Monday, May 16, 2011

Catch Me and My Crazy Morphing WalletTotes on SMS!



Zippered wallets

that turn into

totes



See?

Bag when you need it -

wallet when you don't. 

Quick background - I remember being fascinated by these bags as a child. All the airlines used to give these out as gifts to passengers - rectangular  solid-color vinyl wallets that turned into thin ripstop nylon bags when unzipped. Does anyone remember those? They've always been on my to-do list, not only because I love anything that looks like there's magic involved, but for the challenge of sewing yet another bag with all the raw edges tucked away. 

And then there's Jessica Jones' incredible fabric - home dec. weight, modern, gorgeous, gorgeous prints (and you know I don't say that often). 

I thought, with summer coming, I'll need a few of these to throw in the car, or in my purse, for emergency farmer's market shopping, or emergency swimsuit-containing, or emergency library visiting, or emergency anything, really. And then it hit me - why be confined to rectangles? I can do round! I love round.

I think I'll make some for the girls' teachers when they say goodbye for the school year - solid canvas wallet that they can draw on with fabric markers, and a funky print bag inside.

Make some with me?
I'm sharing the tutorial for these Crazy Morphing 
WalletTotes on Sew Mama Sew today! 

Update 2021: Unfortunately, the Sew Mama Sew (SMS) website is no longer active. However, you can still access this free tutorial, as well as my other tutorials which had been featured on the SMS site - see this more recent post for details and links. Happy sewing! 

23 comments:

  1. Oh how absolutely ADORABLE! Thank you for sharing with us. You are so generous.

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  2. Amazing! I went over to SMS and looked at the tutorial. Just amazing!

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  3. NO! NO! NO Way! These are amazing!!!! Great Idea!How cool! You can pack as many bags as you want for trips now with these things!

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  4. These are really fab. I loved the tute, too!

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  5. OMG! i love these! thanks for sharing the tute!! can't wait to make some for gifts!

    you are too kind for sharing!

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  6. Growing up in India back in the 80s, I remember having a couple of bags like these in our household too. Like you, I was also fascinated with how a little pouch could unfold into a large bag, it was like magic. Thanks for the tutorial!

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  7. I love those!! (And I'm just a wee bit partial to the JJ fabrics, too. ;) )

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  8. Спасибо за урок! Очень экономичные сумки))).

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  9. Wow that's so creative! Beautiful job, and love all the fabrics!

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  10. I love these... I want to make 10 of them. Thanks for the great inspiration.

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  11. Amazing - the workmanship and the fabric and the fact that its magical!!! Now I want a few, or a dozen :)

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  12. Your blog is an inspiration to me here in Brazil! visit and always love it! Thanks for sharing your ideas with all!!!

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  13. Love it heaps, and the fabrics you have used is just adorable. Thank you for this tutorial.

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  14. Ok, you are not doing my fabric addiction any favors. I love the Oslo line of fabrics!

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  15. Amazing as always! I love your fabric choices. And I love having a new project for zippers! Thanks. :)

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  16. I'll continue dreaming teaching one of your girls and having you as a mum in my class. :-)

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  17. Thanks for this tutorial! I made one today to give as an end of the year teachers gift. Love it!

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  18. These are super cute! I do have a question though. I'm a newbie sewer so please take this with a grain of salt. I'm stuck between step 3 & 4 of the first part. I've added the interfacing, and sewn along the long edges of the welt on the wrong sides (per the photo), then cut the slits for the zipper, like the tutorial says. The next step is to turn the fabric right side out in order to press the welt seams and add the zipper, but how do I turn it inside out if I've sewn down the long sides of the welt? The right sides are now sewn together.

    I apologize if this is a stupid question, I just have been looking at this for a while now and can't quite figure out what I need to do, or if I should have sewn the welts differently.

    Thanks!!

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  19. @Leslie
    Not a stupid question at all, Leslie, especially if you're not familiar with welts. I'm happy to help. Here is a tutorial that might be useful - it explains welts in miserably excruciating detail but it has a few photos that might bridge the gap between those steps you mentioned.

    http://www.ikatbag.com/2010/12/pockets-xx-zippered-welt-pocket.html

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  20. Thanks so so much for this fantastic tutorial, really good instructions, easy to follow. I'm making some at the moment for presents, but am struggling with the topstitching. It keeps going wonky and I'm unpicking again and again. I really want to do the topstitching as I think it looks better with, but I'm just not getting it, especially on the curves and I'm really trying to stich steadily (and using a zipper foot). Please, please, any tips you can give me to help with this bit? I am stitching through all layers, with main bag pushed to the side.
    Thank you,
    Ann
    ps. sorry if this has been sent twice, not sure what happened first attempt.

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