DIY Felt Tea Bags and Tin

A tea party is just the thing to inspire imaginative play and practice manners and fine motor skills too! While we’ve covered free felt food patterns for tea party staples such as cookies, (chocolate chip, fortune cookies, rolled cookies) as well as pies of all kinds (hand pies, lemon meringue, cherry) and even petit fours, snack cakes and cake pops. Sadly we neglected the star of the show DIY felt tea bags.

This set features a matching floral patterned felt but any 2mm thick felt will do, the standard wool blend is too floppy for this project unless you want to double up but that can make stitching a bit tricky. Stiffer or thick felts are best for this project and I think the Cottage Floral print I used here for the felt tea tin and tea tag backs worked out wonderfully.

When working with felt objects in need of structure 2- 3mm felt is a game changer, it easily holds shape without stuffing and doesn’t need to be finished off along the tops or bottoms because it won’t stretch out as easily.

You will need some filling for your tea bags and shredded scraps work well, if you are using a high quality felt for the felt tea bags the color wont matter.

In regards to the label have included the image on the pattern in reverse if you’d like to try printing on special paper and ironing it on (although that method can be prone to flaking) as well as a blank one for hand stitching.

All June long we will be including a free felt “Tea” label with every order while supplies last.

This label is colorfast, nontoxic and washer dryer safe. If you decide to craft up a set of DIY felt tea bags with this free pattern we’d love to see your finished product http://www.facebook.com/feltandcraft

You will need:

To make a set of 5 tea bags and 1 tin you will need:

2- 3 mm thick felt for the top, bottom and sides of tin. 8″ x 11″ total *

I used Cottage Floral for the sides and White for the top and bottom

9″ x 12″ white felt for tea bags*

Scrap felt for tea bag details I used: Mint, Purple Haze, Lemon, Lipstick, Crushed Coral, Granny Smith, Cilantro *

Embroidery thread in Green, White, Grey and Black

*matching thread

Free printable felt tea bag and tin pattern

Cut:

5 tea bags and 5 tea tags and blank tag from wool blend white felt

2 tea tin sides and 5 tea tags from patterned 2mm thick felt

1 bottom, 1 top and two sides from 2-3mm thick white felt

5 – 6″ long tea bag strings knotted on each end

Sew lemon shape with yellow thread and a running stitch.

Place strawberry greens down and sew berry shape over top with a running stitch, accent with a few stitches in a contrasting color.

Sew mint shape down with matching thread

Sew lavender shapes down with a single strand of green embroidery thread.

Place peach greens onto tag and sew peach into place on top.

Place one of the knotted ends in-between the patterned and detailed tags, trim to match if needed and overcast stitch around the outside of the tag to hold. Repeat with each tag.

Fold a tea bad shape in half lengthwise and overcast stitch with matching thread.

Move the seam to center and fold so both seams face outward. Stitch along the bottom of the bag.

Trim felt for filler and fill each end with about a tbs of felt. Fold so the seams face inward and trim tops to a matching point. Be careful not to cut through the tea bag seams.

Place the other end of the knotted tag between the tea bag and stitch closed with small stitches using a running stitch and matching white thread.

Optional: Place a small grey stitch at the top of each tea bag. Repeat for each tea bag.

If you are using a printed tag sew to the center of one of the side pieces. If you are creating your own label stitch the work tea onto your label and sew to side piece.

Center the label to the front and sew onto thick felt base with an overcast stitch.

Center second side and stitch. When sides overlap sew them together with a running stich, this will give the tin added stability.

Sew lid sides to tin top the same way trimming if needed and sewing the side together without overlap.

Enjoy a legendary tea party!

Happy Crafting!

~Andie

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Tags: craft, felt, felt tea, how to, instructions