I wanted to make my daughter a new wallet for Christmas and decided I could use a new one, too. When I found a wallet tutorial at That *Darn* Kat I thought I would give it a try.
I did a few things differently than the tutorial called for. I used a button and elastic (a hair band) as the closure instead of snaps. There weren’t exact placement details for the snaps, so I opted for this type of closure. I stitched the button on after I sewed the wallet together, but stitched the hair band into the seam before I turned and topstitched the wallet. I got the idea from one of the comments left by Sassy & Sweet.
The tutorial called for the outside to be pieced, but I just used one fabric and quilted it. Also, there were supposed to be more credit card pockets in the middle, but I figured out how to make a zippered coin pouch.
I had already cut the two pieces of fabric for the middle card pockets, but ended up having to cut 2 1/4 inches off of each piece. Then I sewed the two pieces of fabric together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Next, I used the wet bag tutorial from this site as a guide to how to make the pouch. I used a 7 inch zipper, but it probably would have been better to use a 9 inch zipper and cut off the excess because the 7 inch zipper barely fit. It works though. I basted the sides of the coin pouch to the outside fabric just like I did with the credit card pockets. However, I also topstitched along the bottom of the zippered pouch so that I could put bills behind it.
One thing I found difficult last night was how to fold the fabric for the bottom card pockets. I set it aside and picked it up again today. What I found was that I didn’t need to fold the fabric for the pockets at the .75″ mark that is listed as the first mark to make. (If you go to the tutorial you will understand what I am talking about. )
The easiest way for me to iron all of the folds was to place the piece of fabric face down with the .75″ mark at the bottom. Then I started folding and pressing from the top down accordion style until I had all of the folds made. I ended up with an extra 3/4″ at the bottom that I cut off. I found that the card pockets needed to be 4 inches from top to bottom and so did my zippered pouch.
Other than those things I think I followed the tutorial. I guess I really deviated quite a bit, but it ended up working for me. I made the paisley wallet for myself and have it filled and in my purse already. :-) The red and white floral wallet will be under the tree for my daughter. Now, I just need to get a few supplies so I can make these wallets for my boys.
I am linking this post to:
Handmade Christmas @ Proverbs 31 Living
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Favorite Things Friday @ A Few of My Favorite Things
