Make a Coffee Bag Wallet & Friends for Free

I lost my wallet in San Francisco a few months ago and have not wanted to buy a new one. As I was throwing a coffee bag away the other day, I thought it was good material for something or other so I saved it. While saving the 4 th bag, it shone in a glossy attractive way and I realized it could be my next wallet with a little folding and sewing.

Over 3 mornings of coffee, I designed a billfold that holds credit card and plenty of cash.  

Great thing about this is it is camoflaged as trash so when you leave it at the counter of the In N' Out, people leave it alone thinking it's your trash, so when you go back later to find it because you forgot it, it will still be there! 

I've sold several of these to people who want to give them as gifts to their friends who are hard to buy for... friends who don't like being bought for, so give them the gift of a handcrafted useful item made of shiny colorful trash that smells great and helps them make friends of the curious people attracted to their interesting money carriers.   

Steps
1. open the bag
2. remove the vacuum belly button
3. practice folding to make sure you like how it'll look
4. sew (or duct tape) the hem
5. measure and sew the middle separator
6. measure and sew (or duct tape) the ends
7. attach velcro closure (optional)
8. fill with monies, calling cards
9. make friends with the curious admirers of your wallet!

Materials
1. coffee bag, at least 10" wide when opened
2. sewing machine (or duct tape + needle/thread)
3. duct tape
4. measuring device
5. velcro (optional)

Cost
Negative $7 (I've sold 6 of these, and one person offered me $10, but I would only take $7)

Fold Edges

You have a 12" wide piece of material.

Fold one edge 3/4" over, and the other 1/2" over as shown. One foldover should be toward the back of the bag (Hem#1), one should be toward the printed side (Hem#2) (see pic).  
 

Practice the 2 Folds before sewing

Different coffee bags have vacuum seals in different locations. Once in a while I end up trying to fold a wallet and the belly button remaining ring ends up where I want to fold it, so I have to change direction of folding...

Only do this part if you have a hard belly button ring left. If you ripped the whole thing off, you can skip this:

Do Fold #1: Fold Hem#1 edge toward Hem#2 fold leaving 7/8" (see pic)

Fold #2 = Fold bottom of that to the back and up so that fold is peeking up about 1/4" - The wallet is best when the whole thing is 3" wide (in this pic it's only 2 and 3/4")

So if there are no belly button rings on the folds, you have your folding plan! But if there was a belly button remainder ring in the way of the folds, you will need to fold the original 2 hems in opposite directions...
 

Fold and Bone Edges

After determining the right hems to fold in previous step, make sure it is a straight fold (measure from your planned fold to the other planned) and run a heavy smooth item on the fold to crease it - Tim Anderson told me this is called  "boning."  You are boning the bag!
 

Sew the Hems

Use a sewing machine or duct tape to make hems. You will be sewing on the side opposite  the foldover so stay close to the edge.

Choose a cool thread color. I used green. Sew all the way down the bag on each hem.

Sewing Tips:
1. Don't use a stitch that is too small or it will perforate the plastic and cause a rip.
2. Help the plastic bag move during stitching; the slippery bag material will slide on the lower teeth that are designed to keep fabric moving forward under the foot, and then you'll get a bunch of tiny stitches close together thus cutting the bag apart.
 

Fold #1
Fold the colorful finished hem up to the silver finished hem.  There should be 3/4" plus 1/8" (=7/8") of silver peeking out.  This is where the credit cards are going later. Measure well!

Put small temporary duct tape pieces to hold colored hem to silver hem, but don't put tape near the middle.

Fold the wallet in half (opposite dimension from the first fold) and make a crease (you don't have to bone this time). The crease will go in the same direction as the text on the bag.