Bi-fold Wallet Tutorial

Pin It Now! I wanted a wallet that carried a lot of cards with no risk of them sliding out. As you can see, the card slots face inward, which means your cards will stay put as long as your wallet is closed. I promise it's a lot easier than it looks so bear with me. Here we go!

Disclaimer: I do not mind if you use this pattern for personal use, or even to sew and sell on a small scale. However, please do not sell the actual pattern for profit... it is for everyone to enjoy free of charge.

Materials:

♥ Main Outer and Inner Pieces: cut two 9"x 5" rectangles (stabilize with fusible interfacing if using quilting cotton)

♥ Inside Bill Lining pieces: cut two 9"x 4 1/2" rectangles (do not stabilize)

♥ Tab: 3 1/2"x 3 1/2" square (stabilize with fusible interfacing if using quilting cotton)

♥ Pockets: 5"x19"cut two (do not stabilize)

Note: you only need to use interfacing for quilting weight cottons. If you decide to use canvas or heavy weight fabric, forge ahead!

Here are your pieces. If you have a rotary cutter and mat, your pieces will look so much nicer than my sloppy scissor-cut pieces:


Make the tab. Stabilize with fusible interfacing. Fold in half and sew the top and side, leaving bottom open. Clip corners, turn right-side out, press and top stitch.

Note: If using a magnetic purse snap, attach before sewing tab.

Make the lining. Lay pieces right-sides together and sew sides and bottom, leaving 3" opening at bottom. Top is completely unsewn.

OPTIONAL: You may skip this step if you want a plain wallet. I embellished this one with ribbon. Lace would be adorable. Also, a quilted patchwork piecing would rock... piece together first then interface finished piecing.

Make the pockets.

Don't use a credit card. It will warp your card and flatten your numbers. Just take my word for it. I used a gift card. Never iron directly on the card.

Think of folding a paper fan... only it's off-set in its folds to create the staggered pockets.

I mostly just eye-balled this part.



Nice pockets. Now flip it over and trim off the excess. Each finished pocket piece should measure 4" x 5".

Now do it again for the other pocket piece.

Attach your pocket pieces to the inner wallet piece.

Quick view of where you should be:

Center and attach the tab.

Sew your outer wallet and inner pocket pieces together along sides and bottom.

You're sewing through some thick layers, so use a 1/2" seam allowance to make sure you catch everything. Then trim down as shown.

Sew lining to main wallet. Fold bottom of outer piece an inch so it'll fit in the lining pouch.

Sew around top opening. This is a bit awkward feeding through the sewing machine. Use a 1/2" seam allowance here as well.


Crisp corners of outer wallet well before stitching lining closed.

Work your magic with the iron and press those stubborn, thick seams. Top stitch around entire opening.

Give your wallet another good pressing and top stitch along the sides and bottom.

Attach snap. I have an industrial snap press, but you can use sew-on snaps or Velcro. If using magnetic purse snaps, you'll want to attach the snap piece to the tab before sewing the tab.

Enjoy!
♥♥♥♥♥

Tea and Crumpets Apron

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I love Anthro's Tea and Crumpets apron. So much so that I based last year's Easter dresses on its beautiful and timeless style. This is an apron that I recently made as a wedding gift. I'll admit that I was tempted to keep it for myself. But I know it went to a good home, so I was content giving it away.

I think the first real thing I sewed was an apron... they truly are the perfect "first sewing project" for those wanting to learn basic sewing. They introduce gathering, pockets, ruffles, and piecing patterns all on a basic level. If you'd like to sew this apron, you can easily adapt my ruffle apron tutorial (link) to add the tuxedo ruffles. Happy sewing!

♥♥♥♥♥

Cedar Chest Bench Seat

Pin It Now! Introducing my grandmother's cedar chest. It's old and worn, but smells oh-so-heavenly every time I open it. I decided to move it into my sewing space to pull double duty as extra craft storage and a bench seat. So I sewed a new cushion and two pillows to doll it up.

Have you heard Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's song Home? It makes me so happy every time I listen to it :) These pillows have a similar effect... one says home and the neighboring pillow has my state appliqued on it. Oh for the love of cuteness!

And I embroidered a tiny ♥heart♥ where Boise is:

♥♥♥♥♥

Custom Built Desk

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Has anyone else been inspired by Ana White's building plans website? She's a DIY goddess. Never in a million years did I think I'd be capable of building furniture. Yet, Ana is an inspiration to DIY women across the world, with the message:

I'm not a trained carpenter.

I am a mom.
I am a girly girl.
I am what my brothers would call a chicken.

But I build furniture.

I use saws.

I use nailers.

Guess what? It's really not that difficult.

And if I can do it, so can you.

-Ana White

Doesn't she rock?! My first project was a toy shelf, which turned out slightly lopsided with caulk-filled gaps in it, but it's functional. Lessons learned: 1) MDF sucks to work with and 2) it's important to square your project.

My second project was a shorter version of the same shelf, with the intention of using as a shoe shelf. Not perfect, but there were definitely less gaps and I did remember to square my project this time so it didn't look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

My next building attempt was a copycat of Pottery Barn's Bedford desk system. I took everything I learned from my first builds, drew up the plans and built it in my head a hundred times before even buying the lumber (No nasty MDF this time). I was pretty dang meticulous and it really paid off. I invested in a new drill, which is my new little best friend. I took Ana's advice and purchased some clamps to act as extra sets of hands. And I relied heavily on this sander as well to make sure all my pieces were perfect. I'm not going to brag about the cheapo circular saw that I used, because it's mediocre to say the least and will be replaced with a more reliable saw someday.

Cost to built was around $200 (not including the paint). The hardware is probably half the cost. (Drawer pulls from Pottery Barn.)

Paint is Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo (oil-based) in White Dove. This was back in May before I discovered Ace Cabinet and Trim paint that I used to paint my kitchen cabinets. The Impervo is nice, but it's oil based which equals looooooooooooong dry time and stiiiiiiiiiiiiiinky. Highly recommend the Ace paint:

I used heavy duty ball bearing drawer slides for my file cabinet drawers (great drawer slides but there's not a lot of room for error, so beware).

I made my cabinets extra deep to fit our beast of a computer tower. If I had bought the PB desk, ours wouldn't have fit:

♥ Thank you, Ana! ♥

White Kitchen Cabinets

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Unfortunately, "update my blog more frequently" didn't make it on my New Year's resolution list. However, I would like to share a few 2011 projects that I completed, which guarantee you a few descent blog posts this month.

First up is my most dramatic and favorite... painted kitchen cabinets. Oh my... it's been seven months since the transformation, and I must say that I'm still giddy over the results.

We started out with orangey oak cabinets. Fortunately, the previous owners did a fabulous job putting in granite countertops and changing out the cabinet hardware. My husband wanted to refinish the cabinets in a darker color, and when I told him I wanted to paint them white, I got a "hell no" response. Long story short, I bought the paint and did it all by myself. I love my husband, but I just knew I was right about this one... better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right? Don't worry, we're still happily married, and he does love the white :)

Here's the before:


Here are all the drawers and cabinet doors, hardware removed:


And the lovely after pics:



Details:
De-glossed cabinets with TSP
Primer: oil based is best (two coats)
Paint: Ace Cabinet, Door and Trim Enamel (two coats). This stuff is AWESOME. Self-leveling, can be tinted in ANY color, even black (I tinted it Benjamin Moore's White Dove), and it's WATER cleanup!
Method of application: brush and foam roller
Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Gray Wisp

And, no, my kitchen is not always this clean. Stay tuned for the next post!

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Free 2012 Calendar Download - Silk & Lace

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I am completely lost without a write-in calendar hanging on my wall. Usually, I download a free one that some other creative person was generous enough to share, but this year I decide to make my own... I hope you enjoy this lovely silk and lace calendar I made!

Note: Each page measures approximately 6.25" x 8.5" (printed on standard 8.5"x 11" white cardstock). Use the faint cross guides in each corner to cut to size. Shown mounted to black cardstock.

CLICK HERE FOR PDF FILE