Fit to a Tea

As a little girl, Dianne Toothman spent a lot of time longingly staring at her grandmother’s china set. She says that’s what started the passion that would grow into a hobby and then a business. “I love glassware. I love china. It all goes back to the set my grandmother had. I loved to look at it, but it was pretty rare that we got to use it,” she says with a smile.

As an adult, Dianne still has a passion for glassware and china. Combine that with an interest in sewing, and Tea Bags was formed. It started small and unnamed more than 20 years ago, while her children were young. Dianne and her sister-in-law would go to GC Murphy’s and purchase inexpensive tea sets, put them together with accessories they sewed, and give them as favors for their children’s birthday parties. Last spring, with a craft show approaching, she decided to put together some bigger, nicer sets to sell and her quest began.

Putting the sets together takes time and plenty of hours searching antique shops, thrift stores, flea markets, auctions, and yard sales. “It’s like a treasure hunt,” Dianne says. “Often it starts with just one piece. I find a basket or a teapot, or even some vintage fabric and then I start looking for pieces that will work with it.” She pauses, “Once in a while I’ll even find a whole set, but that’s rare. Those are a real bonanza.”

Once the initial piece has been found, it can take Dianne weeks or even months to find all the right pieces to make a tea set. She looks for pieces that will work together and once the set is complete, starts sewing the accessories to go with it. Once in a while, she gets extra lucky and finds a great vintage fabric, like one she found with kitty cats. “Vintage fabric is very hard to find,” Dianne states. “But luckily, there’s a great selection of modern fabrics available that work perfectly.”

Creating the fabric accessories is where Dianne gets to be really creative. “It’s a very creative process. I get to use all those really nice sewing techniques that I’ve learned and add lace, rolled edges, and other accents.”

Each tea set has a minimum of two matching cups, but often Dianne finds sets that may have an odd number of cups. Whenever that happens, she likes to keep the sets together and not break them up. Each set also consists of a child’s apron, an 18” doll apron, napkins, and tablecloths. Sometimes there may be additional items like a tray or sugar bowl. Each set is unique. She also creates smaller doll-size tea sets.

“I have the wonderful images of parents, grandparents, with their children, spending time with them and playing with the tea sets, lost in a fantasy world. People will send me pictures of their children playing with their set and that’s the biggest reward,” Dianne shares. “I love the idea that the children get to play with their own beautiful china. It’s something that they can feel comfortable with. It’s not meant to be put away and only used on a special occasion. If something happens to it, it’s not a big deal.”

Published in December 2018 GreeneScene Magazine.