Tutorial: Pouches for drying herbs

As I mentioned last week, I've started drying herbs from my herb garden a little earlier this year. I decided to do so once they were getting a bit leggy....cutting them back allows me to dry some of them. Plus, giving them a trim encourages new growth! Some of the herbs with longer stems are easy to tie in bundles and hang upside down. I've always had a hard time, though, with some of the herbs that do not have long stems and are hard to hang. I used to dry them on cookie sheets on top of the fridge, but I don't like having them up there, taking up space.

Sometimes, I forget about them, too. Ooops.

I decided this summer to try making some bags in which I could put the smaller-leafed herbs to hang and dry.

You will need:
--some fabric that will let air through...mesh or tulle
--thread
--sewing machine

I chose a fabric remnant of white tulle at the fabric store. It cost about $2. I have been looking around for a more substantial mesh with no luck....but the tulle works great!

I laid the tulle out so it was folded over on one side. I then cut it in half so I would have two bags.

I ran a seam down one side of the rectangle (perpendicular to the folded side). To keep the stitches from unraveling, I went forward-backward-forward, as you can see in the pic. I did this at the bottom and the top of the seam.

Here is one of my finished seams...

Once you have done it on both sides, you are done! If you wanted (or were a more talented seamstress), you could add a drawstring. That is beyond my knowledge right now....and this pouch is not really made to look pretty. It's purely functional. I mean, it's going to hang in my garage, people!!

Here are my two finished bags. One has thyme inside and the other has rosemary (which could be hung if mine had longer stems).

I used a little bag clippy to close the bag and clip to some yarn to hang in the garage.

Here are all of my bundles and my two bags.

They've been up there for a few weeks and I'm going to take them down today and mix up some Italian seasoning!