Card Wallet Free Easy Sewing Tutorial

First of all I want to apologise for not posting as regularly as I should , I have been working on my Etsy shop
retaking photographs, improving my seo (searchability on and off Etsy) and working on a new product line , and something had to give, unfortunately it was the blog. So I have come to the decision that instead of trying to post once a week and failing miserably, I will aim to post twice a month and make it count, although if something exciting comes up in between , I will post it .

So what is this new product line I here you say ........................................................
I talked about in my last post here about finding focus and getting my sewing mojo back , this new product line is part of this. I love love love sewing and I love love love designing and working with numbers figuring out the dimensions and construction for putting a purse or wallet or bag or dress together, so I have decided to combine both of my loves and start a line of digital downloadable sewing patterns in pdf format.
I make the items in my Etsy shop from scratch , figuring out a pattern and how best to put it together so this seemed like the next logical step, but please be patient these sewing patterns are not just thrown together they take time to design the item, work out how best to make it, photographing as I go, tweaking where necessary and writing up detailed step by step instructions, so rest assured I am working on them, they just take time to put the sewing patterns together.

To celebrate the start of the new line I thought I would share an easy free sewing tutorial to make a fabric card wallet, and here is the card wallet

 To make this card wallet you will need the following

A piece of medium weight cotton fabric at least 10 inches x 19 inches
A piece of medium weight interfacing, fusible or sew in
A scrap of fabric for heart on the front medium weight cotton approx 4 inches x 3 inches
A sheet of A4 paper
Pencil
A 2 inch piece of  self adhesive hook and loop tape

You will need to start by drawing out your pattern piece on your paper, please note for patterns sold in my Etsy shop you will not need to do this , you will receive a digitized sewing pattern to print but due to not having the capabilities on this blog to offer you a downloadable pattern I will guide you through drawing it out, it is simple so please don't be put off at this stage. Here we go then .................

 Now you have your paper pattern pieces all ready I will refer to the house shaped pattern piece as
"Body A" , you are ready to start cutting your fabrics, you will need to cut the following by pinning your paper pattern pieces to the fabric and cutting around.
You will need
 1 x heart from your paper heart shape, use your small scrap of fabric for this
2 x pieces of fabric and 2 x interfacing pieces using "Body A" as a template

If you are using fusible interfacing fuse it to the back of your larger pieces of fabric now following manufacturers instructions, if you are using sew in then I will explain further on what you are doing with this.

Next step is to attach our heart fabric to the flap of the card wallet, if you are using sew in interfacing, gather one piece of this and one of your "Body A" pieces of fabric and layer them sew in interfacing down first, then "Body A" fabric on top and then your heart on top , with the point of your heart base lined up with the point on your "Body A" fabric and pin in place, you now need to set your stitch on your sewing machine to a small zig zag stitch and slowly stitch around the edge of your heart enclosing the raw edge of the heart , you can see this in the photograph below.

                                           The finished result will look something like this.

Next we are going to make a card wallet sandwich, place your other "Body A" face down on top of the one we have just sewn and if using sew in interfacing place this on top.

Line up all your edges and pin through all the layers , notice on the shorter flat edge two pins are placed in opposite directions to the others these are placed approximately 3 inches apart and are our marker pins.

Now you need to sew using a straight stitch using 3//8 inch seam allowance starting at one marker pin and ending at the other all the way around our pinned together wallet pieces. You will be left with an approximately 3 inch gap , this is fine , I will explain this in a minute.

 To make nice sharp corners on our wallet you need to clip the corners of the fabric this reduces bulk in the corners , clip close to the corners but be careful not to clip your stitches.

Next you need to turn your wallet right side out, reach in the gap and pull your wallet right side out through the gap, and poke out the corners using your fingers or a pencil.
Sew a stitch line 1/8 inch seam allowance across the open straight edge ensuring the raw edges are tucked inside the wallet.

Fold this flat edge you have just sewn up 3 1/2 inches towards the triangle end of the wallet  ensuring your wallet is all square, lining up your side seams, you don't want a wonky wallet , when you have done so well so far. Pin in in place.
You now need to sew using a straight stitch and a 1/8 inch seam allowance all the way around your wallet , start from a bottom folded corner , sewing through all layers then along your bottom, up the side around the triangle and back again.

You now need to press your wallet shut with an iron , folding the flap shut , this will help keep it's shape, now just to add the self adhesive hook and loop tape, place one side on your wallet flap, do this first then line up your other side of hook and loop tape on the front of your wallet to form a closure and your wallet is finished.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial , and look out for more sewing patterns/tutorials in my Etsy Shop

And a sneak preview , I have just finished writing up  and digitising the pattern for this wallet which is now available as an instant download in my Etsy shop

Wallet sewing pattern pdf

Wallet sewing pattern pdf