Christmas gifts: Homemade tea bags

Gather together friends for a ‘crafternoon’ of festive food while you create bespoke handmade gifts

A truly personalised gift, you can make these rustic bags with your friend’s name on and their favourite tea.

Handmade tea bags

Makes 18–24 tea bags – six per gift

unbleached cheesecloth
fabric for the label, string, twine, linen ribbon, silver ribbon
a needle and thread
loose leaf tea
small brown Kraft bags seasonal foliage
black ink stamp
alphabet stamps

1 Cut the cheesecloth into 13 x 13cm squares.
2 Cut the string (that attaches the tea bag to the tag) into 15cm lengths.
3 Cut your fabric into a long 2.5cm strip and then cut that into 6cm pieces.
4 Fold down one short end of a fabric piece with the right side of the fabric facing away from you, then place one end of the string in the centre and sew into place.
5 Fold the fabric in half so the ends meet, and sew the sides together. Repeat until your required amount of tags are done.
6 Place around 2 tbsp of tea into the centre of the cheesecloth square. Gather the corners to make a pouch.
7 Tie the string from your tag to the pouch very securely, sealing the tea within.
8 Trim the excess cheesecloth and any excess string. Repeat.
9 Add 6 tea bags to each brown bag. Fold down the top twice, make a hole centrally with a hole punch and thread through and wrap around string, twine or ribbon. Add some seasonal foliage.
10 To create the name tag, cut a strip of wide linen ribbon, use a hole punch to create a hole at the top end, and use an ink pad and stamp kit to stamp the name. Attach to your bag with the ribbon.

Turn to page 30 of December's The Simple Things for three more makes - Stollen muffins, Peppermint creams, and Lemon, olive oil & rosemary body scrub - plus a menu fit for a crafternoon, including Chicken & bacon pie, and Eggnog with cognac.

Read more:

From the December issue

Christmas posts

Homemade gifts

December's The Simple Things is full of festive makes and bakes, wreaths of hawthorn and bay, and twinkly lights a-plenty. Buy, download or subscribe now.

Mini Moderns - Remix

During this year’s London Design Festival Mini Moderns are mixing it up!

We’re very excited to be supporting interiors brand Mini Moderns during their two-week design event, hosted by East London Design Store in their newly launched shop in London Fields. The Remix project sees them team up with a select number of designers and artists, using their past collections as a basis for new work. The store will be filled with a diverse range of curated objects, furniture, lighting and ephemera that gives an insight into the Mini Moderns aesthetic and design process.

The 2013 Remix project is based largely upon Mini Moderns’ Darjeeling wallpaper design, which was launched this year as part of the Buddha of Suburbia collection. Fittingly, since the collection celebrates a uniquely London cultural mash-up, Mini Moderns have given Remix collaborators free rein to reimagine the design on a piece of their choice. The project includes work by Zoe Murphy, Leonhard Pfeifer, Rimmington Vian, Urban Upholstery and Brume. Further work comes from artist Matt Sewell and furniture maker Benjamin Boyce, who have both used the range of Mini Moderns Environmentally Friendly Paint as the basis for their response.

Amongst the curated products in-store, expect to find 1960s and 1970s film posters, jewellery and home accessories, all selected by Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire of Mini Moderns, and East London Design Store founders Della Tinsley and Gideon Cleary. Mini Moderns Remix at East London Design Store is on 14th-22nd September, open daily 10am till 6pm. Find it at 6a Ada Street, London Fields, London E8 4QU.

From Mini Moderns: we’re getting very excited about the launch of our REMIX project and we’d love you to join us for the preview evening. To attend, please RSVP by 9 September: rsvp@seenpr.com

Spoil yourself with 15% off at Idyll Home

For the next two weeks the lovely people at Idyll Home giving every reader of The Simple Things 15% off their gorgeous home and garden accessories.

You've probably spotted Idyll Home before inside The Simple Things as their furniture and accessories are often featured in our 'Things To Wake Up And Want', we've always been big fans of their selection of unique things for the home and so are really pleased to say you can now get 15% off online as a reader of The Simple Things.

To claim your discount use the code simplethings15 at the checkout.

Happy Shopping!

Things to wake up and WIN (closed)

We're giving away 8 fantastic prizes from this month's wake up and want wishlist inside Issue 7. Read more about the prizes below or enter here now!

Leaf impression plate | £13 | Yaela Studio

Impressed by hand with a grape leaf before another speckled texture was added, this plate is beautiful to look at.

Cake tins | £25 | Cotswold Trading

How could you say no to a piece of cake delivered by one of these three charming characters? Design by artist Tom Frost.

Pipe lamp | £69 | Bodie and Fou

House Doctor DK's pipe lamp mixes luxe with industrial to create an eye-catching statement piece.

Ceramic mug | £23 | Dawn Dishaw Ceramics

The pattern on this mug is hand-drawn and inspired by the rich patterns of Persian paintings

Harvest mugs | £16 each | Darling Clementine

Make the first drink of the day even more appealing supped from these bone china mugs

Dancers tea tray | £24 | Depeapa

Veronica de Arriba's illustration reminds us to banish the morning blues and get up and dance.

Pure Nature stool | £105 | Idyll Home

Bring a touch of rustic charm to the breakfast table with this wooden stool.

Kuppila tray and greeting cards | £36 | Polkka Jam

Serve up a reviving brew on this tea-themed tray.

CLICK HERE for a chance to win this amazing collection of prizes!

*Our wake up and want wishlist was complied by WILL TAYLOR

Things to wake up and want: the Valentines edition

This 14th February treat your Valentine to something extra special whether it be homemade chocolates or a simply stunning scent...

Light bulb vase by London Garden Trading (available on Not on the Highstreet)

Mini heart-shaped bowls by Golemdesigns

Rose 31 by Liberty London

Follow your heart coin www.kutuu.co.uk

Big Love Valentine timbergram Anthropologie

Hazelnut macarons and chocolate truffles: both recipes are found in The Simple Things issue 3 available here.