How about a tiny wallet tutorial?

Remember my first tiny wallet? He's doing fine, in case you were wondering. Ok, I admit, he [badly] needs a wash. And what better thing to do than wash it? Make another one :D.

I really am kidding here, I am way to cheap when we're talking about Echino. But since I am feeling very crafty these days, I thought I should share :).

I made it tiny because this is how I like it. Of course, if you want it bigger or with more pockets, it's totally doable.

Step 0 - dimensions


I measured the biggest bill I carry and added about 3/4" for the hight. I planned to use binding so I calculated 2 x 1/4" and another 1/4" for safety :)
[Because I am using binding, when sewing it, the risk of catching all the pocket in the binding is really high when they have similar heights. So you have safety 1-keeping the money into the wallet and 2-helping you when attaching the binding].

I measured the width of a credit card, added sewing allowances for the pockets and binding and left about 1/4" in the middle, to have it fold better.

My final dimensions for the large pieces in helicpters were about 9" x 4 1/2", in bicycles 8 1/2" x 4" and for the smaller ones were about 3" x 5" but I cut them later as they were too big.. 

Step 1 - supplies


Choose your fabrics for exterior, interior and binding. It is a too small project to just add binding later, for example. Plan all of them together, accesories too.
I had a leftover from an Echino FQ and worked just perfect. I even spared one helicopter :)) [Yeah, I'm that cheap when it comes to Echino :))))], For inside and binding I used Kona in pepper.

Choose your stiffing :): interface, batting, fleece [for the green one I used fleece, for this one I tried a very heavy interface].

Chose your closure device :): snap, velcro, elastic. I had snaps in both cases because I just like them very much :). If you think velcro I suggest you use the same technique, with strip. If you use elastic you just replace the strip with elastic and the male snap with a button.


Step 2 - cutting

Cut 4 large pieces. I made mine 9 x 4 1/2, plan yours to your needs and jeans pockets :D.
You will use all of them for the largest pocket, where you keep the money.

Cut 4 smaller pieces, for the credit cards. This will give you 2 pockets. If you want more pockets, just add 2 pieces for every new pocket. I made mine about 5 x 3" but they were way too big and I cut them later.

You can cut a strip for the snap now but I suggest you do it later, when you have everything ready and the measurements will be more accurate. I had a perfect leftover and just left it in the pic :).


Step 3 - go

Join 2 of the larger pieces, long sides together. Iron open, fold again and sew a decorative stitch. Or, like me, iron open, sew at 1/16" or 1/32" from the stitch and fold after. It will have a neater look ;). Iron again and put aside this side of the pocket.

Quilt or use interface for the external layer. If, like me, you're using snaps, simply pin the two larger pieces left, wrong faces together [just like the finished product] and place the snap. Unlike me, please put the male snap, not the female one. Or put it wrong and do it again after :))) If I am confusing you right now, please take a look at the last pic to see how it should look.

Sew the tiny credit card pockets. Wrong sides facing out, only sew two adjacent sides. The other two will be caught under binding, don't bother yourselves with them :)
.

Keep in mind you will have one for the left side and one for the right side, so you want them mirrored. Turn and iron petty well.

Step 4 - putting them togheter

Take the inner side of the big pocket [the one you put aside] and sew the 2 small pockets on. Make a test with your card, just to be sure. Leave at least 1/4" between the small pockets if you want a nicely foldable wallet.

Take the pieces with the snap and make a sewing line in the middle. This will help your pocket fold in half even better.

[I am sooo sorry, I completely forgot to take a pic for this step, but you can see it with binding on]

Now go make the sandwich. You can make a 1/8" perimetral stitch, just to keep things in place while you attach the binding. And do use your walking foot!

Step 5 - binding

I have tried many many many ways of attaching the binding. What I like best, for a tiny wallet, is a 2 1/4" folded binding, sewn on the back of the wallet. You have a lot of control of what happens on the front of the wallet and it's nice and small. I would have tried a 2" one but the interface was so heavy I got scared. Next time I'll definitely try the 2".

After attaching the binding on the back it's a good time to make the strip for the female part of the snap. Make it as wide as you like [mine is about 1/2 - 3/4"], and measure the length you need [the position of the other side of the snap and the thickness of your wallet make this length vary. So please go measure :).Remember to add 1/2", 1/4" for the binding and 1/4" sewing allowance for the end]

Although it may seem too little to care about this, do clip the corners. It will look much much better.

Step 6 - finish line

Finish sewing the binding on the face of the closed wallet and remember to stitch the strip too.

The last thing to do is attach the snap to the strip, just to be sure you measured everything right and the wallet does close :). 

There you go :). See how nicely it folds?

Now please let me know if you have any questions or if I'm spelling things wrong here :))) And, of course, feel free to make as many wallets as you'd like, just do think about me and make me feel good by telling me what great things you made following my tutorial :)))

How to find the dimensions of the perfect pouch

Thanks to Sonia, I realised my tutorial was missing the scale. So, if you want to make your box pouch, here are some thoughts about the dimensions.

[click the pic to see it larger]

If you know what size you want your box to be, L[length], W[width], H[heigth], use the formulas below to find the size of your pieces and corners.


If you're making a small box, or you're a quilter, you can use 1/4" sewing allowance. If you're using a fabric that frays a lot or you want a bigger or stronger box, you might want a 1/2" sewing allowance. I am used to work with cm and only use 1/4" when quilting, so I usually have 1 cm sewing allawance :) It's not that important, as long as you keep it constant. For garments, however, 1/4" is usually a little to little :) 


If  you have 1/4" sewing allowance and 1/2" where you attach the zipper.
a = L + H +1/2"
b = H + W + 3/4"
c = H * 0.7 [I have no ideea how one can choose to work in base 8 :) and I barely remember how to multiply in base 8, if so ]

If you're using 1/2" allowance and 1" for the zipper, you'll have:

a = L + H +1"
b = H + W + 1 1/2"
c = H * 0.7


And, of course, if you're lucky like me and live life in metric ...

a = L + H + 2 cm
b = H + W + 3cm
c = H * 0.7



Please let me know if you have any questions. And enjoy your pretty pouches :) Oh, and if you have no ideea what I'm talking about, you might want to have a look at the tutorial here.

Oh, yeah! My perfect box pouch and a tutorial

I have to be honest. I only made 3 more boxes until it hit me. Just so you don't think I'm crazy making a douzen more :).
Long story short, batting and fusible turned out to be not that important. The trick was somewhere else. So, with these 10 boxes behind me, let me tell you how I made my perfect tiny cute useless thing. That will surely get some use someday ;).

UPDATE: Step -1 :))) You might want to check for the dimensions before starting.

Step 0 - You can skip to step 6, if you made pouch boxes before. Have a lemonade while the others still struggle with steps 1 to 6.

Step 1 - fabrics and accesories. 
Prepare your fabrics, turn on your iron, get the mat and the cutter cleaned. Take one zipper that does not fully open and some ribbon.

I got the best results with one layer of heavier fabric - the outer one- and one of quilting cotton - the inner one. The quilting cotton doesn't require fusible. I wanted to use it for this old Kaufman strips, much thinner that kona, for example, but didn't use it in the end and it turned out fine.
 If you want to use quilting cotton for the outside, the box will look better [empty] if you put either some fusible web or quilted batting. Not the both of them, though, as it becomes too difficult to work with.
Also, two heavier fabrics are a little to much, but doable.

Step 2 - cutting.
Cut the width of the pouch after the lenght of your zipper. [Do not use longer trimmed zippers if you want it perfect. And you do, right? ] Whatever leght makes you happy, I made them almost square. [after 9 of them you realise it really doesn't matter that much :D]

If you are using an animal print or you are a beginer, cut 4 equal pieces, 2 for the outside and two for the inside. Again, after 9 boxes I had no mood to cut the exterior fabric in 2 pieces, I just left it in 1. One less step for me :D.
If you cut only 3 pieces, the inner pieces have to be 1/2 inch longer than the half of the outer one. Also, if you have a directional print, one side of your box will have the print upside down.

Step 3 - attaching the zipper.
I saw many ways of attaching the zipper. I like this one best because the zipper won't get stucked with inner fabric and is very very easy for this kind of project, with relativly small zippers.

Iron [very well!] down about 1/2" along the fabrics edges, where the zipper is supposed to stay.

Make a sandwich with inner fabric wrong side up, zipper, outer fabric right side up.

If you're an advanced sewer, simply arrange the sandwich with your hands while you're already at the sewing machine. If you're kind of new to sewing, you're allowed to pin a little :), just to see how exactly the fabrics are supposed to stay. Take off the pins when you started sewing and arrange the fabrics as you go.

I like to see the zipper, so I'm not trying to cover it, but you can if you like it better. But don't put the inner fabric closer to the center of the zipper, or it will block the zipper the exact moment when you actually need something from the box!
If you want a neat look, set your sewing machine to a larger step. 3 is my favorite.

Start with the zipper opened and half way along its lenght stop the machine with needle in, lift the presser foot, turn your fabric 90 degrees, keep the end of the zipper in place with one hand and close the zipper with the other. Turn, lower pressing foot, continue sewing the zipper.

If you chose to cut your outer fabric in two, repeat this step with the second part of your zipper. If you chose one piece of outer fabric, you will see this when sewing the second half. It looks bad but it isn't. You're an advanced sewer and the zipper is short ;). Please make it look like this so you won't accidently sew multiple layers.

Step 5 - closing.
Change to regular stitch lenght!
If you made 2 pieces of outer fabric, simply close it now on one side, as pictured. For the inner fabric, sew 2-3" from the edge to the middle, secure stitch in the end and leave a hole for turning. [ I like a bigger hole, I only sew 2"]

Iron them and press to one side.
Leave the upper and lower sides not sewn.

the trick


Step 6  - Sandwich
Prepare your ribbon. Cut two pieces, fold them in half to see how long you want them. I like them because it's always a pain to open the zipper [when you need it most] without them and they are actually helpfull at this point.

Sandwich the whole shabang alining to the center:

• middle of the inner fabric
• middle of the zipper
• folded ribbon
• middle of the inner fabric

Start with the ned of the zipper, it's easier.
You can pin. I couldn't, I pinned a little to much these days :D. 

Starting half inch away from the ribbon, sew through the ribbon and one inch more. Leave the edges open. [ ignore the white thread, I decided to go with green this seazon :D]

Open the sandwich and now sew only inner fabric, as close as possible from the previous stich. It's ok if you have1/4" gap, we will cover it later. 

Do the same for the outer fabric, you'll be doing this 8 times, 4 for the inner fabric, 4 for the outer.

Now sew again all layers, But only in the middle, and make sure you close the gaps.[dark green stitch only]

The pouch will look like this:

Flatten it and gently press the corners with your iron. You want to have a small ironing sign on the corners.

Step 7 - Corners

Put hour hand inside the pouch and unfold the corners. 

Using the ironed line as a guide to center the triangle, with a triangular ruler draw and pin the corners.

Make this step for every corner, 8 times total. You should have a little hedgehog now, so be carefull with your fingers when sewing.

Cut the extra and keep them for 8 dwarfs hats or something :)

Step 9 - turn, sew and enjoy

Through the hole you left open at step 5, turn the pouch. You will now have the inner fabric on the outside. Take a look at your amazing zipper [if you have a zipper with two faces, you just got yourself a fully reversible box pouch] and nicely arrange the corners

.

You can handsew the hole or machine sew it with matching thread.

Turn it on the right side and just admire your perfect pouch! Or put it on the pile and just breath. It was a long day for some of us :)

 I you have any questions, please ask, I will answer them with a comment at this post.
Feel free to do whatever you like with this tutorial :), I would love if you'd link back to see what you've done with it.