I fell in love with this pattern the first time I saw it on http://stitchesandseams.blogspot.com/. I purchased it for $10 from http://www.etsy.com/shop/MadeByMotherOfMarine. I consider this to be very expensive for a pattern, and I do not usually spend that amount of money.
The pattern is EXTREMELY well written. The steps are very clear and mostly well illustrated (a few steps require you to read to understand the illustrations). The cutting diagrams are clear, however, I chose to not use them. You use almost all of the 3 fat quarters if you make the optional insert, but not so much that you really need to follow the layouts exactly.
I had put off making it for awhile because it looked difficult. Here is my take on that: it would be very difficult to make it really well. But it is not at all difficult to make “okay”. A beginner could do it, though there is one seam that has a very big hump in it, so a beginner machine might not like it (I’m still in awe of how my new machine doesn’t even give this a second thought.) It also took way less time than I thought it would. Half of an afternoon, less if you don’t make stupid mistakes like I did. (The materials list literally says “seam ripper- don’t kid yourself”. She was right, I definitely needed it.)
The pattern is not completely foolproof. I’m not sure how I did it, but I managed to put the vinyl pocket on the wrong side. I guess I did the self-binding (a great feature) wrong. I also loved the idea of the paper piece to guide you sewing the corners, however, I wasn’t able to follow my sewn-on guidelines very well.
Dislikes:
-It is probably my sewing, and not the pattern, but I feel like it has a “crafty” feel. It doesn’t look store bought. The fact that the inner fabric shows a little when it is closed contributes to this. Maybe I didn’t do a good enough job pressing before doing the final top-stitching?
-The zipper pocket is unfinished. I think this is necessary, because otherwise you can’t turn the wallet through it, but I would have liked a bag made of fashion fabric to hold the coins. I don’t like that I can see the interfacing.
-There was one confusing instruction: for the optional insert, it says to interface and topstitch the pocket fabric as you did before, but the pockets were never interfaced before. Turns out, I cut a piece wrong (forgot to go on the fold) and don't have enough for the insert anyway, so it is moot.
I'm very happy with my wallet. It fits everything I need, and has room for plenty more. Plus the magnet clasp is something I haven't used before, and makes it seem more finished than just velcro would. I also really like the zipper on the outside of the wallet. The tabs on the sides makes for a very professional finish on that part.
AND while I probably didn't need to, I got to use a TON of feet for this project.
I used my zipper foot, my edgestitch foot, my applique foot (to trace the curves), my regular foot, my quarter inch foot, and my jeans foot (to sew through ALL the layers, and topstitch them). Feet are fun.
