Last week story and mini travel wallets

It's already mid of September and we're still staying home as much as we can! Thank God for the internet, at least I can video call my family back home in Indonesia. I really miss my 4 years old nephew who is now a big fan of BTS, yes, he's our little "Army". 

I am still getting used to working with wrist splint. Since last month my carpal tunnel syndrome has gotten a little worse. So now I am batching my work and taking frequent breaks to do stretching. Sometimes I rest for 2 days if the pain is too much. I don't want to exert myself at this point. But the brace does help. I ordered gloves too actually from amazon but the only sent me this and refunded the gloves. 

Last week, I went to meet my Indonesia friend Eva to drop avocadoes for her. It was the first weekend after the lockdown was lifted in my city. We had a lot of avocadoes this summer. And in the afternoon, Plabita came and collect a few avocados. Well, visiting is not advisable right not with cases seems to be going up day by day. We only met outside in the garden, maintaining our distance, and wearing a mask. But it's really lovely to meet friends in the real world :D. She said she's never seen an avocado tree in her life! Well, avocados are not easily available here and recently gaining popularity that the price can go up to INR 500 for one. That's crazy!

From the sewing room, I made this cute matryoshka travel wallet back in June in between sewing masks. Mask wearing is going to stay now and I'm glad that many people are wearing it now. I almost forgot how I enjoyed creating wallets right from choosing the color combo to finishing the binding by hand. If you asked me, why the binding? for me because I have a weak wrist and turning wallets or bag really painful process for me :D. Also, I love the look of the wallet with binding. It gives the one of kind handmade look! 

This is another one I completed and sold. This Wonderland from Rifle Paper co is really popular with my customers and I think I am going to keep one for my self before I run out of fabrics:). Well, getting fabrics from abroad is not an easy affair right now, especially in India. 

Wonderland Handmade Travel Wallet

I also made a zip around one. I really love the previous one that I made and when I see this navy print, I thought why not make another one. 

Navy Theme Wallet

Super easy project and satisfying result. 

Pattern: Small Travel Wallet

Product: Handmade Travel Wallet

Zip Around Tutorial

Thank you for stopping by!

Stay Safe!

- Elvira -

Doraemon and Floral Passport Covers

Doraemon Passport Cover

Who doesn't love Doraemon? He's smart, fun and full of ideas. My younger son still love watching Doraemon. Even I enjoyed watching the Hindi version, because that's how I picked up a few lines of Hindi. Sometimes I like to mimicking Nobita's Mom and my sons will rolled their eyes 0_0



 I was chatting with Shweta last week or so and I admired her neat machine binding. So I decided to try on these wallets. They turned out quite decent. What do you think? 

Peach Floral Passport Wallet

The key is same like any other binding, make sure that the fabric grain is straight before you cut the fabric. I used the same width as usual, 1.5" wide, and 1/4" seam allowance. While wrapping the binding over, make sure that it covers just a little bit over the stitch line, maybe around 1 or 2 mm but not more. Using lots of wonder clips will certainly help to hold the binding in place. Stitch as close to the edge as possible. That way, on the inner side of the wallet, the stitch will fall just along the fold. 





For the floral passport cover, I used shot cotton a.k.a handloom fabric for the lining and card slot. The color just matched perfectly with the green on the floral print. Most of the time, finding the right fabric combo is the longest process. It's like finding a soulmate ;-).


Thank you for stopping by,

Happy Sewing!

~ Elvira~

Foxy Passport Wallet with curvy edges and Konmari Updates

Hello,

How's your week going on? My week's been pretty busy but in between I went to spa and pamper myself. The Marie Kondo book "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up"  has arrived and I'm currently reading it. I will finish the book and will plan my "konmari" move ^_^.  So far in my sewing room, I already put all my tools and hardwares in one corner. Arranging the fabric stash would be the tough part. I am thinking of destashing fabrics which does not spark joy anymore. So if you're in India and would love to get the first news of my fabric destash, make sure to join the group on Facebook or follow me in Instagram @chezvies_shop.

In the meantime, I finished this wallet yesterday. This is another take on my Passport Wallet pattern. I had this fox fabric for a while and I thought it will be a fun travel wallet.

New style Passport Holder

I combined it with  brown polka dots fabric. I always come up with one idea and I usually improvise as I go along. As I was cutting interfacing for the flap, I decided to make a curvy flap. It looked really good and I loved it.

Passport Card Holder

As for the card slot, I wrote a tutorial in this POST to get a patchwork style card slot.

Foxy Wallet

And then as I was going to the binding part, I was in two minds- curvy edges or straight edges. I thought making bias binding was too much of work. But I wanted curvy edges, so I stopped working and went about doing other chores. 

In the evening I went back to my sewing table and decided let's make the bias! And it's so worth it!!

Travel Wallet

Upon reading Marie Kondo Books, I realized that, doing or keeping something that truly "spark joy" give us an immense happiness and satisfaction. With all the  instant updates we always see in social media, sometimes as a handmade maker, we feel rushed. We jumped to the rat race and forget to enjoy the process. If you've been thinking for decluttering your space (and life), you might love to read the book.. Yes I know, I've been thinking along the same line too "why do I need to learn to tidy up?" but after reading the book, there are a few things I learn, like "putting things away created the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved".  That definetely sound like me LOL. 

That's all for today. Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoy reading my post. Leave a comment if you'd like me to make video on bias binding. 

Until then,

Have a nice weekends,

~Elvira~

Linking up :

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TGIFF @ Anja Quilts 
Handmade Monday

Compact Passport Cover with Card Holder

Hello,

I have been working on this idea for quite sometimes now. I wanted a compact passport cover (a better version of the previous one), which can be slipped into a sling bag while traveling. 

Love this Cowboy theme

This passport sleeve is pretty slim. It fit into my sling bag nicely. I don't use too many layers of interfacing here. A layer of heavyweight interfacing for the main wallet exterior only.

Passport Card Holder - Pdf Pattern

The vertical card slots are very handy to keep your ID card and frequent flyer membership card. As you know, I love using binding for my wallet, because I love the handmade look of it. Besides, we can play with fun binding to make it one of a kind product. 

Snap Button Closure

It took me a while to decide what closure I want. I knew I wanted something that is easy to install and if possible easy to mend. Then I remembered the magnetic closure I used in this Ella Bucket Bag and 241 tote bag, and decided to use the same method. It works out perfectly. Yay!!

Passport Sleeve 

This a pretty quick project. It took me a little more than 1 hour to finish one. I could finish it faster, if I don't watch my Korean Drama while sewing :). All the new passport covers are now available in ETSY as well as in my WEBSHOP. 

Until next time,

Happy Sewing,

Linky Party:

Finish it up Friday

Show Off Saturday

Sincerely Paula

Handmade Monday

Resources:

Handmade Wallets
Sewing Patterns