It’s a well-known fact that making presents for people makes the world a better place. Not only are you taking time to create the perfect gift for your mother, brother, or girlfriend, you’re making sure there’s one fewer person at the mall and lessening the chance that someone will get trampled to death by the shopping masses. If you’ve got a little extra time and want to use your very own hands to show someone you love them, this is just the miniseries for you.

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Maybe you need a little extra something to go with the tea you bought your friend. Or maybe, like me, you happen to have a roommate who loves tea, appreciates a good sense of organization, and travels a whole lot. Enter the tea wallet.

This little guy holds four tea bags so that your tea-aficionado friend is never stuck drinking boring-but-ubiquitous Lipton.

You Will Need

• 1/4 yard of fabric (I used cats)
• 1/4 yard of complimentary fabric (I used teal)
• A piece of stiff felt
• 1 button
• 1/2 foot of ribbon or elastic
• Thread
• A sewing machine and/or a needle
• An iron

Instructions

1. Cut four 5″x7″ pieces of cloth – two from each type of fabric – and two 4″x3″ pieces of felt.
2. Fold each piece of complimentary fabric in half along the short side and iron them to create a crease.
3. Position one of the folded complimentary pieces of fabric on the right side of the main fabric. The open side of the complimentary fabric should be 1″ away from the bottom of the main fabric. Pin and stitch along the open side of the complimentary fabric.
4. Position the other folded complimentary piece of fabric along the edge of the main fabric, again with the open side down. Pin and stitch along the bottom and the two sides so that the folded complimentary fabric is secured. Find the middle of the pockets by folding the whole shebang in half and ironing, then open and sew along the middle line to create four pockets.
5. Take the ribbon or elastic and pin it to the right side as shown below.
6. Now take the pockets you just made and the other piece of main fabric and place the good sides together. Pin and stitch around three of the sides, leaving the top open. Cut off the two bottom corners so that your corners will by nice and flat when you turn the wallet inside out.
7. Turn the wallet inside out and press the seams flat. While you’re ironing, turn the open bits at the top in and press them flat so that they’ll stay put when you go to sew them together. Insert the felt then pin and stitch around the entire outside to keep the wallet together and the felt in place.
8. Sew the button on the right half of the outside.
9. Put tea in each of the pockets and close ‘er up. To wrap, put the wallet with the extra bags of tea in the tea box so that you have a nice box-shaped item to deal with.