Cup of tea?

This piece of mohair has been teasing me for several weeks. I loved the antiquey rosey beige colour, but just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.

Eventually I decided it would be perfect for one of my 'Timeless Teds', a collection of traditional bears for collectors who prefer their teds classic in design. After my recent fun with flambouyant clown bears, I thought the time was exactly right for a Timeless Ted, so I set to work and Amelia (who bears my Grandmother's middle name) was the result.

I think the subtle shade of mohair, blended with cotton velvet paw fabrics works beautifully on this bear, but she needed a little something to finish her. First I knitted her a cardigan, but it really didn't suit her at all, so I put that to one side and had a think. That was when I remembered the delicate cotton crochet collar I had recently come across and tucked away for 'just the right bear'.

Trouble was, the collar was pure white cotton and that really was too strong a statement for Amelia's subtle colourway, so after pondering for a while, I decided to take the plunge and tea-stain the collar. Three strong teabags and a good rinse with fabric softener later, voila! A gorgeous antique shade of ivory beige ... perfect!

For anyone wanting to try this, bear in mind that tea can be acidic and so you will need to rinse your fabric thoroughly after staining. I simply boiled up three 'Yorkshire Tea' teabags, strained them and used the bowl of tea to plunge my collar into. I left it for a couple of minutes and then sloshed it clean in fresh water, finally rinsing it through with fabric softener before leaving it to drip dry overnight.