Sewing Kit from Business Cards

My job title at work recently changed so now I have a whole new stack of 500 business cards while I've hardly made a dent on my old stack. In trying to think of ways to make use of these cards, here are a few things that I came up with...

A little envelope for a threader




A matchbook for keeping pins

A larger sewing kit that holds more pins

To make the slit, punch two holes with a hole puncher and use scissors to cut out a long strip from one hole to the other. When it's all assembled, the card that holds the pins can also taped down to make a pocket to store other essentials.

Cutlery holder/pouch tutorial

I made this cutlery holder to go with the lunch bag. The idea is that if I had to use some cutlery and couldn't wash it, I could put it in this little pouch so that it wouldn't get the rest of the bag dirty. I could then throw the pouch in the laundry and use another one (I've got three of these now).

So, here's how to make it:

Lunch bag/placemat tutorial

To make the lunch bag which doubles as a placemat you'll need:

-2 pieces 18" x 12" for the outside of the lunch bag
-2 pieces 17.75" x 11.5" for the placemat/lining of the lunch bag
-2 pieces 1.5" x 12" for the handle (the photo shows one piece 1.5" x 24")
-8 pieces of velcro 1.5" (4 'hook' sides and 4 'loop' sides)
-coordinating thread (the stitches will show on the outside)

All these measurements are pretty flexible. With larger pieces of fabric you get a slightly larger lunch bag and with smaller pieces you get a smaller one.


First, make the creases in the lunch bag. These creases will help the bag fold into the classic brown paper lunch bag shape.

Lunch bag/placemat

For a while I've had this idea about making a lunch bag that could double as a placemat.

Here it is!

I put two rows of velcro on it, so it could be 'expandable'.

It's lined with a contrasting colour and when you turn it inside out, it can be used as a placemat! Ta da!