Last week was Hideko’s birthday and I had no idea what to get her.  We also are trying to save money so I think we said “no gifts” but I figured if I made her something small and it was inexpensive it wouldn’t really count.

A year or two ago we were at a craft fair and we saw these cool wallets made from old ties and suits.  She really liked them, but didn’t want to buy one for herself.  I totally should have bought one for her then and there, but I didn’t and it’s been floating in my head since then.

Then recently when we were shopping for fabric for Tucker’s suit, we came across some great suit-like fabrics that Hideko really liked.  The idea to make a wallet didn’t really come to me then, but all the pieces were starting to come together.

Finally, the day before Hideko’s birthday, I realized that I had no gift (unfortunately, this happens quite often).  That’s when the fabric wallet idea came to me!  I picked up some fabric at Fabrix that I knew Hideko liked because she had pointed it out during our last visit and whipped up this wallet.  It was surprisingly easy!  I didn’t use a pattern, I just modeled it after other fabric wallets out there and used cash and credit cards to get the right size.  And it requires such a small amount of fabric that you could easily make this with scraps in your stash OR repurposing old fabric you have laying around, pants, ties, shirts, whatever.  All you need is coordinating fabric for the outside and inside and some interfacing to give add some thickness and stiffness so it holds its shape.  Maybe one day I’ll do a tutorial on this one.

Now with all the leftover fabric I’m dying to make Yuki a casual reversible vest.  Another project to add to the list!

Anyways, Happy Birthday to my beautiful and loving partner, Hideko!  I hope you like your wallet!