Happy Earth Day everyone! I though it would be fitting to do a tutorial for a re-useable tea bag in honor of the day. This is a very quick and simple project with very few materials!
All you need is a bit of fabric, a felt square, embroidery floss, and thread. For my tea bags I’m using white organic cotton voile. You will want to choose a fabric that is light weight and almost sheer, the lighter the fabric the better your tea will steep. Also, an important note – be sure to pre-wash your fabric! Since you will be using it to make a tea bag, you want to make sure the fabric is nice and clean before you drink your tasty beverage.
Cut two small rectangles of fabric, this will become the front of your tea bag. The size you choose to make the tea bag is up to you.
Next, finish the edge on one side of each rectangle. I am using a tight zigzag stitch, but you can finish your edge however you like.
Overlap the two rectangles at the finished edges – mine overlap about an inch – then pin in place. This will be the opening on your tea bag, you want there to be enough overlap so that your tea leaves don’t come out while you are steeping your tea.
Take another rectangle of fabric to use as the back of the tea bag, and pin it to your front piece.
Now, finish the edge all the way around your bag! As you are sewing up the sides of your bag, be sure to insert a length of embroidery floss (or ribbon) into the seam at one corner, this will be the string on your tea bag. I decided to get fancy and used a cute decorative scallop stitch to finish the edge on mine, you can get really creative with your tea bags – make it fun!
Almost done! The string on your tea bag needs a tab at the end, I used a small rectangle of black felt to create mine.
Just fold the felt tab in half, sandwiching the end of the string, then sew it closed. I used a cute flower stitch on mine.
There you have it, all finished! Now all you have to do is fill it with your favorite loose leaf tea and enjoy! These tea bags are easy to make and easy to clean. Once your tea has steeped, remove your used leaves and rinse out the bag! Enjoy!
