Simple Fabric Wallet

Well, what do you say we skip the introductions and jump right in to a blog? Last week I started a Sewing 101 class at this adorable sewing school by Belmont University, and our first official project was to make a simple wallet. I decided to practice my skills on something I've done before, all while taking plenty of pictures for a blog post :) For this project I used 1/4 yard of 2 coordinating fabrics, as well as 1/4 yard of fusible interfacing (#809 Decor Bond by Pellon was recommended by my teacher).

Using a pattern handed out at class, I cut a total of 8 pieces before I started sewing. 

• Two (2) 7 1/2 x 4 3/8 of my main wallet fabric
• Two (2) 4 3/8 x 5 3/8 of my pocket fabric
• Two (2) pieced of interfacing matching my main wallet fabric dimensions
• Two (2) pieces of interfacing measuring 2 3/8 x 3 7/8

I used both the pattern drafted on paper and I drafted it directly on to the fabric. Both examples are shown below:

Once I had everything cut out, it was time to do some ironing. First, I ironed the matching interfacing on to the wrong side of both of my main wallet pieces (being sure to press the iron down and hold, not press  back and forth).  Then I fused the smaller interfacing to one half of each pocket piece, aligning the edge of the interfacing with the middle crease I had made by ironing each pocket piece in half. The main piece looked like this:

I then pinned the pocket pieces right side up to the right side of one main wallet piece. By putting the creased edge at the top I made a better line and avoided an extra step of sewing.

Then, putting right sides together (I learned that term in class, yay!) I sandwiched the pocket pieces between my main pieces. After pinning the sides, I measured 3 inches from top and bottom, and made a set of notches to not sew between - have to have somewhere to turn it inside out!

Sewing at the bottom blue line, I sewed around the entire rectangle (1/4" seam allowance) but was sure to end at the other blue line. I backstitched on each side to keep it from unraveling when turning it inside out. 

Once it was all sewed, I cut the corners

Then the hard part - turning it inside out! I started by pulling one corner through, and the rest seemed to follow. 

It looked like that! Woo hoo! Almost done! Now just time to top stitch around the edge for a polished look (and to sew the part I left undone earlier). This requires a really tiny 1/8" seam allowance to be sure a credit card can still fit in the pocket!

I ironed it in half to keep the crease and that was that! I had my very first wallet!