Tea Wallet Tutorial
You will need four 5″ x 7″ cuts of fabric and one 5″ x 7″ cut of interfacing, a button, and a 6″ length of ribbon. All seam allowances are 1/4″.
Attach interfacing to the wrong side of your exterior fabric.
Fold your pocket fabrics in half lenghtwise and iron.
Top-stitch the folded edge of your pocket fabrics.
Measure up 1″ from the bottom of your interior fabric and pin your first pocket into place.
Sew along the bottom of your first pocket, removing the pins as you go.
Line your second pocket up with the bottom of your interior fabric and pin it into place.
Sew along the bottom of your second pocket, removing the pins as you go.
With an erasable fabric pencil or chalk mark the center of your pockets and interior fabric. If you’ve cut your fabric exact this will be 3 1/2″.
Sew this line, you don’t have to go all the way to the top of your interior fabric, you only need to do the pockets.
Fold your ribbon in half and pin it to the center of your pockets and interior fabric on the right hand side, with the loop facing the left hand side.
Sew the ribbon into place, make sure you remove the pin.
Pin your exterior fabric to your pockets and interior fabric, right sides together.
Sew the pieces together, leaving a 2″ – 3″ hole in the bottom of your wallet.
Trim the corners.
Turn your wallet right side out. I use a knitting needle to push the corners out, but if you do this be gentle so you don’t push a hole in your fabrics.
Iron your wallet flat.
Top-stitch around your entire wallet very close to the edge.
Fold your wallet in half and mark where your button needs to go.
Hand sew your button into place.
Don’t sew all the way through your pockets, just the exterior and interior fabrics.
Insert your tea bags and you’re all finished!!!
You can also use this pattern to make a credit, debit, or business card wallet by simply making the following changes…
- Your fabric and interfacing should be 5″ x 6″ instead of 5″ x 7″
- Your first pocket will be 3/4″ from the bottom instead of 1″.
- The center will be 3″ instead of 3 1/2″
Printer friendly version: Tea Wallet Printable.htm
Thanks to Darlene Thornton for turning this tutorial into a PDF file: Tea Wallet Tutorial.pdf
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That is such a fantastic idea. I am always shoving tea bags into my back pocket whenever i go somewhere. Excellent idea and gorgeous photos
That is such a sweet idea! Thank you for such an easy to follow tut!
very cute!
What a great idea. I didn’t think what tea wallet meant til I got to the end! I love my herbal tea so a great way to carry it about with me.
I’ve never seen anything like that! What an adorable idea!
What a great idea for little “ditty bags”…can’t wait to try it!!
Great tutorial. I’ve really got to try to make one of these someday!
Laura
I think I’m going to try making one of your bags. It ought to be perfect for Autumn. I’m just not a coffee drinker!
Laura
Please come by and visit me!
THANKS!! I am going to make some of these for small Christmas gifts. I think they’ll be great with a pretty tea cup or mug and a few cookies. Nice…
Thanks so much for putting this tutorial on here! I just saw one of these on ebay and they wanted 12.00!! I thought, “I can do that”, and it would make great gifts for girlfriends that like to take their tea on the go, like me.
The exterior could even be embellished with laces or sequined. If your handy with cross stitch, you could even put an inital or name on the front.
Thanks again for the instructions! [Don't for get your Splenda packets too!]
What a wonderful idea! Great tutorial, too. I’ll have to make one for my tea-fanatic sister-in-law. Thanks!
Cool! I just picked up a pretty teacup/saucer set for my tea-loving Aunt and this will be a great add-in for her package! Thanks! …. off to select fabrics from the stash……..
Thanks for the tutorial! My mom always carries tea bags in her purse and this is perfect for her for Christmas!
I just made one of these. Totally love it! Thanks for the great idea!
Great tutorial, I’m gonna try it today!
Hi! I’m not much of tea drinker but I do carry the decaf coffee bags with me. Alot of resturants aren’t making decaf coffee, no big demand for it ; so I carry the bags and ask for a cup of hot water. Thanks much for the great tutorial! Dana
Simply wonderful giftee for my DDIL, Danielle, who a tea drinker! Thanks for the fun pattern and great tute!
Carmen
Just wanted to thank you for this tutorial. This afternoon I made up four of these for Christmas gifts.
I have a friend that has a million brands of tea. I’m going to make her one of these with tea and Splenda in the pockets. I think I will find her a fancy tea cup. Thank you so much for sharing it.
great tutorial, thanks for sharing.
carolyn s
Thanks so much, great gift idea, especially for those herbal lovers!
Leah
omg. how absolutely adorable!
hmmmmmm, I should go measure my coffee packets and make one for coffee.
Love the idea! I plan to make some. Is there anyway you could provide a print friendly version?
Absolutely, here you go… http://www.christyscreations.com/teawalletprintable.htm At the top left of your browser window you should be able to go to “File” then “Print” and it will print the pictures and instructions, no frills
great gift idea thanks I received one as a gift.
Thank you so much for this!
Made it as a gift for a friend at work using scraps.
The instructions were so easy to follow and it has turned out great!
Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial! I plan to make some of these for cute little Christmas gifts. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Its great. would make a wonderful gift for so many people who have to take their own tea bags. No more squished tea bags.
Great tutorial!! These will make some wonderful gifts for my friends who drink herbal teas and also for a couple of Uni students I know that already have a wallet full of cards without their driver’s licence and account cards!
Thank you so much for the pattern. I needed a gift for my tea loving daughter and this was just the right thing to go along a cup cozy I made her. It’s one of the best Tutorials I’ve ever read. I found you though the Sew MamaSew blog and will post a picture of mine on Flickr. Thanks again.
I made one for my British husband, and it was a big hit. I posted about it on my blog! http://www.jackiereeve.com/?p=916
I love this pattern!!! I made a bunch for my quilting friends for Christmas and they loved them. Very simple pattern with great results. Thank you very much for sharing.
Thank you for this tutorial! I made one for my mom for Christmas and will be making another soon for my mother in law. It is brilliant! and the tute was VERY easy to follow. I had trouble figuring out where to place the button, I am just not good at that, so I think for the next one I might just use some fusible velcro…..make a tab instead of a button loop.
Thanks for posting this tutorial. I found the link on Ravelry, where someone was showing off a very cute one they had made.
Thanks for this tutorial and the print-friendly version too. I made three of these today. It was my first sewing project in a long time, and it was fun.
Update on my post – you might like to see my attempt!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=286720.0
Thanks again Christy!
These are so nice..thanks for sharing each step..on my way to sewing now!
Love this tutorial! I made a few of these as stocking stuffers for Christmas, you can see them on my blog! Thanks Christy!
wonderful! my mom carries tea bags with her wherever she goes – so i know what she’s getting for mother’s day!
Thanks for the super pattern and tutorial. I am just letting you know I am trying to sell a few in my Etsy Shop but I have linked ot you in both listings.
Thanks very much, Amanda
Hi Christy! I just found your great blog this weekend and made a few of these tea bag carriers as Valentines gifts. They are viewed in my blog and I made sure to link back to your website. Thank you for such wonderful directions!
Sheryl
Thanks for the lovely tutorial for the tea bag wallet! Such a great idea and will make wonderful gifties for quilting friends!
beautiful project and lovely children
Great tutorial! Thank you for posting it. Just made one for my best friend–quick, easy, and fun!
Thanks for the tutorial. I’m going to make a couple of tea wallets, so I don’t have to carry my tea bags in a ziploc!
I wonder what brand and model is your pink sewing machine?
Thank you all!!!
The machine in the pictures is a Necchi Lelia. It’s a total workhorse and I love it!!!
Fantastic and easy….thanks a lot to show us beautiful things… Congratulations for you… a chilean woman.
Thank you! I’ve just followed this wonderful tut to make my own wallet. Really well produced instructions ~ thank you again.
I love this tutorial! thank you so much for posting it. Here’s the one I made for my fave cousin
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/kitty_tea_wallet
Thanks for this tutorial. It was super easy and I made one for my dh for valentines. You can see it at my blog.
thanks, i managed to make one roughly like yours today after trial and error of trying to add rick rack to the edges, I gave up on that part.
Oh wow! That’s so clever! I’m making one tomorrow
Perfect! I always need new ideas for things to make for my Mom. (And my sisters. And one for me…) And it will use up scraps, too!
Wonderful! I finally made my very first one for a gift. Your tutorial was excellent. I didn’t get left by the side of the road even once. Thanks so much!
from a very amateur sewer
Awesome! I plan on making one of these for my son to cart around those annoying fake credit cards that come in the mail. He’s only two weeks old right now, so there’s no hurry, but I love the idea so much that I’ll probably whip one up today!
Love this idea. I made one with a friend today.
I don’t have a lot of sewing expertise and I do have questions about the loop. How big was the loop and how long was the tail that was left inside? Should I have trimmed the tail before turning and topstitching all around the wallet? And how wide was the loop in its raw form? It looks like you folded and then top-stitiched it. Right?
Sorry about all these questions. And despite my questions we are sooooo happy with the result and will be making more. Thanks for this tutorial.
For the look you can make it however wide you want. I have a store bought gadget to make my own bias tape, but here is tutorial to make bias tape without the “maker” http://creativelittledaisy.typepad.com/creative_little_daisy/2007/11/diy-version-of.html
You can also just use ribbon or a lot of people have been using a pony tail holder (which is elastic). I leave quite a bit of tail inside, I like to have enough to know my loop is really secure and will definitely be sewn over by the top-stitching as well.
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Thanks for a great tute! I made one for my sister’s birthday (she loves tea).
Thank you so much for the tutorial! I just made one for a friend, and your clear instructions made it a breeze.
Can’t wait to try. Have added it to my personal crafting to do list on my blog.
Thanks much!
I’m going to make two – one for me and one for my mom – for Christmas. The one for my mom I’m going to add extra because she always carries lemon packets with her teabags as well, so I want a little pocket that size for her too. I’ll post and let you know how it turns out.
Thanks for the tute!
Thank you! Thank you!
I just made your wonderful tea wallet for my friend who can’t have caffeine! Living in England this is a real challenge for her at tea-time. As a Christmas giftie, I plan to fill the wallet with caffeine-free tea so she can have stimulant-free tea with her wherever she goes!
Thanks again!
I’m gonna try to make these for my tea loving friends and one for me too! Thanks so much!
These are great! Now I don’t have to dig for my bags in my purse. My sister will love one also, Hummm perhaps a christmas gift!
Thank you so much for this! This was a fantastic pattern… here’s a photo of the ones I made: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35540375@N08/4131577347
thanks for this awesome tutorial. I just whipped up two of these (and still had time to eat and do laundry) while my son was napping. These will be the perfect gift for my mom, an avid tea drinker.
saw these at a local Christmas farmer’s market just about bought one for MIL then decided I could likely find the pattern online and make one myself. I still need to add a button but it took me no time at all! and I really enjoyed it. I accidently used batting instead of interfacing but it still worked out great!
Thanks for the awesome tutorial!
Now I know what I can do with the load of fat eighths that I bought last fall! They were so beautiful I couldn’t pass them up. Thank you for all your hard work in making the tute. You are awesome!
Love these! Found the link for these on Crafster and just made 2 for my mother. However, I was too “lazy” to hand-sew a button on and did a snap with my snap press instead! Next time, will accomodate the location of the snap. (My apologies, I have no photo yet, left the camera at my son’s while taking baby pics!)
Thank you so much for this cute little pattern! I also plan to make one for myself and my DIL !
Thanks for sharing! Mimi !
Thanks so very much for sharing this pattern. A friend, Linda, made these as gifts and she pointed me to your link.
Diana Bracy
Thank you for this cute gift idea! My tea drinking friend is turning 80 and this is just what she needs!
I made one of these using your tutorial and some really cute teapot fabric.
Check it out: http://menabilly.blogspot.com/2010/01/tea-wallet.html
Thanks so much for posting this, it was really clear to follow and turned out great!
Can’t wait to try this out tomorrow.Thank you for this tute.
i JUST MADE THE TEA wallet for a friend. eaSY PEASY THANKS
This fine project is next on my list!! Thanks so much. ~karen
Thanks for the tutorial. Gonna make some this week.
Thank you for this lovely tutorial. I made some already and I think I will make some more in the future.
This is a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing, Do I have permission to sell some?
Absolutely. I just ask that if you sell something you made from my tutorials, please link back to the one you used so others have the option of making it for themselves as well.
Will do! Thanks!
Does it matter what type interfacing you use. I used an iron on that had some stiffness. Wondering if warm and natural would work. I’m going to make a lot of these for little gifts. Thanks.
Warm and Natural would probably work, but you might have to adjust the size to allow for the added thickness when turning. I’ve seen some of them made without no interfacing as well, it’s just a personal preference. I like the crispness from the interfacing
I am a visual person. Would you ever consider doing a video and putting it on youtube.? The only ones they have are made from cardstock.
Unfortunately I can’t do a video
When I bought the candle shop I had to pack up my sewing room to make room for the candle equipment. I’m hoping when we get our bedroom remodel finished I can put one of my machines in there, but it will probably be a couple months from now.
I made up a bunch of these and gave them out to all of the ladies in my family for Christmas. Everyone loved them and my mom and sister are still raving about them! I came back today to print out the directions so they can make more of the wallets for themselves. Thank you so much for a wonderful craft!
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!
I don’t think I left links for the tea wallets I made. I love how they turned out. I have two links: (1) http://fruitfulwords.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/hostess-gift-for-tea-party/ and (2) http://fruitfulwords.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/two-more-tea-wallets/ Thanks again for sharing your ideas with us.
These are very cute.
Glad to fine this, I don’t carry tea bags but I have to carry sweetner for my husband very few places carry the sweetners that he uses. Way better than the plastic bag of them in my purse. Thanks