Incognito Wallet

For those who get weirded out by feminine hygiene products, you might just skip reading this post and come back tomorrow.  For those with a witty sense of humor, I can't wait to read your comments below.

A little while ago, I got a request from a friend to make "something to keep my tampons from flying out of my purse".  Flying tampons is a problem, indeed.  I had a good search for a tutorial to follow, but was not able to find something that I really liked.  I did, however, find this pattern that looked interesting.

And I gave it a go, making one wallet.  This may just be the tester version.  Now that I kind of know what I am doing, I think I can make the next one a bit better.  

It's a tri-fold wallet with a little strap that wraps around the whole purse, holding it together with a little piece of Velcro.

Inside there are little pleated pockets for tampons (five here), followed by a pocket for a little, folded panty liner (middle huge red pocket) and finally a pocket for pain meds (blue, on the right).  There's more than enough space to hold everything you need in your bag.  Maybe a bit too much...it is a wee bit chunky and not at all subtle for a small handbag, contrary to what I anticipated given it's the Incognito Wallet.

Although I am reasonably happy with the fabrics used here and with the overall layout, there are two mistakes that are driving me crazy.  The first little pocket (total left) is too small for a tampon as I didn't take the final seam allowance into account.  Stinker.  It's also a small bit of a "free for all" when you're lining up the pocket with the outer casing.  I didn't realize that mine went on a bit wonky, leaving it at an angle.  Both are easy to fix in version two.  I'll have to give it another try this weekend...or I may have had enough and am ready to move on.  Time will tell.

In other news, I am so happy to tell you that the 56 spots in our rainbow charm swap are filled.  There are lots of new faces/names in this swap, so I am very excited to get to know you all better.  Thank you all for your enthusiasm! 

A little card wallet

My purse is bursting with those silly insurance cards, loyalty cards and library cards.  It's particularly bad for me as I have double the average bear with a life based in two continents.  Yes, that means two driver's licences, two sets of bank cards..and on and on.  I thought it was time to get myself under control.

I pulled out my four Joel Dewberry Notting Hill prints and got to work on a card wallet using this tutorial.

The tute is well written and very easy to follow.  It does suggest using a snap to close your little wallet, but I didn't have one on hand and I wanted to finish this little project this weekend.  No waiting for the shops to open on Monday just for that one little snap!

In the end I wish I used more contrasting fabrics for each of my card "tiers", but still I am quite happy with the finished wallet.  This took me less than an hour from cutting to finish.  If your wallet is bursting too this is a super easy fix!  Give it a go!