Tea wallet adaptations

After making the tea wallet prototype, I was fired up with ideas to improve the design, so using the remainder of the fabric, I set about narrowing the size of the wallet. I cut the fabric narrower, but the same length - about 18cm wide instead of the original 27.5cm.









This produced a wallet about the size I had in mind.











I followed the same procedure of blanket stitching the edges then crocheting a chain.

This time, however, I created a side opening as well as the interior pocket opening. This enables the user to remove a teabag without opening the wallet and introduces the option of carrying different flavour teabags in different parts of the wallet.

The overall finish is the same.

This shows the size of the adapted model compared to the original.















I got a bit carried away using up the remainder of the fabric and experimenting with styles.

I even created a little crocheted flap for one of them.

I had a lot of fun playing with these and created a set of wallets that tea-drinking friends who carry their favourite teabags around with them will find useful. And I am so chuffed to be crocheting edges.

It occurred to me as I was doing this, that this shell edge is a variation of that my grandmother used to edge the handkerchiefs she made out of old shirts and bedlinen. It pleases me no end to be making teabag wallets for my daughters and granddaughters from fabric my mother bought me and in the pattern my grandmother used for the handkerchiefs I still have!

Tea Wallet Prototype

I kept instructions from a Handmade magazine last year for a project I thought looked interesting and useful. My interest was sparked by the crocheted edge. I am interested in progressing my newly acquired skills in reading a crochet pattern and one of the reasons I wanted to learn this was to crochet edges. While I don't carry teabags around with me, I know people who do, so thought this might make a pleasing gift.

So recently I dug around in my stash for suitable fabric and came up with the bottom of a dress I made and wore in the 80s - a Paisley Liberty cotton. It needed a bit of unpicking, but yielded a piece of fabric the required size - 27.5cm x 59cm.

I also found interfacing - but then forgot to use it - folding the fabric, stitching and turning it inside out without the interfacing. I'm quite pleased I made this mistake because the fabric is firm enough without interfacing and better, I think, without the bulk.

In line with instructions, I buttonhole stitched around the outer edge of the folded fabric using ecru crochet cotton and crocheted a chain on top of it.

I then followed the crochet pattern to finish the edge. It actually worked!

This is what it looked like.

It folds neatly into three to form a handy pouch, or wallet.

I used an odd piece from an earring as a fastener. I undid my stitching of the fastener three times before I got it in the right place!

I like the finished effect. I don't, however, think it works as well as it could for teabags. It would be better to be narrower - the width of - well, a teabag... As it is it might be more use for holding a comb, nail file and a small packet of tissues. I like the concept however and am now in the process of adjusting the size to fit teabags more precisely.  More on the results soon.