It’s been a fun ten years making and selling these wool felt tea cosies — as well as the coffee and mug cosies — and it’s been delightful and marvelous that tea and coffee drinkers from around the world have liked them enough to want them in their homes too. Thank you!
I am letting the shop drift to its natural end and will (likely) not be making anymore cosies so what you see in the shop is it. However, there are still mounds of colourful felt ends and off-cuts and, and in the spirit of waste-not-want-not, they will continue to be fashioned into trivets and coasters and hotpads and table mats as the fancy strikes.
The primary reason for stopping is my inability to source the same wonderful high quality 3mm wool felt that originally inspired me a decade ago. My designs require a dense wool felt with consistent thickness so they stand up on their own and have a sturdy presence and hand-feel, but while the price per yard has increased 50% the felt has, sadly, become limper and less dense.
The quality of many, many things has dropped over the past twenty years or so as production and manufacturing has moved overseas, but still — disappointing. I gather that, in the case of wool felt, the land the sheep are grazed on, the climate they live in, how they’re cared for and what they eat affects their wool. And after it’s sheared and cleaned, there are the complications and expense of international shipping. All elements contribute to the final manufacturer’s overhead and expense margin. So even though the wool felt I’ve been using continues to be manufactured in Europe, many factors have contributed to the current state of affairs.
The online shop will remain open until the shelves are clear and the last good-quality yardage I’ve been able to source is used up so I hope you’ll have a look and, if you purchase, that you’ll enjoy the cosy for years to come.
