How to make a wallet out of fabric

Another cheap and cheerful last minute gift idea of mine. After the popularity of my hand made bow ties among my friends, I thought I might try making something for my family as well. I decided on a wallet for my Dad, partly because I'm fed up of seeing his cards lying around everywhere, partly because wallets are so easy to make, and much more exciting than the boring leather ones you find in most men's clothing stores.
Here's how you make them. A word of advice before you start: I said 'last minute gift' earlier, perhaps 'last few hours gift' might have been a better expression. It's very important to take your time while your doing this, one small mistake could very easily ruin the whole thing, or at least make sewing the wallet very difficult (as I will demonstrate in my instructions).

1.

First of all (and easiest of all), roughly cut our a piece of card (card can come from anything as long as its a little bendy, I chose the cardboard sleeve of a ready meal) so that it is a little bit bigger than a credit card (or Costa loyalty card- they're all the same size after all).

2.

Next, cut out a rectangle of material, just over four times the size of the piece of card. It should be roughly 18 cm by 25cm before you hem the edges.

3.


Cut out a smaller rectangle from a differently patterned material. This rectangle, when hemmed, should be a little bigger than your cardboard cut-out.

4.


Sew your small rectangle onto the big rectangle, right side up. Make sure you only stitch around three edges, leaving the top one free- this is where you are going to put your cards in. Do this twice, as shown above.

5.

Cut out another piece of card identical to the first, and two rectangle of the same material as the big rectangle, which are a little bigger than the card shapes. Hem the material, then sew them onto the big rectangle, wrong side up, with the pieces of card sandwiched between the material.


The material should be sewn on so that it is above, and on the different side to the rectangles sewn on in step 4. If you fold the bottom left corner back, as I have done in the photo, you should be able to see the other material.

6.

Cut out two more rectangles from another material and hem the edges. When they are hemmed, they should be just a little bit bigger than a credit card.

7.

It's up to you how you want to embellish them- I chose to make a word- 'card'- just to remind the wallet-user what goes into the pockets. If you want to do a word like me, cut the letters out of the material, then sew another material onto the back (as show bellow), then put a few stitches in any flaps, like on my 'R' for example.


8.


Sew the materials as close to the edge as possible, leaving out the top part so that a card can go in. you can sew all the way through the material for the first pocket, as long as a card will still fit in.

9.

You're almost finished. All that's left to do is fold the shape in half so that one side is plain and the other side has the pockets on it. There should be a gap all the way across the top where you can put notes etc. Sew along the sides indicated in the picture by (cleverly inserted!) red lines. Fold again in the middle and the wallet is complete. If you want you can sew on a strap to fasten the wallet, but I chose to leave it open for ease of access. Now you've got your wallet, what are you waiting for? Get out into the sales!