Anyone for Tea?

Little bear has just turned one (still don't quite understand how it happened!) He was a very lucky boy and got so many lovely new toys including lots to play outside (I will do a post about this in the future). However, it is inevitably the case that something is duplicated. Little bear got 2 of these:

Brilliant toy by the way - not something we'd seen before or asked for but Bear loves it.

The second one was from Sainsburys so we took it back and got a voucher (sorry Aunty Beckah). Now as luck would have it, they were having a toy sale! So in exchange for one toy, we got a tea set, some soft blocks and some squirter bath toys.

The tea set needed a bag. My husband suggested I made one to look like a picnic blanket so I did.

I bought some gingham (unfortunately, I didn't have any in my stash) for a few pounds, folded it in half and sewed around,  right sides together, leaving a small gap to turn it the right way round. I put some buttonholes in each corner and in the centre of the longer side (no mean feat considering my buttonhole setting on my sewing machine has stopped working!). I crocheted a long chain, measuring it as I went along, and threaded it through the buttonholes.

I'm not totally happy with the chain/ buttonhole combo but I couldn't think of another way of gathering the bag up. Still, it does the job and, including the tea set, only cost about £4. Win!