Crafting: Reusable Tea Bags

Last time I showed you two ways to make homemade tea bags perfect for gifts and favors, and as promised, here is part two, reusable tea bags. They are quick and easy to make, though you do need a sewing machine. These tea bags are great for the eco-friendly tea drinker and also make a great gift set when given with a few bags of loose tea.

What you'll need for each tea bag:

4" x 3" piece of lightweight untreated fabric (muslin, cotton, etc)

14" piece of cotton string (I use size 10 crochet thread)

With the fabric flat in front of you (back side facing up if patterend),

4" wide x 3" tall, punch two small holes on either side about 1/4" in and 1/2" down. You can use an awl, exacto knife or other sharp pointy object. Thread the cotton string through the holes as shown above. Fold the top fabric over the string and pin in place. Stitch along the edge as shown, this forms the drawstring.

Next fold the rectangle in half, inside facing out, and pin in place. Stitch along the bottom and the up the side, about 1/8" in. Be sure to keep your drawstring ends toward the inside folded edge of the bag so you do not sew over them.

Flip the bags right side out and you're almost done! The next step is to add a bead to the end of the drawstrings to keep them from coming out and to weight the tea bag.

I love using these metal tag-like beads I found at my local craft store but any bead with a large hole will do. First, loop the two strings over loosely, as if to tie the bag. Thread the two ends through your bead and double knot to secure. Trim any extra long ends.

Now you're ready to fill with your favorite tea and enjoy! Here I'm brewing a homemade blend of green tea, chamomile and bee pollen.

When you're done with the bag, loosen the draw string and hang it on the edge of your sink or elsewhere to dry. Once dry, you can easily dump the used tea and rinse if needed, though I often find it's not necessary. It's nice to have a half dozen or so on hand for company or to use while another is drying.

Aside from enjoying them yourself, a set of these with a few bags of loose tea and some homemade 'recipe cards' for blending suggestions would make a fantastic gift.

I promise one day soon I'll have myself together and get some PDF instruction sheets available for download on all my Crafting posts, and I'll be sure to let you know when they are ready. In the meantime, enjoy making some tea bags (I'd love to hear about how it goes!) and you can find other fun Crafting projects here.