I'm going to blame it on Ike. yeah. Ike. Its all his fault.
anyway, I've been a sewing fool lately. woowoo.
I even had a hand in influencing two others to start sewing also. A nine year old and an older old. and that makes me happy.
I got really into making tea wallets.
Tea Wallets? wha??
Yeah, thats what I said.
Well, what happened was...
Ya know? Sometimes I get really bored (zero motivation, zero inspiration, whatever) and I read forum threads that I normally wouldn't read when I actually want to read a forum. So, yeah. I was very unmotivated one day... scanning the threads on Swap-bot, I come across someone wanting a tea wallet... hmmm... tea wallet... interesting... I read the thread. Saw some photos and thought to myself... hey, that looks easy enough... I think I'll try it. So I did.
I used my coworker, Angela as my guinea pig (she's always saying she likes my stuff, so hah! she's stuck with it!). Anyway, I used this really adorable fabric that I got a Joann's. I had been eyeing it for a while, but I didn't want to pay full price. Then one day, like magic, it was HALF price! heaven.
And some others
Cute, huh?
well I think so. that's all that really matters. :P
So since I am all excited about these quick and easy wallets, I went ahead and tried my hand at creating a tutorial. I even busted out my illustrator skillz. check it.
Tea Wallet A quick and simple gift.
When reading this *tutorial* please keep in mind that I have had no formal sewing lessons nor do I know what all the terms are called. I just got a wild hair one day in the Fall of 2007 and bought a sewing machine. I’ve been having fun since. All I want to do is sew and craft. So with that, let’s make a tea wallet!
Look through your fabric stash (who doesn’t have one?) and pull out some cute fabric. I like cute, but you can use whatever you want.
Iron it to make it smooth... oh so smooth. Then, cut out two rectangles about 10" x 4" and one at about 2 1/2" X 10".
On the smaller piece, fold over 1/4" at the top and press to make a nice fold. (see, term… I have no idea) Stitch across the length of the piece over the fold. This will be your pocket panel.
Now get what will be your inside panel and pin the pocket panel to it. Grab the outside panel and face both panels to each other. Pin.
Now stitch a quarter-inch seam around three sides, leaving one short side open.
OK, now turn it inside out. Press it with the iron to make it look all smooth and pretty.
On the open side, fold in so you get two nice edges. Now press it so that its all smooth and stuff. Don‘t stitch it just yet. Whew!
Measure what would be a third of the wallet then stitch.. two stitches and you‘ll have three pockets. now that you have your nice and pretty pockets. Now let‘s decide on how you want to secure the wallet…
- you can sew, glue, fuse a ribbon on the outside of the middle pocket. then tie a cute bow
- you can sew in some Velcro.
- add a fabric loop thing and sew on a button
- use a snap button
You can pretty much do whatever you want. Just keep in mind that it is easier to pack the wallet if it is secure somehow.
Now once you‘ve decided how you‘re going to secure it (or not) you can stitch the open side (add your loop at this point if you’re going to do that).
Voila! Now you have a tea wallet.
once I figure out how to add the pdf, I'll include that as well. (yeah, i have a pdf. woowoo. I'm a bigshot wannabe)
