Welcome to the Stitch It & Gift It blog hop!
Many thanks to Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks for being the hostess with the mostest and coordinating this fun hop!
I am one of those people that want each holiday to get its fair share of time to be celebrated...
I am also one of those people that will do Christmas shopping year 'round. And though it is not yet Thanksgiving, it is totally fair game to begin thinking Christmas gifts... what to make and who gets the recipients will be.
Several years ago I purchased a pretty little wallet at a local rummage sale. Every time I go to the bank to make a deposit one of the tellers would comment about how much she liked it. Once she asked if I made it. When I replied "No, but I could make one like it" she expressed her interest.
And I thought, "What girlfriend wouldn't like a wallet like this one?" So I added the project to my "To do" list in my mind... you know... for "someday".
Recently I found myself with no batting in storage to be able to finish the current quilt project (How did this even happen???) Now was the perfect opportunity! Someday arrived!
I delved into the storage bin of pretty silky-satiny fabrics in search of options, took some dimensions of my wallet and started cutting.
(A few months ago I acquired a very large stash of all sort of fabrics... I made skirts and shorts that will be included in the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes that the church does each year. And I gave a good bit of fabric away... some to my daughter, some to my sister-in-law, some to friends and the remainder that I didn't think I could/would use (let's be realistic here... I CANNOT save all the fabric!) went to the local theater for their use for costumes and set designs. (We happily accepted the offer of tickets for a performance in exchange for it 🤩) )
Here you go... step by step tutorial.
Cut two pieces of fabric 14-1/2" x 7-3/4". Cut one piece of fusible interfacing (same size 14-1/2" x 7-3/4") to stabilize the outside piece. With right sides together, layer the fabric and sew, leaving an opening of about 2-3 inches on one end (7-3/4" wide) to be able to turn.
Clip corners and turn. Press, being careful to press the seams at the opening nice and straight.
Top stitch both ends and fold up 3-1/4". Press.
Stitch a piece of hook & loop tape into place as shown... (You can choose to do smaller pieces in the center or a longer to cover most of the opening of the pocket. You may notice that the original wallet has a zippered closure... I don't get along with zippers so I chose an alternate version!)
Fold in half and press. Position the pocket slightly above (approximately 1/4") the crease of the lower section as shown in the picture here.
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Pin top and bottom pockets in place and stitch...
You are now ready to gift this pretty little wallet! While you're at it, make two or three, or more! But you will certainly want to make one to keep for yourself as well. These little wallets make up quickly... about an hour. Leaving plenty of time for other great projects too :)
You could make it as a checkbook cover for your favorite guy as well... just by picking some fabric that is a little more masculine like camo or a plaid.
A PDF of the tutorial is available here. This tutorial is free and available through Payhip. You will have to set up an account with Payhip in order to download the file.
You may have noticed from the pictures in the tutorial that I made two of these wallets. My bank teller purchased one and I am giving away (YES! Giving away!) The second one. Want a chance to win??? Simply leave a comment before November 18th in answer to the question below...
What is one of your favorite Holiday traditions?
We have many traditions, but when our girls were younger we started putting clues on the gifts and we would one by one read a clue, try to guess the gift and then open it. It takes away the rush and chaos of everyone opening gifts at the same time and we ALL get to enjoy gift and savor the moment. It can sometimes take more than an hour to get through all of the gifts... but that is okay.
Stitch it... and then Gift it!
Melva
Be sure to visit the other bloggers to see what they are stitchin' up! Happy Hopping!
Monday, November 11th
Tuesday, November 12th
Wednesday, November 13th
Thursday, November 14th
Friday, November 15th
Linking with:
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy
UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy
UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland
Love the wallet and I am always looking for these types of projects for gifts for friends so thank you for the Tutorial. Hugs, Susie xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for your tutorial! I might have to make a checkbook cover for myself, you know to test my skills ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tutorial.
ReplyDeleteWhen my oldest children were small, I would take them to the town's Christmas tree lighting where they handed out song sheets. We (the town folk) would sing Christmas Carols after the mayor lit the tree. Then after I took my kids to a nearby restaurant for hot cocoa before going home. Such good memories.
You made a lovely wallet, and thanks so much for the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Thanks so much for the inspiration. Our Christmas tradition is to make everyone Christmas cookies.
ReplyDeleteThank you, so much, for the tutorial. I know how much work tutorials are and your time is so appreciated. My favorite Tradition is our dirty santa gift exchange. Thank you for joining the hop!
ReplyDeleteGreat wallet tutorial. My favorite tradition is our neighborhood does luminaries on Christmas eve and it is just beautiful and quiet to take a drive around on that night. Thanks Darlene dhoctor@sbcglobal.net
ReplyDeleteI like your idea to keep the rush out of opening gifts. It is so difficult for a child to savour the moment by rushing into the next package. Sometimes our grand daughter misses what is really even in the package! I have no special traditions now that my children are grown, although I still try to make a wassail every year to gift them a jar of it!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cute and usable wallet, and your tutorial was great...thank you! My favorite tradition is our gingerbread house making party. It's always a mess, but so fun!
ReplyDeleteCute wallet. Thank you for sharing the tutorial. We don't really have traditions, but all love opening the gifts and eating.
ReplyDeleteThose are really nice little gifts to have on hand. Thanks for walking us through the process! Traditions here is a big Christmas Eve dinner and the kids all come back for Christmas day again. I'm very spoiled that even with their own families, they come.
ReplyDeleteYour wallet is fabulous!! I made myself one about a year ago and it has stretched out, so I either keep it stuffed or I need to make (or win!!) a new one!! Thank you for the tutorial. We would have each person open one package at a time, so we could all share in the excitement of what was gifted, I could keep track of who got what from whom and it would take longer than 5 minutes to tear through all the presents!!
ReplyDeleteAh! So cute and clever!! My favorite tradition is that our family all gathers on Christmas Eve. We go to services, go OUT to eat at a fancy restaurant, and then go home to my daughter's house to have dessert and tell the Christmas story and watch a funny Christmas movie. It's a lovely evening! :)
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you! Wallets make the bestest gifts ever! Thanks for the tutorial. Traditions? None, any more.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the tutorial for this lovely wallet. When our 3 daughters were little they were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. The rest were opened Christmas morning after breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls (we always have an early lunch Christmas Day). Now that they are grown, the 4 grandbabies are here for Christmas Eve and get to open one gift. I hope we can continue this for many years to come but understandably the daughters look forward to their own Christmas traditions. Sigh....
ReplyDeleteMy favorite holiday trasition is pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving AND Christmas!!! Here's hoping that a winning response. Your gift would be SEW useful!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great tradition you have! I make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, and we always do stockings. Challenging with older sons, but I have fun with it!
ReplyDeleteWhat great gifts these would make! Thank you for the tutorial. Our Christmas tradition is lasagna dinner on Christmas Eve and then we open our presents.
ReplyDeleteGreat gifty and thanks for the tutorial! One favorite tradition is watching It's a Wonderful Life while putting up the tree.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing all the great ideas for gifts. We put up our tree right after Thanksgiving, and we usually have International college students here to enjoy the process of decorating. When our 3 girls were growing up, we made a big production of going out, finding the perfect tree, and cutting it down. Then we would sing on the way home. The other tradition we had while they were still home was that on Christmas Eve we would give gifts that could not be bought. Christmas day the gifts could have been bought.
ReplyDeleteNancy A: SewingGranda@gmail.com
I love Christmas ans giving grifts
ReplyDeleteWe open gifts one at a time also--one of the Grandkids hands them out (or they can take turns handing them out). Makes the fun last longer!
ReplyDeletebarbkaup(at)(yahoo)(dot)(com)
Oh, yes, we always waited as each person opened a gift, taking turns in a circle. It does take time, but I like sharing each present and each reaction. I think my favorite holiday tradition used to be baking the Christmas cookies with my boys. Now it might be caroling. It's fun, and sadly, in Tennessee, it's cold most years! LOL It might have been more fun in the desert. =) Thanks for a great wallet instruction, and the .pdf. That would certainly be less bulky than what I'm using now.
ReplyDeleteI know who I would give the wallet to so this would be wonderful to win. Jmikebalou (at) aol (dot) com
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say it's baking and decorating lots of cookies at my house.
ReplyDeleteMaking a wallet is perfect and something others will enjoy. I made mine just recently; it was time as my old one was a mess! Guessing gifts to make things go more slowly is a super idea.
ReplyDeleteWonderful wallet design and thanks for the chance. We like to have a birthday party for Jesus.
ReplyDeleteslrdowney at hotmail dot com
Love your wallet design. I always make cookies. Now that I have grand kids I used to always either buy them pajamas and a book or make them a pillowcase and a book.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great little design!
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful make! I'm a Mississippi gal, so Mississippi mud pie is my go-to dessert, always! Thank you, Susan
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea, Melva! Thanks for sharing your wallet design! Before our daughter married, our tradition was letting her open a gift on Christmas Eve. Now I think she carries on that tradition with her kids. But my favorite tradition is Christmas meal at our house. Love having my family here!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great little wallet - the perfect size!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tutorial and download, I've been looking for a wallet pattern. This could also double as a wallet/cell phone carrier. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.
ReplyDeleteFirst- Thank you for having a giveaway and giving us the pattern. That is generous of you. By holiday I don't know if you are talking about the next one or Christmas. I'll choose Thanksgiving. Growing up we always had special Thanksgiving (& Christmas) plates. When I got married I asked for both but I could only have 1 set. I took Thanksgiving. Since then I have found 2 other pieces that match the dishes. Mom got them in the 50's. She doesn't remember where but may have been from a box of detergent. Well to the point, we eat every Thanksgiving meal to this day on those plates. If we are invited out I ask if they would like to use my special plates and they always do. Since mom + dad got married in 1950,She collected them within those 10 years, those turkey dishes have been in use almost 70yr! Only 1 has broken, my hubs did that, so he eats off the glued plate. 😊 quiltyladyrr at gmail for com
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone really cares what happened to the special Christmas dishes we had, one of my brothers had asked for them and his family used them still every year!
ReplyDeleteGreat wallet! My favorite Christmas tradition is that we buy each other PJ's to wear to bed Christmas Eve night. For some reason it seems I always get cutesy style PJ's. Hmmm....lol
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool!! I am "favoriting" your page so I can be sure to make these later. My favorite tradition is that on Christmas Eve we have a lasagna feed with the majority of my family. We average 8 different lasagna's at dinner! Mmmm, now I am hungry LOL!
ReplyDeleteLovely wallet! Thanks for the tutorial, and thanks for linking to Wednesday Wait Loss.
ReplyDeleteGreat project! Thank you for the tutorial too.
ReplyDeleteGreat tutorial for a sweet gift idea. Thank you
ReplyDeleteAwesome and pretty wallet! I love things that can be personalized like this. No two need ever be alike! Thank you for linking up to Creative Compulsions!
ReplyDeleteMichelle
https://bijoubeadboutique.com
That is a great wallet!! I bet anyone would love it!!
ReplyDeleteGreat wallet! Thanks for the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool wallet! Thanks for the tutorial! xx
ReplyDeleteI love your wallet. I will need to make one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Such a wonderful gifts ideas i really like it send gift to Pakistan
ReplyDeleteI bookmark your weblog because I found amazing data on your weblog, Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteSend Flowers to Pakistan