Gosh lovely peeps – remember me! I have been AWOL for a bit while I was finishing my second book for the year and I feel ashamed about the things that have been slightly neglected in my absence. Well I am back now and I have some ideas for you.
I wanted to kick off the ideas with a technical post and this one is all about how to make and insert a credit card panel into a purse. When I say ‘make’ I guess I really mean ‘fold’ because that is where the tricky bit is. It is actually not too hard to do and it is worth knowing how because they do crop up from time to time.
For this post, I will be referencing my brand new pattern, the Altona Belt Bag . I am developing some small bags and this is the second pattern in what I call the Mini Series . These are great little bags which do a pretty hefty job but they are all designed to be pared down for the busy minimalist. The Altona is a great secure option for a day out and the biggest thing about it (pun intended) is that it is both the bag AND the wallet.
With this in mind, I have decided to make a card panel in the lining so that you can choose your must have cards for a day out and then you don’t need to clutter the bag with a purse as well.
My card panel is slightly different to a lot of others (I guess that is the point of being a designer…) and in typical pared down Mini Series style, it takes 3 cards.
Okay so what do we need for this? The pattern will give you the specifics and sizes so I will just list the pieces here
- the card panel
- the card panel interfacing
- the side lining panels
- your favourite ruler, an erasable marker and iron
Fuse the card panel interfacing to the wrong side of the card panel. I am using G740 by Vlieseline which is a perfect whisper-weight interfacing and it will give just the right amount of crispness.
Turn the panel over and make a series of lines on the wrong side as follows; 3 ¼“, 1 ¾“, 2 ½“, 1 ¾“, 2 ½“, 1 ¾“, and 2 ¾“
Begin the folding at the 2 ¾“ line on the right hand side. I am using a Hot Hemmer (Long) tool by Clover MFG and it is a great help to get those lines precise and sharp. So fold back towards the wrong side like this and press
Now turn the card panel to the right side and make the next fold to the right side and press that too
Keep repeating these steps, flipping back and forth until all of the folds have been made. Give it a final press from the right side with a shot of steam to make everything super crisp. At this point, I like to go in and topstitch all of the folds quite narrowly on the right side top edges. About 1/8″ is about right.
Now sew right up the sides to keep the folds in place.
Flip the whole thing over and this is what it will look like from the back
For the Altona pattern, you will add the two side panels now and then topstitch narrowly along the seam of those too. I prefer to completely ‘build in’ my panels like this because it is super neat.
Finally round the four corners off using your chosen ’round thing’ and your lining panel with card slots is ready to go in.
So now you have a panel which looks like this. Those rounded corners make it much easier to attach the outer panels and to put the bias binding onto the the lining as well.
I love the idea of this and on the other lining panel, I have suggested a zipper box pocket which is useful for coins among other things. If you need a little bit of extra support to make one of these, you can find it here.
Just to show you better, here is the bag turned inside out. I love that this little card panel is neat and functional but makes you choose which three cards are the most important. And that bound lining! There is simply no better way to get it perfect. If you are curious about this easy technique, have a look at this post.
And with that, I will sign off for today. I want to go and finish editing the Altona Belt Bag pattern so that I can get the link onto here for you. And after that, I reckon that a Yoga bag is needed. Exciting times ahead!
Hugs
Debbie xx