Some like it hot.....

A tea-loving friend asked me to make her a capacious tea cosy to accommodate a large teapot. 

I used 3 layers of merino wool around a resist and decorated the final layer with green, shading through grey to lavender at the top.  Before felting I added an elongated tuft of roving to the pointed top which I rolled into a rope. The final decoration was a couple of white silk hankies laid on top to give a cloud-like effect, and some shine. 

The whole was well felted and fulled - a tea cosy needs to be hard wearing. Before drying I coiled the rope at the top. 

I decided to hand embroider some simple seedheads on each side. 

I neatened the bottom edge by curling it in and hand stitching. I then added a cotton lining. Choosing a brownish colour was deliberate, as it does not show the tea stains!