Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Housekeeping and shop update

Hello friends!

Short housekeeping post today. Those of you who've subscribed to my blog by email may have not been receiving my recent posts because Feedburner, the service that delivers my posts to you, folded earlier in the summer. I've been pretty busy and haven't taken the time to set up an alternative delivery arrangement till this week, and I apologize for that.

What this means is:

1  If you've been getting my posts by email in the past, you might've noticed that you're getting them again. You might also have received an email from follow.it, the new service organization to inform you of this. If so, hurrah! You don't need to do anything else - you'll continue to receive my future posts in your email inbox.

2  If you've been getting my posts by email in the past but now aren't, even after my feed delivery issue has been fixed, it could be that your email address was somehow missed in the migration. Please consider re-subscribing - simply go to the sidebar of my blog and re-enter your email address in the widget (circled below).

3  If you'd like to receive my blog posts by email, go ahead and subscribe with that widget in my sidebar. too.


Again, I'm so sorry for the disruption to the email feed. I'm not sure how many blog posts we've missed while it was down, so here's a quick summary of the most recent ones: I talked about my journey through grief in this long one, deconstructed some crocheted baskets here and got all excited about my new wallets in a shop update here.

Other news: I'm working on a new, smallish shoulder bag. Can't wait to share!


Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Wallets in the Shop!


I am excited to announce my Etsy store is now stocked with my handmade wallets!

I made a bunch of them this summer, just for fun. Wallets are quite possibly my favorite thing to sew, even more than bags, I think. I've been using these wallet since I can't remember when. Like when I was in college, I think, although I only started documenting them on the blog about 13 years ago. It's crazy to think I've been blogging at least that long, but even crazier that I've been making wallets since I was barely out of my teen years.  


You'll be able to spot a couple in my Orla Kiely fabric in the photos - I made them as spares for when my current one wears out, although  it'll be some years yet, because these wallets last a long, long time. They're made with 600-denier polyester packcloth and covered with accent fabric, then edge-bound all around. I need them to be pretty sturdy because I tend to not be gentle when I use a wallet. I mean, they're not like bags or clothes - you're opening and shutting them about 50 times a day, after all, paying for coffee and groceries or handing bills to the kids to fund some school activity or other.  

Anyway. Here's the lot I've put in the store for you. 


I thought I'd specifically point out that there are two designs.

This is the first - and for simplicity's sake, I'm calling this Wallet A.



Here's a reference photo for size. They're 4" x 4.5" closed, and they fasten shut with an invisible magnetic snap.


Their dimensions when open are 11" x 4.5" - and see, the snap fastener really is invisible.



This design has 13 compartments, including a hinged section with a clear vinyl pocket on one side, a  solid accent pocket on the other,


and a zippered compartment between them.


Here's that same wallet in a different fabric combination of blue and yellow stylized poppies. There are two sections for bills (and receipts), six slots for credit cards, and a seventh, slightly deeper pocket.

Outside on the back is a pleated zippered pocket for coins.


This one has white florals on indigo-navy and lemon yellow backgrounds. 



Here's a short video tour of Wallet A:


Here's the second design (which I've called Wallet B).



It's 5" x 4.5" when closed, so a teeny bit bigger than Wallet A.


This design fastens shut with a regular magnetic snap.


It has 14 compartments, including three internal multi-purpose pockets, six credit card sections, two zippered compartments,


two sections for bills,


and a large external pocket on the back.


I'm slightly sentimental about that middle zippered pocket, incidentally. Decades ago, I sewed my brother a wallet, which he got to custom-design. Among the features he'd asked for was a shallow-ish pocket for his guitar picks so he always had spares on hand. This zippered pocket reminds me so much of that. 


Here's a video of Wallet B in action.


These wallets are in the shop now. Since putting together this post, the leftmost one in the bottom row has been bought, but the others are still available. Get a head start on your holiday shopping and grab your favorites while they last!