Greeting Card Teacup & Saucer

PLEASE NOTE: Because of repeated requests, I will soon be making this pattern available for sale as a PDF, so please check back for updates and I'll be glad to let you know when it's available. Thanks!




Years ago, I began to see in antique stores some baskets and vases that had been made out of old greeting cards fashioned together with simple crochet stitches. I never bought one, though, because I knew I could make one myself, and I even had the wild idea that I could make one in the shape of a teacup and saucer. So over the weekend, I did. Actually stitching the thing probably took less than two hours. Creating my own patterns probably took about six hours! Still, I'm fairly pleased with my first little effort, and now I have patterns I can adjust for future projects. Wouldn't just the cup part be cute with an Easter-basket-style handle, perhaps as a May Day basket for friends? And in case the crocheting tea lovers out there want to make some for yourselves, here are a few photos of what I did.

First, I gathered some old greeting cards, which wasn't hard to do because family and friends know how much I love roses and often send cards with this flower on them.

Once I got a notebook paper pattern piece to my satisfaction, I traced it four more times, taped the five pieces together 'til I had the size and shape cup I wanted, then traced the pattern piece to thick cardstock. This I cut out and used as the primary pattern for cutting out the greeting card pieces. I punched holes in them using a 1/8 inch holepunch, then single-crocheted around the pieces.


Once all the pieces were crocheted up, I joined them with a needle and the same cotton thread I used for the crocheting. Now I realize none of this makes much sense if you aren't a crocheter, but I would point out that something very similar could probably be accomplished with embroidery, using a simple blanket stitch to join the paper pieces. I did resort to hot glue for attaching a paper handle, but it now occurs to me I might have stitched this on instead. And the saucer (for which patterns were made in the same trial-and-error way) can even be inverted to create a pedestal type teacup if you like. When you turn it over and see handwriting of family and friends, you'll have happy memories to accompany your new papercraft teacup!