This post is part of Purse Palooza 2015. For full details and contest rules, check here.
Today’s post is from Kerry of verykerryberry.
Hi and welcome to my post for Purse Palozzza. I always find these Palozza posts a great resource for bag and purse making so thank you Sara for hosting! When Sara asked me if I’d like to take part I knew exactly what I wanted to make and here it is, the Double Zip Wallet from Anna Graham’s Handmade Style book.
I’ve made many of Anna’s patterns and I tested a bag pattern for the book. For someone like me who is an infrequent purse and bag maker, her patterns are clear, detailed and give good results. Her designs combine form, style and function and I always end up using the things I make all the time! You can see from the book pictures that this wallet has all you need- lots of storage, zips, clasp, easy to store and hold! I had some canvas fabric given to me by a friend which I’d been saving for a project just like this.
The fabric requirements are straightforward and the interfacings are easy to acquire, I used a slightly lighter weight interfacing than Pellon 101 as the canvas fabric was heavier than quilting cotton. I had a suitable denim left over from a skirt to use for the pocket and lining fabric. I would advise using metal zips that are the same size as the pattern rather than removing teeth and shortening- when I’ve tried that out in the past without great success- my pliers weren’t up to the job! I did find I needed different sewing feet during the sewing- a standard presser foot, an edge stitcher and a zipper foot. I sewed it up on my vintage Bernina minimatic. I used Gütermann polyester sew-all thread for strength.
As always, the instructions are impeccable. All the details are there but you have to read the pattern through throughly as there is a lot of turning to wrong side and then right side. I literally read some parts out loud as I organised the fabrics and notions to make sure my zips were the right way around and but it all worked out just as it should and everything fitted together beautifully. Almost all the pattern pieces are rotary cut with the exception of the tab which needs to be traced off the full size pattern sheets at the end of the book.
Unlike Anna’s individual patterns (available from her shop) there aren’t lots of construction photographs. Instead there are line drawings. These help but they are just a guide, the card slots in diagram B for example is not quite in proportion to what you have actually made but the orientation and wrong side/right side details of the sketches help confirm that you are following the instructions correctly!
I didn’t depart from Anna’s instructions except for two additions. First, I used pinking shears to trim the seam allowance around the tab curve- pinking shears give the notches needed for a curved edge but with no effort involved! Secondly, each zip is sewn with a quarter inch seam using a zipper foot attachment and along a sandwich of exterior fabric/zip/lining fabric so to maintain the seam allowance I drew in the ¼” line- the fabric is always reversed and it just makes the sewing a lot easier. 
In the early parts of the process I did wonder how it was all going to possibly work but I trusted in Anna, kept reading the instructions and I started to see how the different sections were going to form a cylinder which gets turned though and stitched together to form the wallet.
It’s a great size. I can fit in bank notes, change, cards and my iPhone and have room to put my keys in too. As with the rest of the book, the Double Zip Wallet is totally recommended!
Fine review. Lovely wallet.
Thankyou Judith!
Lovely review. I can’t wait for Santa to bring me this book!
Tolles Täschchen!
Your wallet turned out just lovely ! Thanks for the great review Kerry 🙂
Thank you Maria!
I love the fabrics you used. I need to make that wallet.
It’s a very satisfying project!
I have her book and this wallet is on my to-do list. Now you’ve given me inspiration to tackle it! Many thanks!
It’s really worth making, I am getting great practical use of the wallet and feeling proud that I’ve made it too!
It is really worth doing it, I feel proud of my handiwork when I pull my wallet out of my bag!