Wallet dyed royal blue is done. Below are the pictures.
This year I am tackling leatherworking. The main goal is to learn the fundamentals and make wallets, card holders and then maybe book coverings.
Below is the wallet 2.0 (1.0 is effectively a leather version of the vinyl wallet 7.0). It looks good and below are my comments and reflections:
Form factor is good, the pieces are easy to measure and cut, glue and assemble. Both panels are 3 6/8'' x 4 6/8'' in dimension.
From use, the inner leather needs to be thinner to cut down on the profile.
The leather I'm using is from a gift a professor I use to work for. It was massive so it'll give me good mileage.
Other notes: The corners need to be curved which will help with the profile as well (making it look smaller than it really is).
I'll cut out more of the pattern using 3-4oz leather and see how it feels as panel 1 and 2 and then make a hybrid of both.
This weekend I designed and sewed a vinyl card holder. I also pulled out my leather hide sitting in storage and tried that as well and both look very snazzy. I may need to tinker with the design a bit since both are very tight. I think I need to buy special glue to adhere to the back of vinyl to add a decorative fabric for the parts exposed.
I wouldn't mind doing these down the road:
Business card holder out of vinyl. Design incoming.
Leather wallet. May use Wallet 7.0 as the template.
I think I have 5 completed wallets 7.1 for the craft fair. I also created 5 boxes to sell them in. This weekend I want to:
Create 3 or 4 more wallets
Construct 3 or 4 more paper boxes
Create a handout/blurb for the wallet design for the sale explaining how to use the wallet
Create a label for the QR code to direct people to my website
Add unsold wallets to Etsy for sale
Take better pictures of the wallets for Etsy
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As a side note, one of my colleagues who is beta testing wallet 7.1 REALLY loves the wallet.
I'm working on my workflow and cut out a bunch of the wallet 7.1 body pieces which I'll assemble in various stages. I am using basting tape to press down some parts that need top stitching. I need to cut the cash straps and use different colors but I may opt to streamline the decorate stitch with red or black. I can make it a thing!
I'm really digging the wallet designs and like the direction it's going in. That said, there are plenty of room for improvement which I will list below:
Workflow - I need to cut out a bunch of the templates so I can increase my work flow. I already do this for the money strap but the body of the wallet should also have this.
Hide exposed edges - The wallets will age (hopefully) gracefully but sewing in exposed edges will make the wallets look more professional. This does mean that I have to extend the length by 2/8'' and use basting tape to keep it from slipping, and then top-stitch 1/8''. This has to happen before the assembly of the body since the wallet mouth is too small to wrap around the pressure foot.
Create a box - This is the box the wallet would go in. I am tentatively planning on selling this at the IFAW craft fair so I think it would look snazzy as a stocking stuffer. Anyone have ideas for how much to charge for the wallet?
Buy more vinyl - This is for when I run out vinyl (which is happening soon!). I'll play around with color and texture.
Experiment with decorative stitches - Self explanatory. The money strap will need something other than a zigzag stitch. Different color options is also a good idea.
I like my designer friends. They give me ideas of how to tweak designs I have in my head to improve what's already there. With the vertical wallet, I was concerned about the money strap being too loose so one friend suggested that the strap be worked into the notch cut out. Doing so created Wallet 6.0.
Wallet 6.0
(Designed 10/15/17)
The money strap had to be sewn in reverse so there would be no exposed seams and adds to the tightness. I think it came out good.
But then when I was reviewing this, I looked at the side seams and realized how much stress those seams would experience and thought to myself that maybe the seams could be done away with by moving from 2 pieces to 1 and rotating the design to the back. Doing this was far more complicated than I wish as it wasn't as simple as shifting the design; I had to instead shorten areas that were designated for seam allowances, and length areas that needed lengthening. In the end it was worth it and the design now looks like this:
Wallet 7.0
(Designed 10/15/17)
Here's what the wallets, side by side, looks like:
