Lots of Wallets

Trifold Wallets 

Hello,

I've been quite busy this month and making quite a few wallets. I had some problems with my Jack machine in between and had to use my Singer HD. It takes a little time to sew on a domestic machine again after a long time. I particularly miss the knee lifter. I called up the dealer and he sent the technician after 2 days. It was resolved immediately. Speaking about industrial machines, I am considering getting the compound industrial machine. 

Anyway, from my sewing room, I made quite a few wallets. The first two are these Sheep Wallets! The first one is the Trifold Wallet and the second one is the double zippered wallet from Noodlehead pattern. It was a repeat order from a customer who loves black sheep! I made 2 trifold wallets as the customer wanted the sheep fabric on the exterior. 

Trifold Cardholder Wallet

I have not made this double-zipper wallet for quite some time. As I was preparing to make this sheep wallet, I also cut a few more to make. I hope I will have time to complete them soon. 

This pink sheep fabric is quite cute! I have a Nuno Zipper wallet and a Mini Trifold Wallet made with this fabric. 

Double Zipper Wallet

Next, I made these Small Hanami Pochettes. One is for a repeat customer and the other one I made for a stock. Well, actually the customer was asking for a rounded corner flap but I made a rounded flap! Luckily Hanami pochette is quick and easy to put together, so I quickly made another one! It's a blessing in disguise, now I have one pochette ready to ship in the shop! 

Small Wristlet Wallet

Dedicated cardholder 

It has a back zipper pocket

I also made another Rosie wallet in this lovely blue floral print for a customer. I have the same print in Green and Pink, and now thinking of making the series. I love using Rosie wallet, as I don't carry many cards or cash nowadays. It can fit nicely into my small purse. The additional keychain to handy when I carry a big tote, I can clip it inside the tote bag. 

 

Blue floral wallet

The last one I sent out last week was this world map print safari passport wallet for a friend. It was a bit delayed in completion because I always forgot to send her the fabric choice. I forget a lot nowadays, so when a friend or acquaintance wants to order a wallet, I always suggest they buy from the WEBSITE. That way I can keep track of what I have to do next and when to send it out. 

Safari Travel Wallet is versatile for solo or a couple travellers. Or even a small family who always travel together. I gifted to my sons when they go to college to keep their passports and other important documents. 

Safari Travel Passport Wallet

So yeah, it was a pretty busy week for me and now I need to take 2 days break from sewing to tidy up my sewing room! It's pretty messy right now! I have a few more wallet orders for next week, so stay tuned!! 

Thank you for stopping by today! 

Have a nice weekend!

Elvira

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SHOP HANDMADE

SHOP PATTERNS

Curvy edge passport holders

 

Floral Passport Wallet

Hello,

I'm still in the #sewmystash mission. I made a few Voyage Passport Wallets for the shops before Ramadan. They are now available in my ETSY SHOP as well as my WEBSITE. 

This time I made curvy edge wallets and love how they turned out. If you don't like making your own bias binding, you can always make the regular Voyage Wallet using cross-cut binding.

Voyage Passport Wallet

Voyage passport wallet is a slim and compact travel wallet. Even though it's small in size (4.5" x 6.5") it can hold up to 4 passports (2 passports on each sleeve) and 2 cardholders. It's just perfect for those who carry 2 passports while travelling. 

I made this floral wallet below from block print fabric because I love the print so much! I also got a small blue and white block print fabric on the interior. A bit of contrast but not too much! 

Block Print Passport Holder

The second one is this lavender patchwork print wallet. The fabric is also from my stash and I still have quite a lot of it, I may make bigger passport wallets like Ohana or Safari or another Nuno Wallet. I have matching purple polka dots too.

The third one is this blue wallet made from Marimekko fabric. I remembered I got it at Nomura Tailor. They have small cuts of designer fabrics and I picked up quite a few. The size is a little smaller than the fat 8 fabric. I had fun mix-matching this wallet. 

Marimekko Passport Holder

All the passport wallets are available on my WEBSITE as well as my ETSY shop. If you want it in a different fabric, I'd be happy to make one for you. 

Thank you for stopping by! 

Happy Sewing

Elvira

New Video Tutorial - Passport Card Wallet

Voyage Passport Wallet

 

Hello,

As promised in my previous post, finally the video tutorial for the small passport wallet is up on my YouTube channel now. And as I edited the original pattern to add the link, I also gave a name to the pattern. Well, I am really not good at giving names but then, as I make more patterns, I suppose it's inevitable for me to give a certain name. This time, I go with the simple name Voyage Passport Wallet. I plan to update the original pattern with better photos when I get the time, so please bear with me.

In the video, I cut the pattern pieces slightly bigger than the original one, because I want to use it for Journal Cover like in my previous post

For the zipper version, all the basics remain the same as the original pattern. If you want to make it with zipper closure, here are the additional materials to cut/change: 

✓ Cut 2 -  Medium or All-purpose interfacing for main exterior and lining

✓ Cut 1 - Fleece Batting  - the same size as the main exterior 

 ✓ #5 Zipper – 24” Long (based on the continuous zipper that is cut to size) 

✓ Bias binding (follow THIS TUTORIAL)

Without further ado, here's the video :

If you're new here and wondering about the interfacing I used in my wallets, I wrote my secret guide for interfacing in THIS POST and THIS POST. My suggestion is to keep experimenting until you find the combination that you like the most. In the hydrangea passport wallet above, I used all-purpose interfacing for the main body and using medium interfacing for the sleeves' base. The wallet turned out softer and I can even fit it with more passports - up to 4 passports and it still closed nicely. 

I made another Voyage Wallet with Snoopy Print as a custom order. Some of the crafters, DM me on Instagram asking how to do bias binding nicely. As I mentioned in my previous post, before cutting the binding (cross-cut or bias), make sure the fabric grains are straight. This small step is very important to get a good finish. And of course, practice! Practice makes improvement. Sometimes even I had to rip off the already sewn binding because I didn't straighten the grain nicely and resulted in sloppy finish. 

Zip Around Passport Wallet

Another question is, can I use cross-cut binding instead? Yes, you definitely can. I made a couple of passport wallets with zippers using cross-cut binding. It will be like the usual wallet binding, like in THIS tutorial. When you want to use cross-cut binding for a zipper wallet, do not CURVE the corners. I will make the video next time when I am working on a wallet binding. 

Here is a few Ohana Passport Wallet I did for a custom order. 

Mitered Corner binding

Cartoon Print Passport Wallet

I hope the video and a few tips above help your journey in the wallet making. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Thank you so much for reading my blog. 

Happy Sewing,

Elvira

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Wallets, Quilts and Bias Binding Tutorial

In the past few days, I've been busy making a few wallet and placemats orders. I got a couple of passport wallet orders in the past two months. I think now that travel around the globe is eased, many people started to travel again.

This time, the zip around small passport holder seems quite popular and as usual, whenever I make for an order, I cut one extra to add to my shop. Because I am working solo and nowadays hardly have time to sew, this way I can add a couple of new designs in a month. Also, I will always have projects that are ready to sew. Although sometimes it takes days to finish and sometimes I can finish 2 wallets in a day. Well, as long as I can sew, I am a happy girl! 

Ah, I also recorded the video tutorial for this small passport wallet - which hopefully I can finish editing and put up on YouTube this week. 

I often got questions regarding bias binding. For beginners or someone who never makes or use bias binding, it can be a daunting task. There are a few ways to make a bias binding but this traditional method is my fave because the binding always turns out perfect. 

In this video, I made DIY bias binding using FAT 8 fabric (9" x 22"). The rule of thumb is, you must make sure the fabric grains (warp and weft) are straight. That way you will get nice and crisp bias tape. 

Please check the video below. I hope the video is clear enough. If you have any questions, you can contact me or leave a comment below. 

Here are more fabric wallets recently done and a couple of them are on their way to the new home. I love making this classic bifold wallet.  My first wallet was this bifold wallet and even after washing it several times, it is still in a good shape. The interfacing and padding did make the wallet sturdy and did not lose its shape. 

GET THE PATTERN HERE

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And here's the medium scrappy placemats I recently finish and sent out. I hope they will be received well. As a maker and seller, nothing more rewarding than a happy customer! 

I kind of love these medium-size placemats and I have a couple more to finish hand sewing the binding before I put them up in the shop. 

I also experimented with different quilting lines on my Industrial machine. I tried doing FMQ after watching a couple of  YouTube videos where people do freehand machine embroidery using a similar machine as mine. Well, guess what? I worked! I will try in my next project and hopefully can share a few tips with you all. Stay tuned! 

Scrappy Placemats

FMQ Trial 

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On the 16th, my SIL and I went to a wedding in a village nearby. It was great fun for both of us. And of course, I love watching how the folks are having a great time at the party. In the village, a wedding party can last a couple of days (2-3 days) from morning to midnight. People from all around the village and nearby village will keep streaming in, sitting and chatting. I love to see the young girls dressing up to the latest Bollywood trend. 

And of course, I enjoyed the ride through different small towns and villages. Since the harvest season is just over, most of the fields are dry now. But it was a  lovely day! 

The bride and the bridesmaids 

Henna -  a must in every wedding! 

We also went to the market last week. We went saree shopping for one of our helper's daughter's wedding next month. Of course, I wore a double mask even a lot of people are not wearing masks now since the state government announced that all pandemics restrictions are lifted off. 

I really enjoyed looking at those colorful sarees. Even though I don't wear colorful clothes myself, looking at those bright colors, makes me happy! And no, I did not buy for myself, I only went to my regular fabric shop to get denim material. I suppose to go look for Mekhla (Assamese dress) border for my kawandi project but it was getting late, so maybe next time! 

 

That's all for today. I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment or two.

Until next time,

Elvira

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VIDEO TUTORIAL - SAFARI TRAVEL WALLET

Safari Travel Wallet Video

Hello, 

Finally, the video tutorial for the Safari Travel Wallet is up on my YouTube Channel. I hope the video can help to visualize how to make the wallet from the beginning. I am trying to get a better angle as I recorded the video and also try not to skip the process. The video is sped up  2 to 3 times from the original. If you want to watch it at a slower speed, you can do so by clicking the setting on your YouTube screen.  

The original pattern only has instructions for flap closure which is pretty easy, but as many customers like zip-around closure more, I decided to make the video for the zip-around version. If anyone wants to see the flap closure version, I will record one when I make my next wallet. Do let me know in the comment.

Cute Zipper End 

Zip Around Travel Wallet

I really enjoy recording the video and I really hope to share more sewing tutorials in the future. If you heard some funny noise in between the videos, that's because my son was watching a football match, or sometimes, someone came and asked something in the middle of the recording. Maybe I should put a sign like "recording in progress, do not disturb" LOL

I hope you find the video useful and you can understand the process of making the wallet. I'm looking forward to your feedback! 

Thank you for stopping by,

Elvira

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