Happy New Year, I'm Not Dead.

Just... look at the title. Happy New Year, from the Stitchin' Bitch. I'm not dead! Things are coming! Unfortunately, another year is passed and I totally forgot to finish the goddamn new years eve dress that I've been planning. (it's a thing. One day you might learn about it.) I'm still regrouping and figuring out what to do next... in the meantime here's a filler project for any of you that might still have belated holiday gifts to give out:

So, by request:

DIY Tea Bags!

I wish I had an artsier picture so here's the one I stole from the site that gave me the idea:

mine looks vaguely similar

For this project you will need:

sewing shears... because that's what I had.

• loose leaf tea
• coffee filters
• needle
• undyed thread (I just prefer un-dyed just in case the dye they use is bad for you.)
• scissors

How to do it:

1. Gather your materials in a dry place- I got about 15 coffee filters wet doing this project because I was too lazy to clean up earlier. Now I have about 15 unusable coffee filters. Thankfully these are sort of cheap.
2. Flatten out two coffee filters on top of each other. Sort of rub it around until they are flat... nothing fancy.

   
   

   nice and flat

3. Cut out your shape. I chose hearts and made an attempt at a skull. Anything symmetrical works out well because... less cutting...

   

   You'll notice I'm doing stuff with one hand, that's because I'm using a camera phone. Only the highest in production value for you guys

4. Grab your needle and thread. I use a running stitch- up, down, up down (pause to giggle for sex jokes) for those of you unaccustomed to the names of things- to go around the edges of the bag. Only go about halfway, you need a space to add the tea.
   
   

   

   this is how I speed up the process, fold and poke. 

    
   
5. Get a scoop, add the tea. It helps to compare the amount of tea you use to a commercial tea bag. Just remember that tea leaves need to... unfurl fully within the bag get into the water so don't pack it too tightly.
   

   

   Earl Blue, it's a  thing, apparently. It pretty much tastes
   like Earl Grey

   

   one handed.

     6.  Once you're finished filling, finish sewing it up. You can knot it however you want.

There you go, one skull... ish and a heart.

And that's about it. Tea bags, in any shape you'd like. They make great gifts and are faster to make the longer you do them. I'm looking into a faster way to seal them but as it is, this method works pretty well for me, it's just time consuming. It took me about 30 minutes to make 5.

What it looks like in cup. Kind of sweet, like a hug.

So there you go, enjoy your tea bagging... wow this post is less, curse-word-ridden and more sexual innuendo-ey.

All hipstered out (for finals week)
Mug courtesy of a fairy-god-sibling. And the Bloggess

Happy Fucking 2014, Bitches.