DIY Reusable Cloth Tea Bag

Traditional tea bags can be really harmful to the environment. And besides the fact that they are only single-use, many of them contain plastic and don’t decompose. I’ve come up with a super-easy reusable cloth tea bag tutorial so you can sew your own loose leaf tea strainer.

How to Make Cloth Tea Bags

Time: 5-10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials

• Cotton or linen fabric
• Thread
• Embroidery thread
• Button (optional)

All of the materials for this project I had on hand. The linen fabric and embroidery thread was scrap from other projects. I used a sewing machine but you could easily do this by hand.

Directions

1. Wash and dry your fabric. Iron if needed. Then cut 2 pieces of fabric 3.5″x4.5″

2. Hem the top edge of the fabric. Folding over an eighth of an inch, sew. Then fold over another eighth of an inch, sew.

3. Sew a French seam.

Sewing a French seam is easier than it sounds. Start by placing the fabric BACK sides together, making sure the hem on the top is facing each other. Then sew around the edge.

This seems counter-intuitive because the raw edge is on the front. But then turn the bag inside out and sew around the edge again. This tucks the raw edge inside itself.

A French seam is perfect for this project because there are no raw edges, or places where the fabric can fray, exposed. Turning the bag front side out again gives you a complete tea bag.

4. Take some embroidery thread (or thin rope) and sew a running stitch along the top edge of the bag.

The embroidery thread will act as our drawstring.

I decided against a drawstring where you fold the fabric over itself and create a gap because it would expose frayed fabric.

5. Cut the embroidery thread and secure the end with a button or knot.

Using a button gives the string some weight so it will hang over the edge of your cup.

And that’s it! You now can fill your bag with loose leaf tea, herbs, or dried flower for perfectly strained tea.

Using and Caring for Cloth Tea Bags

Using this cloth tea bag is super simple! Just fill with loose leaf tea and pour boiling water over it. The fabric is fine enough that no bits get into your cuppa.

Using this cloth bag would also be great for infusions! Think a lavender bath or rosemary soaked olive oil. The possibilities are endless! I often make soap and some recipes call for herb-infused oils to add fragrance to your soap. You could also infuse water with things like mint leaves or ginger!

To care for the tea bag, empty and compost the used leaves. Then rinse with water and leave to dry. Cloth is just so durable and timeless. And when it’s come to the end of its life, the whole thing can be composted! Using 100% cotton means it’ll break down.

Gosh, I am all about a budget-friendly DIY and this was seriously so inexpensive to make. I mean the button was something that fell off an old garment. When it comes to zero waste, I am definitely not too much of a minimalist. I usually keep stuff in case I can use it later. I love a good upcycle project! And this was something I whipped up today as I was writing another blog post about 5 ways to make zero waste tea, coming next week. So stayed tuned!

I just love drinking tea and I’m so happy to have created this tutorial. The bag itself is perfect at straining all my favorite tea. I love earl gray! Have you ever tried earl gray with a bit of dried lavender? It’s heavenly! What’s your favorite kind of tea?

Happy Making-