Tuesday, May 1, 2012

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make a no-sew recycled wool tea bag organizer!



I have recently been diagnosed with gerd (reflux), so my diet has gone through some major changes. One of the biggest was switching from coffee to tea. Since I have not been a tea drinker in the past, I have been trying lots & lots of different teas to see what I like best, but now I have tea everywhere! I Googled around looking for a diy tea organizer, but didn't really find any, so I created my own! This is so quick & easy, and there is no sewing required! Ready for the tutorial?

Remember when you felted a sweater so stiffly that you couldn't use it for anything? Go get that sweater! You will need some heavily felted (the stiffer, the better!) wool, and a container. I used a small organic lettuce container. It seemed like the perfect size, I like that it was clear, and I liked that I was reusing something. Now, cut a piece of the wool to the length & height of your container. If the bottom corners of your container are rounded, make the bottom corners of your wool pieces rounded.


Now cut a slit halfway through the height, in thirds. Just measure your length, divide by three, and cut. For example, if your piece is 6", you will want to make a slit every 2".


Now cut 2 pieces to the width & height of your container, then cut your slit halfway, in the center of each.


Now you just slide these 2 pieces over the longer piece, marrying the slits together (slits will be facing up on the longer piece, and down on the smaller pieces. Place this inside the container.


You are done! It will look a little wonky like that until you put the tea bags in, when it will look like this...


You don't need to, but if you don't like it looking wonky while empty, you can simply reinforce it with a few hand stitches, and it will look like this...


The clear container allows you to see what is in there from every angle.


The beauty of using recycled wool, instead of something hard, for the dividers, is that they can form to space you need for each section... a little more than full, or a little less than full. I really love this, and I will make another, so I have one for the caffeinated, and one for the herbal decafs.

I hope you find this as useful as I do! As an added bonus, wool is moisture wicking, and will help keep your tea fresh!


And now, a shameless plug for a referral code :) ! I buy most of my tea, along with natural hair products, and health foods from Vitacost. They seem to always have the lowest price on what i'm looking for, they often have free shipping deals (shipping on orders over $50 is always free), and with referral credits, are cheapest by far! If you order through my referral code, both you & I each get a $10 credit with no minimum to purchase! For your $10 credit, simply click here!

7 comments:

Feltwerker said...

Great Idea! I also use these containers for storing felt scraps, seeds for gardening and storing lots of my odds and end craft supplies. They hold up very well. Reuse first, before recycling! Thanks for the reminder and vitacost link!

Resweater said...

Thanks, Denise! I use them for storing scraps too... great minds think alike! I try to reuse whenever I can.

TracyKM said...

Cute! I buy tea, but never drink it, LOL. I also have GERD, but still drink coffee. Switching to a low-carb/high fat diet has totally eliminated my GERD, and my hypertension, and greatly reduced my arthritis stiffness and pain. I try, now and then, to make the switch to tea, but just can't stick with it. Hope it helps you!

Resweater said...

Tracy, Are you able to eat tomato products now? I think that's the biggest thing I miss! I am really cutting down on the carbs, and trying not to eat wheat, especially (seems to be a big trigger for me).

TracyKM said...

I'm not a huge tomato eater, haven't noticed an issue with them though. Come the nice weather, I'll probably be eating more. High sugar items get me the most, and just the whole old high-carb way of eating...have you read "Wheat Belly"? Another awesome one is "Sugar Nation" by Jeff O'connell.

Resweater said...

Tracy, I put both books on hold at the library. Thanks for the recs! I haven't eliminated anything yet, but i've drastically cut down on wheat (i'm almost wheat free, and switched to Ezekiel bread), sugar (not fruit sugar though), and dairy (i've noticed that bothers me), and I feel a lot better. No reflux at all, and i've lost 10 lbs, and gained energy.

SOOR said...

Thanks for your tutorial. Moreover, I've found another reviews on Best Tea Bag Organizer