The Cake Lover Tea Cosy Design Sketch

Every so often a tea cosy idea arrives that makes me laugh before I’ve even sketched it, and the Cake Lover tea cosy is one of those designs. It’s inspired by the sheer joy of cake; the kind of cosy that celebrates baking, birthdays, teatime treats and anyone who has ever eyed up a whole cake and thought, “I could manage that.” It’s a funny, characterful cosy with a sweet theme, and I’ve had a lot of fun developing it.

The Cake Lover tea cosy is for anyone who has ever imagined themselves eating an entire cake without bothering to cut it into slices. “Let them eat cake,” Marie Antoinette was reputed to have said; and there are plenty of people who would have taken her at her word and happily devoured the lot.

I always think of that Sarah Millican sketch about the “cake pigeon”; her phrase for someone who can’t walk past a cake shop window without cooing at it. I have a bit of that mentality myself, and it’s exactly the spirit behind this cosy.

This design shows someone with a whole cake at their proverbial cake hole, about to greedily eat the lot. I’ve tried to give the character a slightly manic expression and keep them unisex, because cake‑munching isn’t gender specific in my experience. Anyone can be a cake lover.

The cake itself is meant to look fancy; something celebratory, maybe a birthday cake. I thought the cosy could make a funny gift, and celebrations are usually when we enjoy cake the most. There isn’t much detail on the person, because the focus is the act of filling the cake hole. I’ve put more detail into the cake and the face. The colours might change; I’m not completely settled on them yet.

I have no idea how the mouth is going to work. It needs to look like the cake is actually being eaten, not just paused in front of the face. That will be the tricky part. I also love the idea of drizzled chocolate around the cake, but I’m not sure yet how that will translate into knitting. I’ll see how it goes.

I’m really looking forward to this one. I love the funny designs, and I love the idea of someone who really, really loves cake. I do too; and cake is the natural accompaniment to tea.













Tags: design process