Handmade Felt Money Pouch

So the first little project I’m going to share with you is a handmade felt money pouch. These work great as presents but they also work as a handy and safe little pocket for you to keep your money in. You can really make this project personal to yourself or who ever you are making it for. I have made one for my sister and I really enjoyed making it so decided to make on for myself as well.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• Felt – needs to be big enoough to fit a rectangle measuring 31.5cm x 10.5cm
• Pattern drafting paper – I just used flip chart paper which is very thin and semi-transparent
• A rotary cutting knife or scissors
• Thread – any colour of your choice
• A ruler
• A pencil
• A button of your choice
• Pins
• A small needle

Extras:

• Sewing machine
• Button hole presser foot

~ These aren’t necessary as you can make a button hole without a sewing machine, however I used one to speed up the making process ~

Now you have all of your equipment ready, we can get started.

The first step is to create the shape you want. I measured the size of a fifty pound note when folded in half and added on a seam allowance just so I knew that any size note would easily fit into the pouch. This gave me a square measuring 10.5cm x 10.5cm which I then drew onto my pattern drafting paper. However, you can create whatever shape you like.

As the pouch needs a back and a front, draw another square directly on top of the last using the same measurements as before; creating a rectangle. At this stage, think about the kind of shape you wwant for the opening, for my pouch I’ll be making a triangle much like an envelope.

To create the triangle, draw yet another square above the last two creating a rectangle that measures 31.5cm down the side and has a width of 10.5cm. Using the a ruler and pencil, I joined the opposite corners of the last square making a cross shape. This will help us to form an even triangle for the opening. If you like the shape that this technique gives you, you can start to cut it out. However, for my own pouch, I wanted the triangle opening to be slightly longer (to allow for space to decorate) so I added 2cm onto the triangle point and re-drew my lines. Once you are happy with your shape, pin your pattern to the felt and cut it out. I used a rotary cutting wheel however, normal scissors work just fine.

Adding on the extra centimeters gave me a point at which to position the button hole. The size of the buttonhole depends on the size of the button you choose. I would recommend using a smaller button as this is quite a small project. Remember to add about 1/8 of an inch to your buttonhole measurement. This will making closing the pouch much easier!

I sued my Brother LS17 sewing machine to make the buttonhole. However, if you don’t have a sewing machine or your sewing machine doesn’t have a buttonhole presser foot or setting, here is how to sew one by hand – Handstitched Buttonhole Tutorial! I positioned the buttonhole at the point of the triangle which gives me room to decorate later on. Now at this stage, I folded the felt with the template pinned onto it so I would be able to see exactly where I would stitch my button on.

Now that you have your buttonhole, go ahead and stitch your button onto the front square of your pouch making sure that it matches up. Once you have the button stitched in place, you can decorate the pouch. For example, I stitched my name using pink thread and used two strands so that the letters would stand out more on the felt. I also started with the middle letters so I could stitch my name right in the centre. You can do the same or add small embroidery such as flowers or maybe even applique.

After adding decoration, we can move on to stitching the sides together. To make this easier, pin down the sides to stop the felt from moving. For this particular project, we are going to use a blanket stitch. Not sure how to do a blanket stitch? – Click here for my Blanket Stitch Tutorial! Start right in the bottom left hand corner of the pouch and stitch all along the left side, across the opening (taking care not to stitch the pouch shut completely!), and down the right hand side.

Once all the sides have been stitched, tie off the thread inside the pouch for a tidy finish. Another step you can do is to stitch all around the triangle opening. And there you have a finished money pouch to store your notes in. I hope you’ve enjoyed making this project as much as I did!

And you’re done! If you have a go don’t forget to share your makes with us on Instagram @aboxofbuttons or on Twitter @aBoxofButtons! See you next time!