♥♥ Valentine Cozy ♥♥

One day a week, on Thursday, my sweet hubby has to make his own breakfast all by himself, because I am racing out of the house to get to my weekly tennis match.  He loves to make a 3 minute egg & uses this pretty French Limoges "porcelaine d'art" egg cup.
 

He told me he was having difficulty getting everything onto the table while they were still hot.  Either the toast got cold while he made his coffee or the egg got cold while he buttered his toast. 
Remember, he is 86 years young (87 next month!) & also deals with a contractured hand from an old nerve injury so he is not very dexterous.  I feel bad for him! 

 I decided to make him a little cozy to keep his egg warm while he struggled to finish the other parts of his breakfast.




 



I positioned the egg cup on its side & just guessed at the shape & amount of fabric it would take.  I always err on the side of cutting too much, rather than not enough.  You'll see how great this worked out for me in just a second.
 

I cut 4 identical shapes out of the heart decorated fabric...one each for the front & back  as well as one each from the pink fabric I was using for the lining.

I also cut 2 of that same shape out of Insul-Bright, which is a stabilizing fabric that has an inner lining of reflective material, to hold in the heat. 
 It is used in hot pads & mitts & casserole covers.  Its great as a layer beneath your ironing board cover to reflect the heat of your iron, too.



Now for the decorating part!

  Years ago, I made Ms. C. the little jumper, shown below.  The pink heart shapes are specially digitized pockets, (by Embroidery Garden) with a quilted texture to the front side & a beautiful pichot edge all around.  

They are made completely in the machine embroidery hoop on wash away stabilizer....similar to making Free Standing Lace.

 You can then just top stitch them into place around the sides & bottom, leaving the top open for little hands.  Ms. C. loved this dress & wore it often, even putting a long sleeved turtleneck beneath it for cooler weather.




Please excuse the look of that hem...it was just pinned up until she came over for a fitting! 
I had an extra pocket left over from testing the heart shape design.  I saved it for YEARS on my design wall in the sewing room, just waiting for the next project.

 

I also saved some of that cute red polka-dot ruffled trim you see on the outfit above.  I always make more than enough when I'm ruffling fabric for a project.  I save any extra to use elsewhere, such as across a pocket.
Go ahead...say it..."Motherrrrr, you never throw anything away!"   

Now, back to the egg cozy: 

 
Basically, after I stitched the heart pocket & yo-yo decoration into place on the front,

 
you make & fold over a little tube tab & pin it into place on the right side of one of your outer pieces, right there at the top, but pointing downward.
 
That red ruffle is just being placed there right now for approx. positioning.  I should have taken into consideration the seam allowances here.  You’ll see why in a minute.

Then you just put together the 2 pieces of Insul-Bright, then the outer fabric (wrong side to Insul-Bright) & the other piece of outer fabric right side to right side.

 



Sew all the way around, across the curved top through all layers leaving the straight bottom edge OPEN.
Turn it right side out.




Then you do the same procedure with the lining... put both pieces of the lining with right sides touching & stitch it the same way except leave a small opening at the top for turning later.  Don't turn it Rt. side out now, just leave it the way it is.
I positioned my scissors inside the opening so you to see it.





Put your outer piece up INSIDE the lining.  The right sides of the outer fabric will be against the right sides of the lining.




 Stitch all around the bottom edges.











Use the small opening you left at the top of the lining and turn the entire cover to the right side out.




It will look like this:




Close the gap in the lining either by hand or machine sewing along the edge.





Tuck the lining back up inside the decorated cozy.  I topstitched around that bottom edge to hold everything nicely in place, but you don't have to do that.
Next I foolishly topstitched my pre-made ruffle into place, without checking my measurments.



I thought I had positioned my heart pocket correctly, but I forgot to take into account the seam allowances.  Duh?!



I used my seam ripper to remove the heart, repositioned it higher & sewed it back into place.  That was NOT easy, since I had to stitch up inside the completed cover!
 
Learn by my mistakes & measure twice. 
I made this one for a sewing friend & took photos along the way.  


On the one below, that I made for my husband first, I sewed my pre-made leftover ruffle piece into place with raw edges meeting at the bottom.  Flipped it down into place & topstitched all around. 




My final version of the egg cozy turned out to be a wee bit bigger than I intended but it was a fortuitous error. 

It also fits perfectly over my little white ironstone teapot!
So now we can use it for either item.
 
 
As you can see, I left the top edge of the heart pocket open when I topstitched around it (do this prior to assembling your cozy). 

It makes the perfect little pocket for tucking in an extra teabag or for holding some extra sweetener packets.  I think I'll hide a love note in it this coming Thursday.  Won't he be surprised!

Things always happen for a reason!

 

Now hubby can use it for his breakfast & I can keep my teapot warm later in the day. 


Here is a shot of both cozies together. 

Thanks for visiting The Gazebo House.  I cherish your comments & hope to return the visit.  
I wish you could come here for a real visit, so we could share a cuppa something hot!

I'm joining:
Susan at Between Naps on The Porch for
Met Monday
Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish!
Yvonne at StoneGable for Tidbits, Tips & Tutorials   
The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays
and for the first time, I'm joining Antiques And Teacups!