Tea Bag Travel Holder in 10 Minutes for 60 Cents!

Hi y'all! In this 'ible I want to show you how I made my "Tea Bag Travel Holder" for next to nothing! This is what I made for Christmas gifts this year and something I made for myself as well. I'm trying to be healthier and figured Green Tea might be a good way to start. lol. Besides the gagging response that the tea has on me, I'd say it's going pretty good...

I love to have accessories to go along with everything! When I started drinking tea I just had to have some cute little holder for the bags. I went online to see what was out there and found something similar to what I ended up making but the price was outrageous! They wanted over $30. for one!! So I took a good look at the one for sale and went to work making one of my own.

I hope you enjoy and rate it if you like it!

(NOTE: Picture 1 & 2 are machine sewn and picture 3 &4 are hand sewn so this project can be done either way. The hand sewn tea bag holder took longer but turned out lovely. Enjoy.)

Step 1: What You Will Need.

Here's a list of what you will need..

Fabric
Ribbon
6 Tea Bags
Sewing Machine (Or needle and thread for hand sewn)
Measuring & Cutting devices
Straight Pins

Yep.. That is it.

Step 2: Measure and Cut.

Get your fabric out and fold it in half. Lay your tea bags out 3 on either side of the fold long ways to measure where your other folds need to be. You will want to space your bags just enough for your thread to go down. You want it to be snug so your tea bags don't fall out during transit. (Your measurements will be different depending on the size of your tea bags.)

Once you have your bags laid out turn your fabric up from both the top and bottom to cover your tea bags.

(HINT: If you measure out your fabric right you can just fold the bottom and top of the fabric to the center (as seen in photo three) then fold in half (as seen in photo 4) and iron. I love to iron my fabric folds because it's easier to sew. It keeps its shape.)

Step 3: Iron Your Fabric Folds and Cut Notches.

Before you pin your fabric you will want to iron your folds.

Pic 1 you will see me beginning to iron my fabric.
Pic 2 shows the finished first ironing folds.
Pic 3 is how yours should look after ironing your first folds.

Now you will need to fold and iron where your seam will be. Fold about a quarter inch in on all sides and iron.

Pic 4 shows what your project will look like once the seam folds are ironed.

I normally like to cut the corners down and notch the folds along the seam so it will lay flat and look better.

Pic 5 shows what your corners should look like
Pic 6 shows you the notches I cut on my seam folds. 3 on each side on fold.

When this is done you will want to fold your entire tea bag holder down the way it will look once finished and iron it all flat.

Pic 7 is what mine looks like once I've ironed it all flat and then opened it up to see the inside where the pockets will be.

Step 4: Pin and Sew.

Go ahead and pin your project in place.

Arrange your tea bags inside and pin in between each. This will be where you will sew to make each pocket.

Pic 1 shows what mine looks like once this is done.

Get to sewing! Sew the left then the right side. Then sew in between the tea bags where your pins are. I did each individually.

Pic 2 is the way it will look once done with this step.
Pic 3 is the outside.

Step 5: Ribbon!

I love fancy and shimmery ribbon! I went for a large red ribbon for this project to fancy up my tea bag holder. This ribbon was wrapped on a Christmas gift one of my friends gave me and I just couldn't throw it out! So now it will be with me always!

Lay your ribbon in the middle of the "outside" fabric and pin in place.

Pic 1 demonstrates this. The "outside" is the fabric that will show when the holder is closed.
Pic 2 is the ribbon pinned.

Sew along the middle fold of your fabric from one side of the ribbon to the other. Now sew a few stitches on each end of your ribbon to hold it to the fabric.

Pic 3: You see here where I am getting ready to sew the ribbon to my fabric along the ironed fold.
Pic 4 shows my finished ribbon. The small stitches on both sides of the ribbon to keep it in place along with the stitching across the ribbon/ down the ironed fold.