Teacup Posies

Ever wonder what to do with the mismatched china teacups you have collected over the years from family, bought at yard sales, etc? Give this project a try and combine two hobbies .... collecting and crafting. This project is simple enough for even a non-crafter to do, and the supplies are easy to obtain and inexpensive. For this project you will need: a teacup (with or without the matching saucer), a porcelain doll head (these come in animal heads too), a small square of fabric (12x12 will be sufficient .... any fabric will do, however these are adorable using velvet or satin), scraps of colored fabric (make sure one is green), filler (doll beads, dried pinto beans, aquarium gravel), a small amount of ribbon (enough to tie a nice bow around the neck of the porcelain doll head), a needle, thread, and craft glue.

First, cut out a circle from the square of velvet (6x6 is a good size, but you will need to judge by the size of your teacup). You don't need to be especially careful in your cutting. No one will see if it's not a perfect circle. Turn down the edges of the circle to the wrong side of the fabric and make a running stitch around through both layers. Leave enough of a tail on both ends so you can gather the circle up to fit around your doll head. Pull gathering stitches until you have a little bag shape, then fill with your filler of choice. Do not overfill as you want this to be a bit floppy like Beanie Babies toys. A small amount of polyester fiberfill can be used over the filler to help keep it inside the bag as you work to complete the doll. After filling, place the neck of the doll head inside the opening of your bag and pull the gathering threads tightly and knot them. Rethread your needle with both ends of the gathering thread and hide them by pushing the needle into the bag and out again as close to the bottom as you can get. Pull threads slightly out of the bag and cut. This will leave enough of a tail on the threads so they do not come untied easily. Iron your colored fabric scraps using a heavy starch to give them a bit of stiffness, then cut out petal shapes big enough to tuck inside the bag at the doll's neck and show around her face. Glue the petals in place, hiding the ends inside the bag edge. Tie a bow around the dolls neck using your ribbon. Prepare green fabric with starch and cut out leaf shapes. Glue the leaves to the sides of the bag as though they were arms. After drying, your doll will sit in the teacup and can be displayed on shelves, tables, dressers, etc.