Saturday, January 9, 2010

Beautiful Quilted Wallet Tutorial


Quilting the fabric:
Cut strips 1 and 1/2 inch wide by vertical length (11 inches). I use eight different fabrics, but you can use whatever suits you.  .These strips can be "quilted" in one of two ways. 1) sew the strips together and stitch onto quilt batting. Or 2) Sew the first strip face up onto the right quilt batting. Then lay each subsequent strip face down on the face of the previous strip and sew using a 1/4 inch guide down the right side of the strip. Then fold strip over right side up and place next strip face to face and sew down the right side again. Repeat until all strips are sewn onto the foundation quilt batting piece.Making the front cover of your wallet:
Cut a rectangle vertical (10.75 inches) and horizontal (width of the 8 strips) from the new quilted fabric you just made. You will not use it all.

Choose a coordinating thread color and wind a bobbin to match. Now sew down each seam using decorative stitching (your preference). Using another decorative stitch, sew around the edges of a 2-3 inch piece of velcro (soft side) the placement should be approximately 1/2 inch from the bottom edge of the horizontal edge (short side) and centered. This is the closure for your wallet. Set the front quilted piece aside for now.

Making the Inside Foundation Piece for your wallet:Cut a rectangle using the inside coordinating fabric selection (7.75" x 10.75"). Then cut a matching rectangle from quilt batting. Sew the coordinating fabric to the quilt batting using a 1/4 inch guide.

Making the credit card and cash pockets for the inside of your wallet:
Cash pocket:
Using the inside coordinating fabric selection, cut a rectangle (7.75" x 6"), fold in half (hamburger fold) wrong sides together, now measures (7.75" x 3").
Credit card pockets: Cut 2 rectangles (7.75" x 4")and
(7.75" x 3"). Fold in half (hot dog fold), now measures (7.75" x 2") and (7.75" x 1.5)
Construction of pockets: Place the largest credit card rectangle raw edges down onto bottom (raw edges of cash pocket rectangle). Then place smaller credit card pocket rectangle onto larger credit card pocket (again raw edges down and together). Using a 1/4 inch guide sew across bottom edge and sides. This will make three pockets on top of each other. Fold in half (hamburger fold), iron to make a crease line, then open and sew down line making the two lower pockets credit card size. This can be the tricky part, Exactly 5.5 inched down, place bottom raw edge of pocket section face down onto inside foundation piece, When you stitch using a 1/4 inch guide across the bottom, and then fold up the pocket section to where it belongs. Stitch the sides down using a 1/4 inch guide and the credit card and cash pocket are in place.

Making the checkbook pocket for the inside of your wallet:
Using the inside coordinating fabric selection, cut a rectangle (7.75" x 7"). Fold in half (hamburger fold) wrong side to wrong side. Your rectangle should now measure (7.75" x 3.5"). Iron and pin to bottom of inside foundation piece, then sew around edges using 1/4 inch guide. The folded edge should be the top of the pocket and the raw edges should be on raw edges of bottom end of the inside foundation piece. Adding the velcro closure to the inside of your wallet: Centered at the top above your credit card and cash pockets @ 1/2 inch down use a decorative stitch to sew around a 2-3 inch piece of velcro (rough side). Finishing your wallet construction: Place quilted wallet cover and right side of wallet inside foundation piece face to face. Make sure that velcro is on opposite ends (one at top and one at bottom) Pin and sew around edges using 1/4 inch guide. Leave a 4-5 inch opening at top to turn the wallet right sides out. When turned the velcro pieces should meet when wallet is folded making a closure. With wallet open, close top opening and topstitch around entire wallet. Then draw a line horizontally across the wallet 2.25 inches and then at 5.25 inches down from the top edge of inside of wallet. Stitch these lines to reinforce the wallet fold lines. Be careful not to sew any pockets closed. Your wallet is ready to use. Enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. Great tutorial, only thing is, I don't believe you say how wide the strips are supposed to be???? Hugs Naomi

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh! my! You are right. Sorry, the strips are cut 1 and 1/2 inches wide making them 1 inch wide afet using a 1/4 in ch seam. Thanks for pointing that out. Hugs to you too. I checked out your blog and I love it.
    Have a great day!
    Rebecca

    ReplyDelete
  3. I edited the tutorial with the strip measurements. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete