summertime wallet...a tutorial

I originally shared this tutorial when I was the guest blogger at Truly Lovely last week...head on over to Kassi & Kayli's blog and check out all of their lovely ideas...

Now, I don't know about you, but one of the things I hate doing during summer is carrying around a big ol' purse. Not only does it get in the way, but I'm always so afraid I'm going to leave it somewhere. And I'm not even going to mention how hard it is to get sand out of it if I take it to the beach...yuck.

My solution? A tiny little wallet that holds just the essentials...wanna learn how to make one?

This is a great project to use up some of your fabric scraps...and the completed wallet can be shoved into your back pocket or beach bag without getting in your way...

Here is all you will need to make this little summertime wallet...

*2 pieces of fabric at least 12"x5"
*fusible interfacing (iron-on bonding, actually...the kind that's stickable on both sides...)
*a sewing machine (or a needle & thread)
*scissors
*a ruler

Now let's get started...

First, cut your fabric & bonding following the diagram below...

Next, take either your main fabric or your lining fabric, it doesn't matter, and lay it right-side-down on your ironing board. Take one of your larger (3"x4") pieces of bonding and adhere it (per the manufacturer's instructions) just to the left of the mid-point (6" mark) of your fabric (right where the orange arrow is pointing). Leave about 1/2" of fabric on both the top and the bottom of the bonding...

Lay one of the smaller pieces of bonding about 1/8" to the left of the first piece...again leaving about 1/2" of fabric on both the top and bottom of the fabric. Don't worry about measuring the placement of these pieces...it's really not necessary for them to be perfectly placed..."close enough" is good enough.

Now do the same thing with the other two pieces on the right-hand side of the fabric...

When you've adhered all of your bonding, take your fabric (still right-side down) and place it on top of your other piece of fabric...make sure the fabrics have their right sides together...

Line up all of your edges and pin them together if necessary. Then sew around all four sides...using a 1/2" seam allowance. Leave an opening of a couple of inches across one of your short sides (this will be where you turn your wallet so that the right sides are facing out).

Next, remove the paper from your bonding...you should see a sheen where the bonding sticky stuff has adhered to the fabric...

*Next, get me a manicure...holy cow, how yucky...*

Back to the tutorial...clip the corners of your fabric rectangle...making sure NOT to clip any of your stitches...

Now, turn your wallet right-sides-out, using a chopstick or something similar to push the corners out...

Bring your fabric back to your ironing board...iron the little pouch flat...and make sure to turn in the edges of the opening on the side, so that you have a nice crisp, straight rectangle...

Once your fabric is ironed, sew the open edge together...as close to the edge as you can...

Bring your fabric back to the ironing board (again), fold it in half (making sure to keep your main fabric on the outside), and iron it.

Open your fabric back up again...take each short side and bring it in toward your middle fold...not all the way to the middle, just close...leave about 1/2" on either side...and iron again.

Almost done!

Sew down each long side of your fabric...with about a 1/8" seam allowance...don't forget to backstitch when you start and finish...

Now, fold your little wallet in half, and you. are. finished!

Woo hoo! Not so bad, huh?

These come together really quickly once the fabric & bonding is all cut...

I think I'm gonna make some for all of my mommy-friends for Mother's Day...

Fun and easy...and practical!

I'm linking this tutorial up to some of these wonderful parties this week...