Handmade Wallet Tutorial

July 8, 2018 · 1 Comment

Handmade Wallet Tutorial

Although I quite like my current wallet, it’s looking distinctly tatty.

It also has 2 major disadvantages.

The first is that it’s huge and it takes up an awful lot of room in my bag.

The second is that because it has so many useful pockets inside, I feel obliged to fill them all up with junk. The pockets of my purse get so full of old bus tickets and receipts that it won’t stay closed! Pockets are nice, but I just don’t need that many.

So I now have a handmade wallet that’s quite a bit smaller and enough pockets to be useful, but not too many!

I already had some fabric that I liked (most of it is a dress which is currently in the pile of unfinished projects!), and some little bits of Soft and Stable that are to small to use in bags.

The only things I had to buy were zips!

This is a good project for using up fabric left over from other projects, and it would make a nice gift for somebody if you don’t need a new purse yourself.

Here’s the tutorial for my handmade wallet!

Sewing a Handmade Wallet

You Will Need

Cotton fabric for the outer
Cotton fabric for the lining (a fat quarter of each will be enough)
Sew in interfacing (you could use fusible interfacing if you prefer)
Foam interfacing like Soft and Stable
Fusible interfacing
1 lace zip
1 magnetic snap
Usual sewing supplies

A zip foot is useful but not essential

Cutting Out

If you’d rather not faff about with making your own pattern pieces, I have the pattern for this handmade wallet for sale here.

A 1 cm (1/4 inch) seam allowance is included.

For the purse outer, cut a rectangle 24 cm x 17 cm from outer fabric and from foam interfacing.

For the purse lining, cut 2 rectangles 13 cm x 17 cm from lining fabric.

For the card pockets, cut 5 rectangles 13 cm x 10 cm. I cut them from the outer fabric, but you could use the lining fabric (or something different!) if you prefer.

For the coin purse section, cut a rectangle 17 cm x 21 cm from outer fabric, lining and sew in interfacing.

For the strap, cut a rectangle 7 cm x 11 cm from outer fabric.

1. Making the Card Pockets

Take one of the card pocket pieces and fold it in half lengthways, with the right sides together. Sew along the long open edge.

Turn it the right way out and press. You might like to sew along the folded edge, but you could leave it.

Repeat with the other card pockets.

Take one of the card pockets and one of the lining pieces. Pin the card pocket to the lining so that the top of the pocket is 3 cm down from the top of the lining. Sew along the bottom of the pocket.

Take another card pocket. The bottom of this one needs to be 10 cm down from the top of the lining. Pin, then sew along the bottom.

The third card pocket needs to be 13 cm down from the top of the lining, and the fourth 15 cm down.

For the fifth pocket, line the bottom edge of the pocket up with the bottom of the lining.

2. Coin Purse Section

Take the lining,the outer and the interfacing. Pin them so that the lining and the outer have their right sides together and the interfacing is on the outside.

Sew all the way round, leaving a gap in one of the short edges.

Trim the seams then turn it the right way out.

Press it and slip stitch the opening.

Before sewing the lace zip onto the short ends of the purse, you’ll need to trim it down a bit. Cut about 4 cm (1 1/2 inches) off each end of the zip. Check first with your purse piece that you’re cutting off the right amount!

This will mean that it doesn’t have a closed end any more, but this will make it easier to sew the zip to the purse, as well as making it the right length.

Pin one half of the zip to one of the short edges, ensuring that the teeth of the zip are past the edge of the purse. Sew the zip to the edge of the purse.

Reattach the other half of the zip and pin the other half to the other short edge. Unzip it, then sew the other bit of the zip to the purse.

Zip it back up, then squash the purse so that the zip is a cm or 2 down from the top.

This is a bit fiddly and you might prefer to use the kind of zip that separates without having to hack a bit off the end.

Pin the purse to the lining.

Sew along the sides and the bottom. Leaving the top free will give you a pocket for notes.

3. Making the Strap

Fuse a piece of interfacing to the wrong side of the strap piece.

Fold one of the short edges over by a cm.

Now fold it in half lengthways and press. Open it out, then fold one of the long edges inwards almost to the centre. Press it (with your finger will do), then fold the other long edge over by a cm. Press again.

Open it out again and attach the snap.

4. Assembling the Wallet

Find the centre of right hand half of the outer by folding it in half horizontally, then vertically. Where the folded lines cross, fuse a small piece of interfacing to the wrong side. Attach the snap.

Take both the lining sections and pin them with the right sides together. Before pinning, check that the section with the card pockets is underneath with card pockets the correct way up, and that the top of the coin purse is on the left.

Sew down the right hand side.

Take the strap and pin it to the right hand edge in the centre, with the snap facing downwards.

Pin the outer to the lining with the foam interfacing on top of the outer.

Sew round the outside edge of the wallet, leaving a gap on one side.

Turn the wallet the right way out and slip stitch the opening.

Tips

Iron everything as you go. It’s tempting to skip this, but the finished purse will look much nicer if you do, and it will be tricky to iron once the purse is assembled.

Use a longer stitch for top stitching.

If the fabric you’re using for the lining is very light, using some fusible interfacing will give it some more weight.

For left handed people, you might prefer to have the zip of your handmade wallet the other way round. Decide what is most comfortable for you before sewing!

If you liked this handmade wallet tutorial and your new wallet needs a new bag to ride around in, you might like to have a look at these tutorials.

Easy Scrappy Pincushions

March 1, 2018 · 4 Comments

Easy Scrappy Pincushions

Although I’ve got better over the last few years, I still have a tendency to start things but not finish them, which is why lots of the projects on Tea and a Sewing Machine are usually fairly quick things! That way I stand more chance of getting them finished, although I do have an impressive pile of unfinished projects as well!

At the moment my concentration is so bad I’m even wondering whether I might have a grown up version of ADD!

Sometimes we want to make stuff even if we can’t concentrate, and doing something creative is believed to help with all kinds of issues relating to mental health. The answer isn’t to give up completely, but to accept that something complicated that’s going to take a while probably isn’t a great idea, while making something quick and easy is.

So earlier in the week I decided to make some scrappy pincushions. With things as they are at the moment, even finishing these was a challenge. The fact that I started 7 and only finished 3 probably says it all!

Scrappy pincushions are good for lots of reasons. You can make them in all different kind of ways (just look on Pinterest!), it’s handy to have a few, you probably have stuff to hand to make them already, you can use up bits and pieces left over from other projects and they make nice presents for friends and family who like to sew.

These scrappy pincushions measure about 10 cm square, and have a piece of plain fabric, a print, a scrap of ribbon and a button.

The three I actually finished are all made in the same way. I used linen for the plain fabric, but anyything plain would work.

If you don’t have any suitable buttons, you could see if you have any on old clothes that you don’t wear anymore, or you could try junk shops or ebay (affiliate link).

How to Make Scrappy Pincushions

You Will Need

Scraps of plain fabric, scraps of patterned fabric, ribbon or lace, buttons, polyester filling.

Instructions

1. From the plain fabric, cut a piece 7 cm x 11 cm and a square 11 cm x 11 cm, and from the patterned fabric a piece 6 cm x 11 cm.

2. Sew the plain piece of fabric to the patterned piece. Trim the seam and press it open. You should end up with something that is vaguely square. If not, don’t worry, you can sort it out later.

3. Sew a piece of ribbon or lace over the seam between the plain fabric and the patterned fabric.

4. Pin the section you’ve just completed to the plain square piece you cut out earlier, with the right sides together. This will be the bottom of the pin cushion. Sew around the edge, leaving a gap in one side.

5. Turn it out and fill with polyester stuffing. Remember to fill it so that it is firm; you don’t want it to yield too much when you stick pins into it. Slip stitch the opening.

6. Sew a button in the centre. I sewed from the back of the pincushion through to the front, into the button, through the front and out through the back again. Then I tied the ends together. This works better than tying a knot because I found that pulling the thread tight just pulled the knot through! An alternative is to tie the end to a smaller button, then sew through the pincushion to attach the button on the top.

If you like this tutorial, you might also like this one for a wrist pincushion.

How to Make Handmade Clothes Look Professional

January 8, 2016 · 9 Comments

There are a number of things we can all remember to do to make our handmade clothes look professional.

It’s a lot of fun to make your own clothes. I’ve been making clothes for myself since I was 10, and I love it! I can choose a style that I like and fabric that I love. I can make it so that it fits me. And I can walk down the street knowing that I won’t see 10 people all wearing the same thing, like we’re all off to a Primark convention or something.

Forgetting to do these things below can be the difference between the thing you have made looking handmade and looking home made.

Handmade is great. Home made is for cakes.

Here are things you can do to make your handmade clothes look professional every time!

How to Make Handmade Clothes Look Professional

1. Take care when cutting out. This is especially important as you will be using the edges as a guide when you are sewing up. If your lines are all over the place, your finished garment will be too!

Use plenty of pins to pin the pattern pieces to the fabric and use a decent pair of scissors to cut out. I use these Fiskars Dressmaking Scissors.

2. Check that the grain is running top to bottom and shoulder to wrist. This can seem like a pain, especially if you don’t have a lot of fabric and you want to squeeze as much as you can out of it.

Cutting on the grain ensures that your garment hangs right. If you don’t it might look right to start with, but there’s a good chance that it will eventually droop on one side.

If you have difficulty remembering which way the grain goes, the way to remember is that the grain runs parallel with the selvedge.

If you are using fabric that doesn’t have selvedges, don’t worry because you can still find the grain. Pull the fabric gently up and down and then side to side. The way that stretches least is the grain.

3. Finish raw edges. The seams are on the inside, but if the fabric starts to disintegrate and the seams fall apart, then it will definitely be visible on the outside!

Depending on the fabric, you might be alright pinking the raw edges.

For fabric that frays badly, it will be necessary to finish the edges with an overlocker or an overcasting stitch on your sewing machine. If your sewing machine does not do overcasting, zigzags are fine.

4. Use thread that is the correct colour. I know this sounds obvious but I have been there myself! It’s Sunday afternoon, you’re sewing, you run out of thread. You have a rummage, find a spool of thread that is the same colour but not even close to the right shade and you think to yourself, “That’ll do”.

No. No it won’t!

Using thread that is not a close match is a sure way of making your handmade clothes look homemade. Remember to check your thread situation when you buy your fabric.

5. Make sure that your stitching is straight and your top stitching is as neat as you can make it. This is where taking time with cutting out can make a big difference! Sew slowly and take care to align the edge of the fabric with the guide on your sewing machine.

Top stitching is best if you use longer stitches, but if you are sewing something fiddly or that is a difficult shape, it’s better to use smaller stitches to keep it neat.

6. Check seam allowances. For commercial patterns it’s usually 1.5 cm. When I make stuff myself without a pattern I find that 1 cm is usually enough.

Your sewing machine probably has lines marked on the footplate. The manufacturers might have marked on the lines how far away they are from the needle. Otherwise you will need to measure to check.

If your sewing machine does not have useful lines, you could stick some tape on your machine to use as a guide instead.

7. Press seams as you go. I know it can be a faff, especially if you don’t have space to leave the ironing board up (or your sewing machine for that matter). It does make a difference though to how your finished garment looks in the end, especially where seams meet.

8. Add darts if it looks shapeless. Making a belt won’t do. I’ve tried it! In this particular project, the finished dress was so awful I had to cut my losses and turn it into a skirt, but adding darts might also have worked.

If you want to read a bit more about adding darts, take a look at this post here.

9. Clip the curves. By making a series of little cuts in the seam allowance, this will allow the curved seam to be pressed flat and the seam won’t look puckered.

10. Check sleeves are the same length. Unless you have one arm longer than the other and you need the sleeves to be of different lengths, irregular length are guaranteed to make you handmade outfit looked home made.

Check the hems at the bottom of the sleeves too. If you sewed the hem 2 cm up from the bottom of one sleeve, make sure you sew it 2 cm up on the other sleeve as well!

When I make sleeves, usually I measure one, then I use that one as a guide for making the second.

11. Check your hemline. Wonky hems scream home made!

The easiest way to get your hem level is to use a dress form. Otherwise enlist a friend to help you. Husbands and older children might do in the absence of either.

What would you add to the list?

Handmade Wallet Tutorial

Sewing a Handmade Wallet

You Will Need

Cutting Out

1. Making the Card Pockets

2. Coin Purse Section

3. Making the Strap

4. Assembling the Wallet

Share this:

Easy Scrappy Pincushions

How to Make Scrappy Pincushions

You Will Need

Instructions

Share this:

How to Make Handmade Clothes Look Professional

Share this:

Join the List

Privacy Policy

Instagram