FREE FELT FOOD PATTERN: TEA BAGS

Next on the list for my son's birthday present which is a retro picnic basket filled with plates, cups etc and felt food is felt tea bags.

I apologise for the appalling step-by-step photos but hopefully they will be good enough to follow!

Also I was going to upload a template to for you to print out but the scanner is nowhere to be found at the moment so measurements will have to do!

You will need:

2 x squares white felt 4.5cm x 5.5cm
1 x square brown felt 3cm x 4cm
2 x squares blue felt 2cm x 2.5cm
1 x small pink/red heart to fit in the blue square!

Embroidery floss
Pinking shears

I like to cut out and make about 6 at a time....

Using two strands of floss whip stitch a heart onto the front of a blue square which will form the tea bag 'handle'....

Then work out how long you want your tea bag string to be remembering to allow enough for making knots at both ends. I used full 6 strands of white floss cut to approx 13cm here....

Attach one end of your string to the back of the heart and knot firmly...

Then lay the other blue square over the back of the heart and blanket stitch around the edge making sure your tea bag string is centred. Use whip stitch if easier.

That is your tea bag string complete. Now move onto to the bag itself....

Lay your brown square or 'tea' in the centre of the white square........

....then add another white square on top and pin in place.

Next you need to stitch the tea bag together. Using 3 strands of white floss and a running stitch start stitching down a long side of the teabag (hide your knot on the inside). The idea is to stitch around following the square of the brown tea under the white......

I found it useful to hold it up to the light as I stitched so I could see the outline clearly...

Once I had stitched 3/4 of the way around (leaving the top open) I cut the edges using pinking shears and being very careful not to snip the thread/needle still attached!

Next grab another needle and thread it up to the bottom of the teabag string and stitch it tightly onto the top of the tea. Then with your other needle still attached to the bag just continue your running stitch around the edge, knot it on the inside and you are done!

Too cute!

You could do all sorts of variations....

Stitch the word 'tea' on the bag before you sew the front and back together.
Have an apple or orange instead of a heart so you know which flavour it is.

Next up I am starting the felt sandwich and luckily for me I have already found a great pattern and I have stocked up on my felt so I just need to get started!