RoughCollie Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) My son is obviously "in love"! He has designed a re-usable teabag that he wants me to sew for his girlfriend. If any of you know what kind of fabric would work for this, please tell me. He mistakenly thought that I am an expert on this subject since I own a sewing machine, and I am not. The loose tea has to favor the water without letting the tea leaves come through the fabric. On Etsy, someone used organic unbleached cotton to make them. Will this actually work? I want this project to succeed, and I don't want to have to keep making them out of different fabrics to find one that will do the job. He will want to make colorful teabags. Are there any foodsafe dyes that will work and not leak color into the tea? The teabags will be a fish shape and I know he imagines colorful fish. Well, he'd better be imagining colorful fish because otherwise he could just buy plain square teabags on Etsy! In case he wants to put eyes on the fish, I wonder if the kind that are sewed on would work, or whether embroidery thread is foodsafe and won't leak color. Thank you for your help! PS She is getting more stuff for Christmas than the teabags. He is so enthusiastic about this idea that I am going along with it. Any ideas on a good brand of tea leaves that can go into the bags and that is readily available in grocery stores would be great too. I live near a small town and there are no specialty stores or Trader Joe's or anything like that. Put it this way: When I go to Atlanta, I visit Publix and Kroger on a sightseeing mission, just to see the food we don't have here. We know nothing about tea. I just stick a cup of water with the teabag in it into the microwave when I want tea -- which according to my tea-loving friends is a Big Sin. This confession is only so you realize I know nothing about tea. Edited December 19, 2015 by RoughCollie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) It's a cute idea, but it sounds like more work for the user than just using loose tea in the pot. They make metal balls and spoons that serve this purpose and go in the dishwasher. Or teapots and thermoses with removable mesh baskets for the loose tea. Or a French press to separate the leaves from the tea. Loose tea is better, but people use bags for convenience. It sounds like he's found a way to make tea bags inconvenient. It generates laundry and the tea will stain any fabric he chooses. She'll be put in the position to pretend to use them because he MADE them. I'd talk him off that ledge. ETA: Maybe redirect him into putting his design into a larger gift bag for holding the tea? Regular grocery stores carry loose teas now, and generally loose teas are better than bagged teas anyway. Still, most people keep their tea in an airtight container. Edited December 19, 2015 by KungFuPanda 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Maybe silk? Then dye it with tea so the color stays consistent. You could maybe get a nice gold color for 'gold fish'. I drink mighty leaf tea that comes in a silk bag, but it is an open weave and not really fabric grade. You can see completely through it. The bags will need to able to turn inside out when you wash them and remove the old tea. There also can't be raw seams or the tea will cling to the edges. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I'd sew the tail closed so that leaves don't get stuck. I agree with using a strong tea for the dye, or cherry juice or something else edible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Okay, before I read the actual OP can I just say when I first read the title all I could think of was homemade condoms and thought "wow those hippy granola family cloth types are really pushing their luck" ROFL. Funnier to me still is I was sitting here actually sipping a cup of tea as I scrolled the hive and saw that. Oh hivemind you have corrupted my thoughts forever. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xahm Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 In Atl, you can go to "Your DeKalb Farmer's Market" for a great selection of organic loose leaf tea at great prices. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 My suggestion: sew the teabags out of plain unbleached cotton, but make a cute fish as the handle to hang outside the mug. Regards, Kareni 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Unbleached cotton. You can use food color or even koolaid to dye fabric. There are directions online. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Thank you all for your helpful replies. KungFuPanda, he is not going to be redirected. I think it's a great idea, but he will not budge from this project. He gave me a walrus for steeping tea that hangs on the side of a cup. He loves that gift because he thinks it is soooo cool. That thing works -- I tried it with tea I emptied from a teabag -- and went back to my microwaving the water and steeping the tea at the same time method. DS1's plan is what I call a ManPlan, and the definition of that includes not choosing simple options when a more complex one will do. He thinks this will be a better mousetrap, basically. Tap, dying it with tea is a great idea! Thank goodness I can make French seams to avoid raw edges. I wouldn't have thought of that. Whitehawk, sewing the tail closed is a wonderful suggestion. Swellmomma, you've put a new euphanism into our vernacular. Teabag is a much nicer word than condom. Xahm, I don't live in Atlanta. I used to, but now I just visit, and I am not there now. Otherwise, I would go to the DeKalb Farmer's Market in a heartbeat. I love that place! Kareni, I like your idea. It is better than mine, which was to attach a thin hook (not a fishook) from the mouth so it can hang on the cup's rim. I hope DS1 goes for it. PinkyandtheBrains, thank you for the dye suggestions. DS1 will be glad to have options. Thank you all so much for your help! Edited December 19, 2015 by RoughCollie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 That's super cute! Unbleached cotton would my by vote, like a nice gauze or muslin. Any kool aid dye night flavor the tea so maybe test a few bags first and see if they release dye or flavor when steeped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 We have died silk with onion and gotten a nice golden color, and surprisingly, lavender color came from quince, but anything going into the tea is going to get stained by the tea, no matter how it starts out. So I also favor the idea of a standard organic cotton teabag, maybe even bought from somewhere, and then a beautiful fish to be a weight from it to hang outside the cup. Where it can stay beautiful longer, and whether or not embroidery thread is food safe would then not be such an issue. I hope ds1 is going to do a good bit of the sewing himself! I am personally very fond of (organic) green tea with jasmine--but I got mine bulk and don't see the company name on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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