12 gifts of christmas blog hop: organizer wallet tutorial and a giveaway

Hello! Welcome to day 12 of the 12 Gifts of Christmas Blog Hop hosted by the awesome Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts. Have you been following along since day 1?? If not, there's a list of links to all the tutorials at the bottom of this post so go check them out! Today, I'll share a quick/easy/scrap busting tutorial with you. I've done a bit of brain storming since Jennifer invited me to participate and I decided on creating a wallet/organizer that can hold stuff like iPhones, jump drives, memory cards, credit cards, business cards, cash, notes, memo pads, etc. . . . great for the person who needs a little organization. You won't need a lot of fabric for these and they sew up quickly. . . perfect for whipping up last minute Christmas gifts!

Supplies:

• fabric (I used 3 different prints but that's optional)
• fusible interfacing (I used Pellon 911FF-Featherweight and Pellon Craft Fuse)
• cotton batting
• thread
• 5/8" braided or knit elastic
• usual sewing supplies: rotary cutter/mat/ruler, scissors, hand sewing needle, soluble fabric pen, pins or binder clips, a walking foot is helpful if you have one
• 3" x 5" memo pad (I bought mine at Target - Mead brand)
• printable pattern piece - download here

A few notes of interfacing:

I used two different fusible interfacings for this project but you can easily substitute what you have on hand. I chose a featherweight interfacing for the pocket pieces to allow a bit of flexibility/ease in the pockets and chose Craft Fuse for the wallet outer/lining pieces to give the wallet more stability.

**Tutorial is for personal use/gifts only! Thanks!**

*sorry for the tutorial photos in advance. I got so caught up in the "process" that I didn't put a lot of thought into my photos. I think there are enough to get the point across though, so not all is lost! Oh and please disregard my nasty ironing board. It's well loved. . . 

1/4" seam allowance used throughout the project.

*forgot to include the interfacing piece for the curved pocket in the photo above

Step 1: Cut the following from your fabric/interfacing/etc:

Wallet:

(1) outer wallet fabric: 8.75" wide x 6.25" tall 

(1) lining fabric: 8.75" wide x 6.25" tall

(1) batting: 8.75" wide x 6.25" tall

(2) Craft Fuse: 8" wide x 5.75" tall

Card Pocket:

(1) fabric of your choice: 7" wide x 6.25" tall 

(1) fusible interfacing: 5.75" wide x 3.25 tall

Memo Pad Pocket:

(1) fabric of your choice: 5.25" wide x 7.5" tall

(1) fusible interfacing: 3.5" wide x 4.5" tall

Curved Pocket

(2) fabric of your choice: use printable pattern piece*

(1) fusible interfacing: cut .25" smaller than pattern piece

*print pattern piece with no scaling at 100%

Elastic:

(1) 6.5" long

*I dyed my elastic yellow using this tutorial here! I used Dylon in Sunflower Yellow and Sew-ology Braided Elastic (purchased at Hobby Lobby). 

Step 2: Fusing interfacing/preparing pockets

Now that you've got all your pieces cut, you'll want to fuse interfacing to the corresponding pieces according to the manufacturer's directions. 

Main/Lining:

-center the interfacing in the middle of each fabric piece so that you have an even 1/4" border of fabric around the edge. This will help reduce bulk in the seam allowance.

Curved Pocket: 

-center interfacing on the fabric piece that will face out once placed onto wallet lining and fuse. Place both curved pocket pieces together (right sides touching) and sew along the curve. Clip curve and flip fabric over so that wrong sides touch. Press. Topstitch along the curve.

Card Pocket: 

-fold the fabric piece in half width wise and press to create a crease. Unfold pocket and place interfacing on one side of the pocket-line up edge with the crease. Fuse. Fold pocket piece again (wrong sides touching) and topstitch along the folded edge. Find the center of the pocket and draw a line down the middle.

Memo Pad Pocket:

-fold down the top long edge of the pocket 1/4". Press. Fold pocket piece in half width wise and press. (the 1/4" folded edge will be the top of the pocket). Unfold the pocket piece and place interfacing on the wrong side of fabric. Place the interfacing so that the top edge slides underneath the folded edge of the pocket and so that it lines up with the crease of the pocket. Fuse. Fold pocket in half again and stitch as close to the top edge as possible. See photos below for clarification.

Step 3: Attaching pockets

Place your lining piece right side up. Using the photo above as a guide, place your memo pad pocket on the lining in the bottom right hand corner. The raw edges of the pocket will line up with the right and bottom raw edges of the lining. Pin or clip in place. Sew along the left side of the pocket to the lining, as close to the edge as possible. Make sure to reinforce your stitches at the top of the pocket. Baste around the bottom and right edges of the pocket.

Next, place your card pocket on the left hand side of the lining. Pin or clip in place. Stitch along the line you drew earlier to attach the pocket to the lining and divide it. Baste along the other 3 edges. 

Finally, you'll take your curved pocket and place it on top of the card pocket. Pin or clip in place and baste along the sides and bottom of the pocket. 

You may find that the pockets stretch a little when being sewn on. If so, flip your lining piece over so that the wrong side is facing up. Using your rotary cutter/ruler, trim off excess pocket using the lining piece as your guide.

Step 4: Attaching elastic

Take your outer wallet piece and place it right side up. If you're using a directional print, make sure it's not upside down. Measure in 1" from the left and make a mark at the top and bottom of the fabric. Place your elastic to the right of the marks. Sew elastic in place making sure to sew within the 1/4" seam allowance. Your elastic is slightly longer than the fabric piece so you'll need to line up the bottom edges of the elastic with the top and bottom edges of your fabric. 

Step 5: Putting it all together

Stack your pieces together in this order:

-cotton batting (bottom layer)

-lining piece with basted pockets right side up (middle layer)

-outer wallet piece with elastic attached right side down (top layer)

Clip or pin layers together. If at this point you notice things don't line up perfectly, unpin the pieces and trim any excess using your lining piece as a guide. You don't want to cut anything smaller than your lining. Put your pin/clips back in place and continue below.

If you have a walking foot, I highly recommend using it here to keep your layers from shifting. Sew around the wallet. You'll be leaving a 3.5" wide opening to turn the wallet right side out on the side with the memo pad wallet/elastic. 

Before turning your wallet right side out, clip the 4 corners carefully and trim back the batting to the seam line on all sides except the side with the opening. You may also want to trim the seam allowance down to 1/8" on the edge with the curved pocket/card pocket. Turn right side out and press well. Slip stitch the turning hole and then topstitch close to the edge along all 4 sides of the wallet. You'll need to move the elastic out of your way while topstitching. . . a little tricky but it can be done. That's it! You're finished. 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and don't forget to enter the giveaways below.
Also, if you make some of these wallets, feel free to share photos in both my Flickr group and the official blog hop group pool here!

The giveaway Now closed. . . will be back in the morning with the winner. Thanks so much to everyone for entering and leaving all these awesome comments :)

Enter to win a $50 gift certificate to Pink Castle Fabrics by leaving one comment on this post. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced here on Oct. 27th.

Also, please visit Ellison Lane Quilts and leave one comment on her tutorial to be entered to win the GRAND PRIZE of a $250 gift certificate to Fabricworm!

And just for stopping by, you can take advantage of a generous 15% off discount at Fabricworm with the coupon code fw12days through the end of the blog hop.

Friday, October 14- Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts
Saturday, October 15- Ayumi/Pink Penguin
Sunday, October 16- Amy/ Lots of Pink Here
Monday, October 17- Faith/Fresh Lemons Quilts
Tuesday, October 18- Penny/Sew Take a Hike
Wednesday, October 19- Kati/From the Blue Chair
Thursday, October 20- Lee/Freshly Pieced
Friday, October 21- Elizabeth/Don't Call Me Betsy
Saturday, October 22- Melanie/Texas Freckles
Sunday, October 23- Lindsay/Craft Buds
Monday, October 24- Amanda/A Crafty Fox
Tuesday, October 25-Vanessa/Little Big Girl Studio