Crossword Genius

Create material with tea leaves (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fabricate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'create' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'material with tea leaves' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'material' could be 'fabric' (synonyms) and 'fabric' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'tea' is 'ate' which is located in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fabricate that I've seen before include "Invent or manufacture a story" , "Construct or invent" , "forge" , "Invent, make up" , "Make up; manufacture" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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