Wallet Design

 The thing about sewing purses and wallets is eventually, you have enough techniques to design your own.

I have been seeing these wallets with the strap that secures your credit cards all year (on other people) and contemplating how hard it could be to sew one up.

Well, first, you have to identify what you want that wallet to hold:

Credit cards (5 slots) and the strap to secure them - check.
Photo ID vinyl pocket - check.
Cash pocket - mad money - check.
Zippered pocket  - for change and other weird stuff - check.
Key Ring - check.
Small enough to hold in your hand - the essentials. - check!

Some of my inspiration was from these two tutorials that I sewed up on my blog.

Thimbleanna - A Purse Thingy  which I sewed up here, and here.
I liked the back pocket and the zip pocket but it was short on credit card pockets, This is where I made my ID template for my license. Hers was too small - easy to enlarge.


Fabric Mutt - Key Pouch Tutorial.   I didn't sew this one. Her card pockets were constructed in a way that would all be the same depth and I didn't quite get this. I loved the picture of it. It encompassed the 'look' I was after. 
I recently sewed her Malibu Satchel which turned out fantastic.

 The ID pocket was perfect.
I changed the template from the original inspiration to show more of my photo ID and not lop off the address portion. Oregon also puts their ID # at the top. The vinyl is big enough to show  most of the card.

For this one, I did ironing on both the inner and outside and then top-stitched it down.

 The strap is inserted when you sew up the zipper pouch. Secured with a metal snap. The strap also doubles as a more secure way to hold this wallet.

This wallet is made with a typical zipper pouch technique. All I am doing is adding things to the sides before I sew lining to lining, outside to outside and turning it .  There's room to do patchwork or other fun things to decorate it the way you want to.

 I made two.

The second one was made because I had a lot of bulk in my seams. My credit card pockets were the entire width and I narrowed them down by doing a trim tape finish and sewing that down before the zipper seam. This allowed my lining to sit nicer as well because the giant seam was not pushing it out.

And, even though, the wallet is not long enough to insert cash flat, I still wanted to sneak another slip pocket in and did so on the ID side.

 Snuck some dragonfly's inside.

 The second one is not quite an inch longer and today, I'm gonna make a third and see what another half-inch will do.
Plus, I'm not entirely happy with fabric placement on the second. I like the airplane and postage stamp showing from the first wallet....

99% Success

Easy to hold, carries most of the every day running around stuff. Just working on the nit-picky fussy cutting.


One more thing: Small zippered pouches like this with bulky seams seem to created havoc with the zippered ends. I used this Nancy Zieman technique to create fabric ends which neaten up the zipper amazingly. (sorry - forgot to take photo of how nice it looks when turned.)