Sometimes a girl just doesn’t know what to title her post!!! I Hate My Toaster or Oh So Cozy.
I Hate My Toaster or Oh So Cozy
Our toaster gets used every day, so it is always out. I have a love/hate relationship with my toaster. I love that it works. I hate that no matter how hard I try, parts of it won’t come clean.
Every so often I cheat on my toaster by perusing the Dualit web page.
I think I have mentioned Sweet Boy is getting braces, the Fashionista is in college and she needs a new car. So a $200+ toaster is not exactly possible at this point in my life. Sigh. So what’s a girl to do? The thought came upon me like a vintage dream. I needed a toaster cozy. A 1950’s housewife’s kitchen always had one.
I took a peek at Etsy and eBay and couldn’t find anything I liked. Then an idea took shape as they often do. I was at an estate sale and there was an entire bedroom dedicated to old textiles. I spied a plastic bag of antique lace and trims from the doorway. My heart began to beat faster. There were two other women in the room and my heart sank as one grabbed the Ziploc bag. She then said, “Who would pay $10.00 for this bag of ratty ribbon?” Her friend concurred and they left the room. Yippee!! It was ALL mine. I only had to wash it 3 times before it came clean.
Several of the pieces required that I carefully separate it from the old pieces of clothing, etc. that they were attached to. Yes, it took HOURS. But this was the good stuff and worthy of my time.
Cozy Lace
Some of the terrific trims were only 12 or 14 inches long. What I would do with such little scraps?
I also continued to work on my toaster cozy. I know, it drives some of you bonkers, but I worked without a pattern. I used a measure, pin, and sew method.
Then I had a thought. What about if I covered my entire toaster cozy in lace?
I loved the row of fleur de lis on the back of the cozy the best.
The front of the cozy featured a repurposed antimacassar piece of lacework and some antique mother of pearl buttons.
Simple perfection.
UPDATE: SOLD OUT! Thank you so much.
A few extra are available in my Etsy Shop if your toaster also needs to cozy up.
This gem features vintage linen and an antique piece of broderie Anglaise.
I also went on the ruffled route. While it is oh so cute, let me just say that it will definitely be a one of a kind design.
I don’t own a ruffle foot attachment for my sewing machine so it was old school all the way. To get the rows even a lot of seam ripping and re~sewing went on. After 4 + hours a bit of under the breath mumbling might also have occurred.
Love this French Country cutie!
The vintage fabric received a bit of embellishment in the form of some lovely vintage velvet and a button.
I am now eyeing the blender.
Laura
Laura! How wonderful! Fabulous! You are amazing, darling! I love that you found a super way to repurpose that “ratty old ribbon”!!! (That's ok what they said-obviously they just didn't understand!) Love to you sweetheart! Jenny
They are fabulous…good for you to come up with a feasible fix!
Oh my your covers are so pretty! Very creative!
Yvonne
You are sooooooo creative! I loveeeeeeeeeee these! :):):):):):):):):):)
Laura..
you amaze me..
with your witty and humorous way of introducing such beautiful creations!!
each is soooo unique!
love them all!!
hugs..
Loui♥
Such a neat idea! I might do this to cover up our old toaster at home – LOL! Thanks for the sweet comment in my blog.
I love your toaster cozy! I have the same problem with my toaster oven; it's clean but it looks terrible! I keep looking for a pretty, square basket that I can invert over it when not in use.
LOVE it! You are really on to something here! I hide my sad little toaster in the bottom cabinet, but I'd leave him out if I had a pretty cover for him : )
It is always my pleasure to visit your super chic, creative site! Thanks for sharing:)
Hope to see you on my humble blog:)
You are so much fun and yes, this is a catchy title! Love the covers!! I just bought a new toaster and was surprised how nice it is and wasn't nearly as much as the high end ones. Sadly, my girls like the old toaster better!!
XO,
Jane
I just keep coming back and looking at that ruffled cover, and I remembered that I have an extra ruffler foot in my sewing stash. Next time we see each other, let's see if it will fit your machine, and it's yours!
These are beautiful, Laura! Haha ~ I sew the same way. I just can't work with a pattern; I always mess up. I do much better with cutting, pinning and sewing. I may try this concept for a cover for my sewing machine.
Great idea! I love what you come up with day after day.
Your tea cozys are all so pretty. I grew up in the era of cozys on everything. My mom even had one for her wringer washer! Now that's a cozy! 😀 It had a little skirt for the tub part and a little cap for the wringer part! You have to love a dedication to housework when you will dress your washing machine up after sticking each article through the wringers and then rinsing it by hand in another large tub of cold water. I sometimes jaw at my automatic for not putting the stuff in the dryer by itself!
Great luck on being able to get the lace!
Thanks for sharing your fun ideas! 🙂
Adorable idea!
What a great solution! I think they're all wonderful. I think that red one might be my favorite, but I'm prone to change of mind.
This is such a sweet idea and a perfect fix to your problem…especially love the yellow cover!!
OH my lord! Those are so, so cute! What a great solution for those of us who can't afford a Dualit toaster. Our toaster is pretty suckish, too. ;P
That is by far the coziest cozy for ANYTHING that I have ever, ever seen. If you spy a certain popular stand mixer and want to “cozy” it up a bit, my MOM wants a blankie for hers. 🙂
The ruffles are WONDERFUL–definitely worth the work, I dare say!
OH!! What a wonderful idea. I love the floral pattern one (french country).
These are really cute! I don't cover my toaster because, well, you don't want to know..let's just say it is kinda pretty on it's own! LOL!
Awesome appliance covers!
Thank you for the reminder-I've been thinking of doin the same. I did my stand mixer. I love your lace cover the best.mary
Laura once again you have created something beautiful. No, several beauties. Love them. Ann
WOW !!! What a great idea !!! and so pretty !!!!
…and thanks so much for visiting my blog and for you nice comments !
Why not paint it? It;s got those curvey lines… I can see it a bright red, or cobalt blue….
Very ooh-la-la! I love that you used leftover bits of lace and linen. Now you and your toaster can go back to being BFFs.
I have four kids in braces right now and one waiting his turn. Don't get me started on not being able to afford any extras. LOL! Lisa~
Wow! I am loving the whole toaster cosy thing! Maybe I need to make a cosy for my toaster oven. I hate the look on the counter. Thanks for the idea! Kit
Laura what a fun way to hide those unsightly, utilitarian items we have to have in the kitchen. I love your site! So many beautiful ideas. Thanks so much for coming to visit my little part of the world. Great to meet you!
Have a great day!
Such a pretty cover! Thanks for dropping by my blog:)
Awesome! Seriously, so creative and what patience you have. I gave up on my toaster and now use my panini grill for all toasting.
I keep my toaster hidden in the cabinet! You did such a beautiful job with this. For those of us that can't sew…I can't even imagine making such a thing!
Now this is just too cute! I love this! Thanks for the inspiration!
By the way, thank you for your sweet comment on my blog. I appreciate it!
Un travail long mais si beau…
Je n'oserais plus toucher au grille-pain…!
Gros bisous
Such pretty covers! I get excited about finding lace too! I have tons. You have terrific ideas for yours.
Laura what a beautiful cover you made for your toaster! It reminds me of a lovely tea cozy! Just found some more lace recently to play with!
Oh wow…you've started a new fad with that awesome idea! Women all over the world will be making toaster cozies and we'll all have to give YOU the credit!! I'm going to make one too..just like yours! AND, that find of vintage laces was GREAT! Good job on the work…I know it was a labor of love and your toaster will love you for it! Cinderella Toaster!
Blessings, Doni
Laura, each one of these is just darling! You are so creative, it's always a treat to visit you and be inspired. xoxo Lidy
http://frenchgardenhouse.com/blog/
Oh you did a good job on this. It is very cute. Thanks for linking it up at HSH!
Sherry