Using fabric scraps: tea wallets (and fabric holders for other items)

First of all, thank you to all of you who commented on the subject of tea, and entered the drawing for this small giveaway. You probably aren't aware how much joy I receive when I open up my blog page and see that someone is interested enough to add a comment. It's for that joy that you give to me that I enjoyed sewing this tea wallet for one of you.

And now, drum roll, the winner of this tea wallet and assortment of tea, is Kris! Kris, please email me (lili.mounce@gmail.com) with your address and I'll post this out to you!

And for anyone who'd find making a tea wallet a fun endeavor, here's how I made this one.

So you know that I've been going through my stacks of fabric in my sewing closet this winter. I'm afraid I haven't made much of a dent this year, and will have to be more aggressive in my sewing. But I did find a wonderful use for smaller scraps (which is what I seem to have in abundance). This tea wallet (and many more to come, done similarly), used 4 pieces of 5 X 7 inch fabric. 1 rectangle of a decorator fabric (the heavy weight means I don't have to add an interfacing) and 3 rectangles of lighter-weight cotton. Perfect, as I have a lot of pieces about this size.

To make one tea wallet, cut 4 rectangles of fabric 5 by 7 inches. Use 1 heavier weight fabric for the exterior of the wallet, and 3 pieces of lightweight fabric for the pockets and interior. If you have found the perfect exterior fabric that is lightweight, iron on a piece of 5 X 7 inch fusible interfacing to this one piece. This will give the exterior some substance and prevent wrinkling. You will also need 1 button and about 4 inches of ribbon, cording or elastic for the closure.

Iron all pieces of fabric.

Fold the 2 pocket pieces in half, lengthwise, right side out. Top stitch along the folded edge, to give a finished look.

Place one pocket piece on the right side of the lining piece of fabric, 1 inch above the bottom edge. This will form the two top pockets. Pin along the bottom edge.

Sew this pocket piece to the lining fabric along bottom edge of pocket, about 1/4 inch from edge.

Pin remaining pocket piece on top of sewn pocket, lining up the lower edge with the lower edge of the lining fabric.

Sew along this lower edge, just under 1/4 inch from edge.

Fold the lining and pockets in half, and press with iron.

This will make a crease for you to sew along. 

Machine sew the crease, from the bottom edge up to the top of the top pocket. This creates 4 pockets, total. Also, sew along the lower edge, just under 1/4 inch from edge of fabric.

Fold a piece of ribbon or cord in half to make a loop. Play with the length you need to reach the button that you will sew on the front, eye-balling the placement. Pin the ribbon to the pocket/lining, on the right-hand side, just above the top of the lower pocket. Stitch in place, just under 1/4 inch from edge.

Place exterior fabric piece, right sides together, on top of lining and pockets. Pin all the way around. Stitch interior to exterior, 1/4 inch from edge, almost all the way around, leaving an opening, about 2 inches across, along the bottom edge, on the side of the wallet that the ribbon loop is attached.

Clip the corners just a bit, to minimize the bulkiness of the corners once turned right side out.

Through the opening, turn the wallet right side out, using a chopstick or other item with a dull point, to poke the corners,

then use a pin to pull out the remaining portion of each corner.

Press wallet, turning the opening edge under to match the rest of the lower edge.

Slip stitch this opening closed. You can top stitch all around the perimeter of the wallet, if you wish. But my top-stitching is not so neat, so I chose not to.

Sew the button in place, being careful not to sew through one of the pocket pieces. Fill with tea, and you're done.

These instructions make this sound much more complicated than it really is. I think, in total, making mistakes, unpicking, etc, I spent about 1  1/2 hours. When I make more, I should be able to get these down to about 30 minutes each, start to finish.

This idea can be sized for other objects one might carry with them, or want to keep all together, such as a small notepad and pen, some packets of handi-wipes, sunscreen and/or bug repellent, a small mirror and stick of lip gloss/balm, or a stack of home made note cards and envelopes.

Some possibilities for gifting fabric wallets (tea or otherwise) would include bridal or baby shower favors, end-of-the-year teacher appreciation gifts, Mother's Day gifts, and I'm thinking way ahead here, Christmas stocking stuffers for the tea drinkers in your circle. I plan on using another fabric to make a wallet for a purse-sized notepad and small pen for my step mom as part of a basket of gifts for Mother's Day this spring (US Mother's Day is in May -- happy belated Mother's Day to all you moms in the UK who celebrated this past weekend!).

Other things I'm considering making with my heap of small fabric scraps include, pin cushions, sachets, covered hangers, and covered cardboard boxes. Any other suggestions for using up small scraps would surely be appreciated!

Making Shamrock cookies: you don't "need" a special cookie cutter

Just a reminder, there's a giveaway still going on through Sunday, midnight PST, right over here. It's open to everyone, no restrictions. So hop on over and enter!

I also want to just say a big thanks to everyone who gave me ideas on how to dress myself properly on Tuesday's post. I really appreciate your suggestions. While I can't guarantee that I won't ever slip back into my holey sweats and frayed tee shirts, I am giving more thought to how I dress myself for around the house. This could take me a while -- baby steps!

So, onward and upward, right?!

Being March, with St. Patrick's Day nearly upon us, and having 2 Irish lasses of our own under our roof (my twin daughters' birthday is March 17, so we say they are honorary Irish), just what kind of cookies could I possibly make? Shamrock cookies, of course!

Many people think that gingerbread cookies are just for Christmas. But in our home, gingerbread is an any month sort of cookie. Not too sweet or rich, it's one of my favorites with a hot cup of either tea or coffee. And it's well suited to cutting into fancy shapes. I happen to have a shamrock cookie cutter. But you can make shamrocks or any other shape you desire, without a special cutter.

A few years ago, we were housesitting for my sister in So. California  (I know, rough job in winter, but we like to do our share to help someone out). It was just before Christmas and I wanted to leave her family a treat for their return. I thought to make gingerbread men, but couldn't find a gingerbread man cookie cutter in her kitchen. What to do! What to do! Then I remembered reading Tasha Tudor's Christmas book and how she talked about making gingerbread cookies free-hand. She cut these beautiful animals of all sorts, from her gingerbread dough, using nothing more than a paring knife.

outline of a shamrock -- you can enlarge, as needed,
 and print out to cut and use as a template

I didn't quite trust my free-hand abilities, so I did what I considered the next best thing. I drew and cut out a simple gingerbread man shape from a brown paper shopping bag. This would be my template. I laid this pattern on lightly floured, rolled-out dough (the light dusting of flour keeps the pattern from sticking to the dough). I used a paring knife to cut around the pattern. And voila! Gingerbread men cut-outs ready to bake.

cutting with a small knife is a little slower than using cutters,
but can be a fun activity with the family

So, if you're in the mood to make shamrock (or any other shaped) sugar or gingerbread cookies (any rolled out dough will work as non-perfectly perfect as can be), you can make a template, instead of using a cutter.

I find it easier to cut all my cookies, remove the remaining dough
 that surrounds them, and then lift the cookies

Simply draw or find a picture of a shamrock (enlarge if needed). Cut this out, and use as a template for cutting your cookies. I'll include a photo of our shamrock outline in this post, in case you just want to enlarge and print it out, and use as your template.

I trim any imperfections with a knife and I'm good to go

Older kids could help with the cutting. You could have a couple of templates in use at a time, to speed this up. Younger kids could help with buttering a baking sheet, or lifting cut shamrocks from the counter and onto the baking sheet.

So there you go. Next time you want to make some cookies in a shape that you haven't a cutter for, just draw and cut a template. It's the no-clutter cutter.