Finished a couple of things for Mum a couple of weeks ago. Her old leather key pouch has been falling apart so I offered to make her a new one. Not leather, because I don't have any on hand. Also, I would've needed Dad's leatherworking supplies and tools and we aren't quite ready to go through his stuff; we're all in different countries so it's more a logistic reason than emotional, although there's some of that, too. Instead, I found some delicate* floral fabric in the store that I thought she'd like, and went to work. (*Clarification: the fabric isn't delicate, which would be most unwise for a wallet; it's the floral motif which is, I mean).
It was fun to sew wallets again. It's been a while, and I've missed it. I think if I had to rank sewing projects by favorites, wallets would be at the top of the list (and clothing alterations, say, sitting someway below the subbasement dungeons thereof). As far as wallets go, key pouches are very, very simple to sew, not least because there are very few compartments. This translates to not many layers of material to stitch through and eventually bind around the edges of.
Installing the key holder hardware was another story, however.
The short version was that I didn't have the right tools, so had to improvise, which wrecked the fabric to the point of having to rip out the center panel of the wallet entirely and make a completely new replacement part. And by some miracle, I did find a way to put in the key holder bit properly this second time around. So: Nightmarish hardware installation, but easy sewing. As with all projects, you win some, you lose some.
There's a zippered section behind the main compartment for bills. Her original key pouch had it, so I just duplicated the design exactly. Sometimes when we become attached to a bag or wallet and have to replace it, it's nice have an exact copy so we needn't get used to new places for our stuff, right?
Here's the back. Notice that the bottom edge is funky - this is because the outermost layer of wallets must be made slightly longer (wider?) than the inner layers,
so that when the wallet is closed, with all its contents within, the layers will wrap snugly around and lie flat atop each other.
When I'd finished the key pouch, I thought I'd make a coin purse, too. So extra! And for no reason other than I had hardware just sitting in the stash, and I hadn't used it since making my friend a cow purse 13 years ago.
And now I'm all warmed up, and feel like I want to make a whole bunch of actual wallets. Maybe I'll put some in the shop, too, in time for summer. Will keep you posted!
Hope everyone's been enjoying spring in whichever parts of the world are experiencing it right now. Minnesota has been a bit tardy with its warm days. We had snow last week, and people were saying Enough Already Go Away, which is shockingly disagreeable for a people who are supposed to be smugly stoic in the face of hypothermia. But this weekend is teasing temps in the 70s so we think we might be able to revert to Minnesota Nice again and not snap at our neighbors and endure things till summer finally does kick in. Virtual hugs to all!