about 9 inches long will make a good flower. Notice the hollow circle left in the middle. Make another little flower in exactly the same way from a piece of baby ribbon so that it exactly fits this hollow, as in Fig. 260, and forms the centre of the flower. Needless to say, the centre flower must be a different colour—yellow or brown is appropriate.

A Pretty Tea-Cosy decorated with Ribbon Flowers (Fig. 261).— Fig. 261 shows how flowers of different colours can be arranged to decorate a tea-cosy. This tea-cosy is 14 inches by 10 inches (turnings must be allowed). The cosy in Fig. 261 has been drawn to scale, so that it can be clearly seen how many flowers made from ribbon i inch wide can be arranged on it. The leaves are worked in stem stitch.

The two sides of the cosy are joined together with piping and covered with ribbon or with material similar in colour to some of the flowers. A simple way to join the two halves of the cosy is to lay them together, right sides facing, and seam round the curve. Make a padded cosy to slip inside the cover.
A second way to join the cosy shapes is to bind them together with galon.

A garland of ribbon-flower rings looks very attractive on a square cushion. There is indeed no limit to the decorative possibilities of these dainty shapes.