13. Origami Wallet

Cost: Under $10
Time: 1 hour tops

My lovely husband bought me a pressie the other day. It was the crafty book Sew La Tea Do by Melbourne author Pip Lincolne. I spotted this book at Borders a few months ago and mentally put it on my wishlist. There are 24 beautiful sewing projects in this book and it comes with an envelope full of patterns to help get you started.

Today I found myself with a quiet empty house and thought I'd get out my ragbag to see what was inside. I found some blue and white gingham and the remnants of the tablecloth I used in my Retro Library Bag post so I decided to have a go at Pip's sweet Origami Wallet.

Materials:
1 fat quarter of cotton fabric cut to 46cm x 50cm (18 inches x 20 inches).
1 x 22cm x 22cm (8 3/4 inch x 8 3/4 inch) square of heavy-weight fusible interfacing
10 cm (4 inches) hat elastic
1 large button

Here we go:
Fold your fabric wrong sides together lengthwise and press firmly with an iron.

Open it out again and place your square of interfacing shiny side down on the bottom left corner of the wrong side of your fabric as below:

Iron the interfacing onto the fabric using a medium - hot iron (no steam), press down firmly.

Next with wrong side facing up fold in 1cm (3/8 inch) along all edges and press firmly with an iron.

Fold the rectangle right sides together, matching all edges. Pin into place and press. Sew around all edges of the rectangle and press again. Well done!

Lay your rectangle out, interfacing at the top. Fold up the bottom edge 12cm (4 3/4 inches) and press.

Now get the new bottom edge, fold it up so that it sits 1cm higher than your original edge. Now bring this fold back down so that it sits in line with the bottom of your rectangle. Confused? Have a look at the picture below:

The idea is to create a 'concertina' pocket for the cards in your wallet. If you're confused try it out with some paper until you get the hang of it. Make sure you press everything firmly so you can see where to fold each section.

Unfold your card pocket and stitch along the bottom pocket edge (the dashed line above) so that it sits nicely. Refold your pockets and pin into place.

Now grab your other interfaced edge and fold in 8cm (3 inches) and press. Sew a seam along this edge to secure it. 

Now fold your wallet in half, matching up all of the edges. Exciting!

Next up open the wallet and measure half way across your card compartment. Grab your elastic, fold it in half, and insert the two ends into the bottom fold. Have a play to make sure the elastic is a good length and trim if necessary. Sew along this bottom edge securing the elastic as you sew.

Fold your wallet back in half, stretch the elastic around the front, and mark where your button should go, Stitch it into place.

Almost there! Stitch up the sides to hold everything in place. Place a card in the card compartment, mark the size, then sew up a seam up the middle of the card pockets.

You're done!!

How about...

Stitching some vintage fabric onto the front of your wallet

Gluing a doily or piece of embroidery on the front

Sewing some vintage buttons all over the fabric

Making a patchwork wallet