Wednesday 11 February 2015

Multi-sectioned Women's Handmade Fabric Wallet Tutorial

i've always needed a big wallet for myself. i mean its dimensions must be as small as possible but there must be lots of slots, transparent ID pocket and coin pocket etc. unfortunately it wasn't so easy to find such a wallet, i therefore couldn't buy a new wallet for years.
after i started design and sewing my products i tried different design of wallets which can be suitable for different people.

finally i designed this wallet considering the people whose needs similar to mine. and off course i made first one for my self and also had a chance to change/improve some parts for next ones.

wallet will look like as below.


you will need;

1) around 1 mts of woven fabric in total (in medium weight) if you'll use contrast parts as I did, percentages may change according to your own design.
2) interfacing, medium weight would be enough (this is optional according to your fabric weight but even if your fabric is heavy/firm enough I suggest you to use interfacing at least on outer layer because it gives a more firm touch)
14*21 cm X 2 pcs
12,5*21 cm X 2 pcs
12*6 cm x 2 pcs

3) velcro tape or magnetic button or snap button for main closure and coin pocket closure.
4) felt (this is also optional, if you don't have felt or like it you may use main/contrast fabric as binding. I will give the details when we come to that step.)
5) 6*10 cm cellophane paper or another transparent paper

as we have have lots of steps in this wallet I prefer to group all sections seperately. it will help all of us to understand better. I also prepare my patterns with these group names so I don't mix up the pieces.

here are the dimensions of all pieces;

1) A+A' (outer layer of note pocket) : 21* 14 cm X 2 pcs( fabric). you may use same fabric design or contrasts.
21*14 cm X 2 pcs interfacing

2) B+B' (inner layer of note pocket) 21*12,5 cm X 2 pcs( fabric). you may use same fabric design or contrasts.
21*12,5 cm X 2 pcs interfacing

3) C+C' (left side card slots)
C: 11*13 cm
C':11*61 cm

4) D+D'+D flap (coin pocket)
D: 11,5*15 cm
D':10,5*12,5 cm
D flap: 12 cm length and 6 cm height in the middle X 2 pcs (you may use same fabric or contrast in this part)
flap has a rounded shape as you may see on the pictures.

D flap interfacing: 12*6 cm X 2 pcs (same dimensions as flap)

5) E+E' (middle card slots)
E: 19*61 cm
E': 19*13,5 cm

6) felt tab for main closure: 4*9,5 cm X 2 pcs ( as I used two layers of felt)

7) bindings: if you are using felt you will need;
1,5* 22 cm for  top of  B+B'
1,5* 72 cm for outer edges of wallet
0,5* 34 cm for transparent ID pocket.

let's start with ironing first. if this is your first time in making a wallet, i must say card slot pressing is one of the difficult processes, i therefore like to work with some extra fabric in these parts.
for example piece C+C' and E+E' measurements might be bigger than we need but it's better to cut at the end rather than having short in fabric. also even fabric thickness may affect card slot measurement; even if you press 1 mm smaller or bigger in each slot it makes almost 0,5 cm in total which may casue a problem later.

1) C left card slots; first take piece C and start iron slot by slot. I tried to explain on sketch which looked me easier, hope it is clear enough. also used lots of X and Y as an equation just to make easier.
when you finish pressing all 3 slots total height must be 12,5 cm and also height difference between slots is 1,5 cm , these two tips may help also help you if you have another way to press easily.

ps: outer layer height of first slot looks 8 cm in this sketch but 0,5-0,7 cm of this will go inside of the final wallet binding



2) E middle card slots.
you'll basically follow the same way but measuments changes a little because seamallowance in this part doesn't go inside of the binding, it's going to be stitched from wrong side of the fabric and then to be turned inside out.
here are the mesaurements that you need to mark and then press on. some of the mesaurements are very small and hard to adjust. so in order to make things easier another way to make these slots.

total height after pressing for piece must be 13,5 cm and height difference between slots 1,3 cm, looks fine to me. so you can insert a standard card between layers and then adjust&press all 3 slots.

3) then iron all interfacing pieces on to the wrong sides of the relevant fabric pieces. these fabric pieces are A+A' ; B+B' ; D flap X2 pcs
we are done with iron for now...

4) add top stitching on the top edges of all card slots. (C and E)

5) let's back to piece C and C'; place their fabric faces(correct fabric sides) towards each other. bottom edges must overlap without any difference.

*** as you may remember piece C has 2-3 cm of a fabric excess at the top. i prefer to trim this excess at the end but if you think it's messy and wish to trim forehand pls do so just after placing piece C and C' fabric faces towards each other.).

rest of the steps with these pieces are shown below on the sketch. i hope this way is much more understandable rather than writing long paragraphs.





6) let's prepare transparent ID pocket; as it is difficult to stitch cellophane tape i prefer to glue all binding pieces on to the cellophane edges first and then stitch transparent pocket opening.
finally  place this piece on to the fabric face of piece E' and stitch 3 edges down.
here it is ready.


7) take middle card slot pieces E and E'.
place their fabric faces towards each other and add 0,5 cm stitch all around it by leaving 5-6 cm of gap at the top. Piece E may have fabric excess at the top, if so pls trim them after stitching.


after turning inside out you should add a edge top stitching all around, the gap at the top will also be closed with this stitching.




8) here we start coin pocket; take D flap pieces which are already interfaced. i used two different fabric design here and the lilac gingham design will be under part.
if you use velcro tape for closure of this pocket you must stitch it at this point or if you use button or snap fastaner you can stitch them later.
if it is velcro tape, take make hook part of it and stitch on the fabric face of under flap piece as on the photo below. (i mistakenly used wrong part of the velcro, should have used male hook part instead of female loop part. pls ignore this detail on the photo)

then place both flap pieces to fabric faces be towards each other and then add 0,5 cm stitching around the edge. (length of flap will not be stitched!! so we can turn inside out from that opening!!)



9) here we will make a bellow to the coin pocket main piece but if you make a wide bellow this pocket is going to be too wide and coins may fall off.
therefore either you add very small/narrow bellows or don't add any bellow. if you don't add bellow pls trim the height of piece D to be 12,5 cm instead of 15 cm. width is still 11,5 cm, you may follow the instruction for this edge on below photo.



and stitch female loop side of velcro tape on to piece D.
velcro tape to be centered along the long side and  placed 0,5cm away from top edge


take piece D' (10,5 * 12,5 cm) fold the shorter edge by 1,5 cm so this piece becomes 9*12,5 cm and attach this piece onto the right side of piece B as below.



and we are adding pocket flap;





10) take left card slot piece and place them on the left side of piece B.





*** place piece B' under piece B. (back sides of both pieces will face each other)
*** it's time to add binding top of these pieces, take the one measured 1,5*22 cm.



11) Place middle card slots piece on the centered line of the piece B and stitch it down couples of times to reinforce it enough.

12) it is time to prepare outer layers;
as I wanted to use two different colors in my main closure tab, i had two layers of felt; first let's stitch male hook part of velcro tape on to the under piece of the tab and them stitch them together.




then place the velcro tape and tab on to the main fabric face.



13) here we come to the last step;

place all pieces together; piece A and A' back sides should face each other then put piece B+B' on it as below.
it is very important to make sure all edges are overlapping (if not pls trim them off otherwise these parts are going to be very problematic) also you may cut all 4 corners to make them a little curved.



last step (Hurrrraaaayy!!! ); you should bind all edges together, I prefer to start from under the tab, so cut point will be less visible.



*** this is the most difficult and important part. You must capture all layers into the binding, so stitch slowly and be careful at the corners.


here we go.... finally it is ready to use:))

hope you enjoyed this tutorial and all photo sketches were useful even though it is a bit long. but you have such a beautiful and useful wallet at the end:)

if you have any questions or unclear points above, pls just contact me...



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