I made a completely impromptu project today. I've had a few smaller projects in mind that I want to make for a while, and I decided that today was the day for a tea wallet. My cousin's wife made herself one recently and posted it, and I thought it was a great idea! It's (finally!) getting cooler here and I've been drinking a lot of tea recently. I'm going out of town this weekend and I have another long weekend away in November. I thought it would be nice to be able to easily and prettily carry a few tea bags.
I started with Youtube and searched "tea bag wallet." There were a bunch of hits. I watched a few and ended up combining two. I liked this one the best in terms of functionality and construction, but I liked the esthetics of this one slightly better. I wanted mine to be a little taller than the original tutorial, so I cut my main and lining pieces 7 1/2" high by 8" wide. I used the same measurement in the video for the pockets, 5" high by 8" wide.
The main thing I liked better about the second video is the closure tab with a snap instead of a ribbon. I have an old Snap Setter tool that I dug out for the snap--I believe these are discontinued, but I still have some snap pieces. Unfortunately, when I laid it all out to sew, I put the tab on the wrong side, so it closes backwards. The snap is supposed to show on the front. I do wish I had done it correctly, but I will try not to let it impede my enjoyment of the tea wallet.
The fabric from the outside is an older Lewis & Irene print from their Make a Wish collection. The interior blue fabric is Ditsy Poppies from the Forest Friends line by The Good Twin for Cloud 9 fabrics. The lining fabric is Dapple Dot from Riley Blake; I'm not sure which color. The two interior fabrics are leftover from a baby shower gift I made for my cousin's wife's, which I have not posted yet.
Sometimes it's nice to stitch up a project in an evening! Even with the closure being backwards, I'm happy with the tea wallet and I will travel with it this weekend.
