04/14/2012 - Starbucks Wallet

Part 2 of the Starbucks experiment...which required buying a bag of coffee, but the bag was perfect for the face of the wallet. The green fabric was something random I came across. It was a half-sewn choir robe (or at least that is what looked like the intention) that someone donated to SCRAP. They get lots of fabric and do not accept clothing, but some pieces sneak in with the fabric and get donated to thrift stores. That is how I happened upon this unique fabric...oh, and if you plan to donate stuff, to SCRAP, be nice and don't try to sneak in clothing...even if it is half-sewn.

Reclaimed Material: coffee bag, coffee sleeves, choir robe, plastic bag
Other Material: none
Tools: scissors, ruler, sewing machine, thread, iron, parchment paper

How I did it: This was similar to the CD Cover Wallet with a few upgrades. I used the same measurements, but instead of using bias tape, I used the choir robe...the color matched perfectly. I didn't fuse the coffee bag since it essentially fused plastic and aluminum*. For the pockets, I gently peeled the corrugated side off of two coffee sleeves and cut them to size. I fused them with a few layers of plastic. I covered the outside coffee bag with the fabric so that there was a 1/4" overhang on the outside and stitched it into place, then repeated this for the smaller piece of coffee bag so that the fabric made a liner for the cash part of the wallet. Things got a little tricky with the cardboard pockets and putting the wallet together. I had to make my own bias tape to sew the two pockets together. I then stitched the pieces together similar to the CD Wallet, but then again, made strips of bias tape to cover the edges and did the final stitch work.

What I would do differently: I do love the contrast of the cardboard pockets from the coffee bag, but I would rather have used a coordinating color of bias tape because it would have been much easier. I have a bunch I bought from SCRAP...but none really matched.

*I was quite sure about coffee bags being made of fused plastic and aluminum, but did a quick search to double check. I came across some neat ideas for old coffee bags: Other uses for coffee bags.

02/01/2012 - CD Cover Wallet

February is here and I have one month down of my New Year's Resolution! Hooray! This is a project I have been meaning to do for a long time. CD covers have the coolest artwork and when we consolidated our CD collection a few years back I save all the covers and neat artwork and gave away the cases (but now regret that :). I tried experimenting with fusing newspaper bags in the past, but would give up before I let the plastic get hot enough to melt. I had seen an awesome pattern for a fused newspaper bag messenger bag in the, sadly now defunct, Ready Made book which made me want to experiment with it. I am happy this finally worked and this process is pretty much like a homemade laminating machine, so if you want something laminated, this is an easy at home way to do it.

Reclaimed Material: old CD Cover, newspaper bags
Other/New Material: bias tape
Tools: scissors, iron, ironing board, sewing machine, thread, measuring tape, scrap cloth

How I did it: I sandwiched the CD cover inside the newspaper bag and then covered both sides with the cloth and used the iron to melt the plastic. I melted three layers on both sides of the cover, then repeated these steps on two more sheets that were included with the CD. I cut the outside of the wallet to 8.5"x3.5", then cut the next sheet to 3" and the last sheet to 2.5" using the same width of 8.5". I sewed the bias tape along the top edges of each of the these sheets, then stitched a little center left on the two shorter sheets to make little pockets. I made sure the pieces were flush along the bottom then wrapped the bias tape around the three remaining edges. I folded the piece in half and ended up with a rockin' wallet.


What I would do differently: Next time I will use parchment paper to melt the plastic bags to the paper. Also, I am going to use a thinner bias tape.