Today my mom is guest-posting for us with how to make your own tea bags for a children’s tea party.
Young children learn so much by observing. I don’t know of a child who does not enjoy making a “pretend” cup of tea to offer their parents, siblings and friends. There are many lovely miniature tea sets, so what would be nicer than having a realistic-looking tea bag to make the cuppa with?
I started with some material from a bed skirt I had taken apart to re-make into another project. The material that went under the mattress of the bed skirt looked very similar to the material used in tea bags.
I cut a strip of material approximately 4.5 inches (11cm) wide. As this material is non-woven you don’t have to worry about the straight of grain.
After experimenting with an appropriate size for the tea bags, I settled on 1 1/8″ diameter, as I was fashioning them after a popular round tea bag in Canada. I used the bottom of a pill (tablet) bottle that was close to that size.
Now we need some tea for the inside of the bag. I enjoy sewing and was brought up to be frugal. I had shortened a pair of dark brown cotton twill trousers and the cut-off from the trousers would make lovely “tea”. I used a pair of pinking shears to cut 3/4″ circles from the brown fabric. Brown felt would also work well if you have some.
Now the fun begins to assemble the tea bags.
Fold the strip of non-woven material in half. Use a water-soluble disappearing ink pen (a sewing supply) and draw around your pill bottle. Draw several along your strip of non-woven material, leaving 3/4 inch between each circle.
Place a dark brown circle inside each circle drawn. You may wish to use a tiny bit of a glue stick to hold it in place. Fold the other half of the material over onto itself, allowing for the circle marking to show. You may pin it in place or use a tiny bit of glue stick to secure.
You now have a sandwich of non-woven material with your small brown circles inside.
If you decide your non-woven fabric needs a press, use the coolest setting on your iron and use a press cloth (clean tea towel) over the top to avoid melting the non-woven material.
Now, with the tea inside the circle, sew around the circle you have drawn. Repeat for each tea bag. Cut out your circle, leaving a small allowance on the outside of your circle.
Dip the tea bags in water, give them a spray, or dab them with a wet cloth to remove the disappearing ink and your tiny tots diy tea bags are ready for fun!
Enjoy your cup of tiny tots tea! Now a couple of photos just for Nana of her tiny tots diy tea bags in use…
Removing the tea bags is an important step!
A gentle pour of the tea into the cups, and it’s time to party! Big brother’s come to join in the fun, too!
Mom’s so crafty, isn’t she? You can see the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree as far as wacky ideas and being frugal is concerned! You can see more of the projects Mom’s done over the ‘Nanacam’ (webcam) with my children by checking out our cardboard crafts page, or searching for ‘Nanacam’ under categories on the right side-bar.
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