How to Make a Tea Book (Sew Warm Contest Entry)

My sister sent me an adorable tea-set in the mail, and I wanted to make her something that she would use and love. Inspired by this project by Christy from Is it Naptime Yet?, I decided to make her a tea book, so that her Earl Grey and Hoji-Cha would stop getting crushed in the bottom of her school bag.

This project can vary from super easy to hard, depending on how detailed you want it to get. If you want the plain vanilla, don't worry about the embroidery-- if you want to learn more about hand-embroidery, drop me a line and I'll make a separate instructable solely on that.

Well, let's get started!

Step 1 Plan of attack!

Pull out your handy-dandy sketchbook and doodle your ideas. Do you want five or six pockets? What color goes where? Where do you want to mount the portable rocket launcher? Your design will rule the world!
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Or you could use mine. That works too. (I'll giver you scans of all of the sketches for this project at the very end of this instructable.)

Comments

[theprincessgeek]

This is so neat! I am actually making one of these for my mom right now, but with black and white felt (Damn you Wal-Mart for not having more of a selection), and brightly colored embroidery floss. I'll be sure to post a picture when I've completed it.

[HappyHeadCase]

I'm glad this was helpful! I would LOVE to see pics when you're done. :)

[theprincessgeek]

Finished! I decided to simply use a braided band of embroidery floss instead of the flap.

[HappyHeadCase]

That is adorable! I love how the bright embroidery thread pops on the black felt. Very nicely done. And I like the embroidery floss loop-- definitely an improvement. A loop of elastic cord might also look nice.

Thanks for sharing your project with me!

[katzenmoon]

I have recently started making felt and this is a great way to use my experimental pieces. Thanks

[sunshiine]

This is a great concept!  I am going to make one!  thanks for the instructable!

[HappyHeadCase]

Send me pics, I'd love to see your take! <3

[sunshiine]

I will be happy to!

[HappyHeadCase]

Awesome!

[crazypantsjones]

I love this! Off to check out my scraps to see what I have, muahaha.  I think every tea lover I know will be getting one of these quite soon....

[HappyHeadCase]

It's a really fast project and great for scraps! *grins* I'm so glad you liked it.

[BWP]

I liiiike :o)  A SO much nicer way to carry my tea bags than the plastic bag I currently employ :o)

oh oh oh and you could do one side tea bag pockets and the other longer thinner ones for hot chocolate sachets for when it's been a baaaaaad morning! Or those fancy individual coffees.

hmmm..... wonder what colour felt I have in my craft corner ........

[HappyHeadCase]

The idea for hot cocoa pouches is fabulous! I made the pockets on the other side wider apart so that I could put sugar packets in if I wanted. *grins* So glad you like it! Definitely send me pictures if you make one. I'd love to see it!