Passport wallet tutorial

What do you gift someone who eloped and then jetted off to Greece? A passport holder!

I made the first one of these for a friend who had recently eloped but I also made one for myself because on my most recent trip I was enviously looking at everyone's cute passport holders! Now, I'm thinking about making them for everyone for Christmas.

This project doesn't use much fabric, so it's a great project to use up extra pieces left from other projects. You could even use a bunch of different coordinating fabrics!

Supplies List:

• Two pieces of fabric 9.5" x 7 for the exterior and interior back
• Two pieces fusible interfacing 9.5" x 7"
• Left side pocket fabric 4.5" x 10.5"
• Left side pocket interfacing 4.5" x 10.5"
• Three pieces fabric 4.5" x 7" for the back of the left pocket and to make both sides of the right side pocket
• Three pieces interfacing 4.5" x 7"
• Two pieces tab fabric 2"x 3"
• Two pieces tab interfacing 2"x 3"
• 1 KAM snap
• Matching thread

Optional but very helpful tools for this project:

• Walking foot for your machine
• Edge foot for your machine

If you don't have an edge foot it will just help to make your sewing on the edge of your fabric look straighter and you don't need to have it. Using the walking foot will help to have a better result and also reduce some frustration. Since the fabric layers get a little thick on this project, using a walking foot will help to move everything under your machine at the same rate. The first couple of these I made, I didn't use mine and when I went to turn everything and close up the gap, the bottom and top weren't the same length anymore, because the bottom was being moved under the machine faster. The walking foot will reduce this problem.

All fabric should be woven and the interfacing should be light to medium weight. If the interfacing is too heavy it can be a little difficult to top stitch all the layers.

This whole project is sewn using a 1/4 seam allowance.

Iron interfacing on all of your pieces. Now, we're going to make the left side pocket, which has a credit card slip pocket. If you want to add extra slip pockets, you need to add 3.5" for every one you add. I personally don't think the fabric lays very nicely if you add too many, it gets bulky very quickly so I just include one. To make the slip, fold the fabric up in a wide pleat 1.75" deep and iron it down to make a nice crease. Then baste the pleat in place.

Next you want to sew the pocket back to the front piece RST (right sides together) that you have pleated using a 1/4 inch seam allowance around the right (interior) side. You leave the other edges un-sewn. Press the seam allowance open and the press the finished piece togehter flat. Top stitch along the sewn edge, as close to the edge as you can get. I use my edge foot and move my needle to the left so I can sew just along the edge.

Left side pocket sewn to the left side pocket back.

Iron seams flat.

See top stitching along the right side and the basting stitches on the credit card slip on the left side.

Sew the right side pocket to the back on the left (interior edge) RST. Press the seam open and then press the finished piece. Top stitch using your edge foot along the sewn edge.
Sew the tab pieces RST along both of the long edges and one short edge. Trim the excess seam allowance and clip the corners. Turn it right side out, press and top stitch using your edge foot.

Now that all of the pockets are ready, you can sew the whole wallet together. Lay your pieces out as follows and pin them together for sewing:

• Interior back right side up (RSU)
• Left and right slip pockets RSU
• Tab piece, lining up the raw edge. I put mine in the middle of the wallet on top of the right side pocket
• Exterior back RST - in other words, you should be looking at the back side.

Sew around the outside through all the layers, ideally using a walking foot, leaving a 2 inch gap to turn the project. You don't want to leave the gap where the tab piece is or too close to a corner. Before I clip my seams, I like to turn it and make sure that everything is where it should be, lined up properly and the stitch caught through all of my layers all the way around. Clip the corners and turn the project right side out.

Admire your awesome work and press it! Press the seam allowances on the gap in. Top stitch around the whole exterior, closing the gap. Sometimes I find it useful to use a ladder stitch to seal the gap before I top stitch. It adds extra security to the same, it's invisible and it holds everything in place well when I top stitch.

The last step is to attach your snap. This part makes me nervous I will mess up my whole project! If you haven't used a KAM snap before, watch this tutorial first. Put your snap on the tap. I eyeball where I think it looks good on the length of the strap and then measure to ensure it's in the middle of the height. You'll then need to see where it hits on the exterior and mark that spot. You want to put the other side between the exterior and the slip pocket, essentially inside the left slip pocket.

After attaching the snap to the tab, see where it matches to the front wallet cover and put the other side of the snap there. This is a little tricky because the snap goes through the front cover but not through the slip pocket on the other side, so it can be difficult to get the pliers in the right spot.

Now you are are ready to hit the road for new international adventures!

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