Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tea Wallet Tutorial



Alright!  As promised here's my little tea wallet tutorial.  And don't worry, even a beginner can sew this.  I use my sewing machine but you only use a straight stitch so you could easily sew these by hand as well.

You will need:
Scissors
2 5x7 inch pieces of outer fabric (I recommend quilting cotton or home decor weight fabric)
2 5x7 inch pieces of fabric for inside pockets (quilting weight cotton is best)
1 5x7 inch piece of light weight fusible interfacing (not needed if you are using home decor weight fabric for outer fabric)
coordinating thread
2-3 inch piece of thin elastic cord (or just cut a thin elastic hair tie in half!)
sewing machine or needle and thread
pins
iron and iron board

Step 1:
Cut 2 5x7 inch pieces of your outer fabric.  If you have a rotary cutter and mat, great!  If not scissors will work just fine as well.


Step 2: Cut out 2 5x7 pieces of your inner pocket fabric and 1 5x7 inch piece of interfacing.  You should now have a total of 5 pieces.


Step 3: Fuse your interfacing to one piece of your outer fabric.  You can find some tips on working with fusible interfacing here.  Set two outer fabric pieces aside for now.


Step 4:  Grab your two inner fabric pieces and fold them each in half and press.



Step 5: Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the fold of both pieces.

 

Step 6:  Take your piece of outer fabric that does NOT have interfacing on it and place one of your pocket pieces 1 inch up from the bottom.  Pin in place and sew along the bottom of the pocket.  (Note you will be sewing through two layers of the pocket fabric and one layer of the outer fabric.  Pin well if you are afraid of the fabric slipping, you want it to be stitched nice and straight with no bunches)


Step 7:  Take your second pocket piece and lay it along the bottom edge of the same piece.  Stitch along the the bottom of this pocket as well.


It should now look like this:


Step 8: Fold your pocket piece and half and press to make a crease.  Sew up this crease from the bottom to the top of your pockets creating 4 separate pockets.


Step 9: Take your piece of elastic cording or hair elastic and fold it in half.  Pin, looped side facing in, to the center right hand side.  Stitch in place.

This part can be tricky as it's pretty thick for most machines. I like to lower my presser foot right on top of it and do a couple back and forth stitches as opposed to trying to get up and over the elastic.




Step 10: Take your interfaced outer piece and pin to your outer pocket piece, right sides together.


Step 11:  Stitch all the way around all 4 sides but leave a 2-3 inch opening along the bottom.  Tip:  Sew with the interfaced side up, your fabric will shift less resulting in a more even wallet.  Clip all 4 corners taking care not to cut through your stitching.  This is important as it reduces bulk when you turn it inside out, resulting in cleaner thinner corners.

Step 12:  Turn your wallet inside out through the small opening along the bottom.  Use a point turner (or a chopstick like I do) to push your corners out.  Press both sides.

Step 13:  Top stitch all the way around your tea wallet.  Take care around the corners, especially the bottom two as there is a lot of fabric and your machine might balk a bit at getting through them all evenly.  Your wallet should now look like this:


and inside:


Step 14:  Pick a button!  This happens to be my favorite part and as you can see I have a bit of a thing for buttons.  Yes, that is only my cream, black, and brown colored ones, I have 2 other containers full of other colors :)


Step 15:  Sew your button on!  Take care to line up your button with your elastic loop to make sure it will fit over once stitched in place.  You also want to make sure you only sew the button through the outer layers and not through the pocket.  It's a bit tricky but it helps to hold the pocket open while you do it.  If you stitch through the pocket your tea bags won't fit.


And that's it!  There you go, your finished tea wallet!




Enjoy!


If you have any questions please leave me a comment, with your email address so I can reply!

56 comments:

  1. Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Excellent pictures for following along. Thanks for this!

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  3. Super cute. Do you have a photo of what the inside looks like with the tea bags? :)

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  4. I have been sooo tempted to buy a bunch of these from your etsy shop, I go every day and look at them!

    I suppose I will probably get around to it, but thanks for posting the tutorial! Id love to try to make some now too...

    Angela, on her etsy shop she has photos with a tea bag inside!

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  5. Adorable! And I love the print you chose - so, so, so cute!!
    These would make terrific "thinking of you" packages to send through the mail to long distant friends and family members!

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  6. Thanks everyone! Angela, yes I do have pictures on the listings in my etsy shop but I'll post one at the end of the post too!

    Jessica, I absolutely love that fabric and it's the leftovers from an apron I made for a friend so I think I might have to buy some more :) They do make great "thinking of you" gifts because they are so small you can ship them for nice and cheap :)

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  7. Hilda! Thanks for the fun tutorial! I don't usually carry tea with me, but I think I might make one for carrying my Jo-Ann coupons! I'm going to post my first tutorial on how to make Coaster Cozy's on Monday :) Be sure to stop by if you have time!

    xoxo
    Janee
    yellowbirdyellowbeard.blogspot.com

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  8. WOW! i'm gonna use your site for tutorials ALOT! great pictures and great detail!

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  9. Wow - this really is an amzingly detailed tutorial! Thanks a lot for your efforts!

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  10. So cute! My mom only drinks tea, so this will be a perfect gift for her! Thanks for sharing :)

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  11. Great project! We're featuring fabric crafts over at the M&T Spotlight this week and I would love for you to submit this - http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight

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  12. How clear and articulate you are. Great tutorial and fun idea. Thank you.

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  13. great idea, will have to work on some of these for Easter presents for Sunday School teachers!!!! Thanks for the spark of genius, I am working on making my own pattern for a kozy but have had a problem keeping the elastic in place. Never thought to tack it down, duh!!!

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  14. Totally just made one of these! Your turotial made it super simple and as stress free as possible. I plan on making more as gifts! I might alter the design a bit to fit those apple cider packets, for holiday gifts this year! Thanks so much! You rock!

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  15. How cute! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  16. Very cute...would love to make one for my Mom for mothers day...thanks for tehe inspiration. Fondly, Roberta

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  17. Love the tea fabric!! Where can I buy it??

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  18. wonderful photographs and such great instructions. thanks so much for a darling tutorial. julie

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  19. Love this! I always have loose tea bags in my pocket carrying them to work with me:)

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  20. Loved this tutorial. Made a great little gift for my girlfriend along w/ coffee/tea cup cozys that I make a lot of. Check it out on my blog. www.PinkInkling.com & at Facebook.com/PinkInkling

    Thanks for the idea, keep 'em coming.

    -Lindsey

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  21. Ecellent tutorial and project! Being one who only drinks good tea, I am so often "caught" somewhere that none is available. I will definitely make myself one of these so I'll always have my favorite drink with me! Thank you for sharing your wonderful tutorial!

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  22. Thank you so much for this perfectly detailed tutorial! I just made one today, and it was smooth sailing thanks to your wonderful instructions!

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  23. I love it! Thanks, Hilda! I followed a link from how about orange back to you today. Yay!

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  24. What a great idea! I've never seen these before but I am certainly going to make one with your easy tutorial. Thanks
    Mx

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  25. OMG! This is brilliant! I drink lots of tea everyday and have a stash going in my desk drawer at work. But I also keep a few tea bags in my purse (just in case). This wallet is perfect for my ourse tea collection. So inspring - thanks for the tutorial :)

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  26. Great Tutorial :D Thanks!
    I found it through pinterest ^.^

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  27. Hi! I've been looking for a tutorial for a tea wallet--and yours looks great! I am going to try to make one for my friends who are tea drinkers!

    Deb from clutteredquilter.blogspot.com

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  28. Thanks for this great idea and fab tutorial!

    I had to make some right away! =D
    You can see them here.

    Hugs,
    Aud

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  29. I'm in love with this! And that fabric has been on my must have list for quite sometime now....

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  30. So when does the elastic cord get turned around so it is facing outwards? It looks liek you sew it facing in first, why not just sew it facing out as you top stitch?

    themcdonalds08@gmail.com

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  31. You could wait to sew the elastic in till the end IF you make your flip hole in the same spot. I don't because if I stitch into place before I turn it, it gets stitched into place once, and then flipped, and stitched again making it extra strong.

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  32. thanks. Im still super confused to how it ends up facing outwards. The picture just shows it being sewn inwards....

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  33. when you sew the loop facing inwards, then turn the whole thing inside out at the end, it ends up facing out. It basically gets reversed.

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  34. this is so cute! I have to make this for my mum (:

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  35. Really good turorial. I just made one myself :)

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  36. Thanks for the tutorial! What a cute idea, and a great project for a beginner like myself. I made two and gave them away to my mom and sister, they loved them!

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  37. This is such a lovely idea. I am ready to make some.
    I hope that you don't mind that I linked you in my blog.
    http://licenciaparacoser.blogspot.com
    Thanks for sharing this amazing tutorial.

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  38. This was sooo helpful! Thanks for taking the time to make a great tutorial.

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  39. Thanks for the great tutorial. This was so easy to make. http://erfurtdesign.com/2012/01/08/tea-wallet/

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  40. I love this! Super cute!

    Question: Couldn't you sew on the button before you stitch the front piece to the inside pieces? That would make it so that you don't have to worry about stitching it to the pockets. Or do you think it would be too difficult to line it up with the fastener?

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  41. You totally could sew the button on first, the only thing is you have to make sure your elastic is long enough that you can sew your button closer the middle or it will get in the way when you're top stitching. I hope that makes sense...

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  42. I just made a tea wallet today.It was so fun and the tutorial was fabulous! Thanks!

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  43. I linked to your tutorial! Love the tea wallet. thanks sooooo much!!!

    http://mybarefootfarm.blogspot.com/2012/01/valentines-day-gifts.html

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  44. thanks! it was easy peasy!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/61450754@N03/6865591093/

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  45. thanks so much for this great, easy to follow tutorial!
    i linked back to it from my blog http://friendlyneighborhoodspidermom.blogspot.com/

    :)

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  46. Thank You! I've been searching for a thank you gift for a Buddhist Monk I've been working with! They are certainly the hardest people to shop for but this is perfect :)

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  47. oh I want to make these as a gift for my girlfriends, but I think I might add some after eight chocolate to go with the tea. Pure survival kit for tired moms after christmas.

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  48. Woowww... This is absolutely fantastic.
    send gifts to Pakistan

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  49. This looks fun and easy. Hope to try it out tomorrow! Thanks for sharing a great tutorial. Easy to understand and simple.

    This will be the perfect gift to make for others.

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  50. a really nice idea!

    I linked to your tutorial on my blog - thanks for sharing!


    doro K.

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  51. Thank you for the great tutorial! I've made two tea wallets for my friends, yesterday. The tutorial was very clear. Even I understood it ;)
    If you'd like to see, you can find my tea wallets here.

    xx Monica

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  52. I just learned what a tea wallet was. OMG! I'm so excited I want to make one right meow! (back to work I go :( )

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  53. GREAT tutorial! I made this in about 15 mins (probably less) for a friend. Thanks so much for sharing!

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