When my husband and I started reading the Dave Ramsey books we became very excited to start using the cash envelope system which Mr. Ramsey is so famous for promoting. While Dave's books are chock full of financial wisdom, his system is like dieting: it's hard...but OH SO GOOD for you!
It's taken us several months to really get the hang of living on a cash envelope budget (and we're still learning), it's a great plan and I can recommend it enough. One thing I learned early on was that having separate envelopes floating around did not work for us. Say I'd be out and would unexpectedly find an outfit I wanted to buy for my daughter, but if I didn't have the clothing envelope with me, I'd take money from, say, the eating out budget. It got too hard to keep track of everything! I knew it was only a matter of time before entire envelopes went missing. So I quickly learned that we needed to keep our cash envelopes all in one place so as to not dip into envelopes we shouldn't be, or mishandling the money we'd budgeted.
That's how I came up with this cash envelope wallet! You could use it for various things you need to keep organized, but whatever you might want to use it for, I'm here today to show you how to sew one for yourself. I'm trying to be very complete here, with step by step instructions. Feel free to leave questions in the comments section if something doesn't make sense. But really, this project is easier than it looks once you get going...
I've made a few of these wallets for 4 or 6 envelopes. You could easily do more if you wanted, make this wallet for your needs. The photos I'm posting show 4 envelopes, but I'll tell you along the way how to do more if that's what you want.
NOTE: you will need to plan for an even number of zippered envelopes! 4, 6, 8, etc. You can't make 5 or 7 pockets with my plans, because you make the zippered pockets in sets of two.
Increase the following supply numbers according to your desired number of envelopes (i.e. if you want 6 zippered envlopes in your wallet, then increase zippers to SIX, fabric pieces to SIX, etc.).
For every two envelopes you need:- TWO polyester zippers, 9 inches long
- TWO fabric pieces 8"w x 8.25"h
- TWO pieces medium/lightweight fusible interfacing 8"w x 8.25"h
The following pieces will make your wallet shell:
- ONE fabric piece cut to 9" w x 8.5" h (This will be the outer part of your wallet, I like to use laminated fabric for durability. You can buy iron-on vinyl at any sewing supply store, or use pre-laminated fabric. Regular fabric is okay too if you like!)*
- TWO pieces, matching your outer lining (optional laminated) fabric, 5" x 2"
- ONE fabric piece cut to 9" w x 8.5"h, this will be your wallet's inner lining.*
- ONE piece light/medium weight fusible interfacing 9"w x 8.5"h*
- 2 inches of sew-in Velcro fastening, 3/4" wide
* If you're planning on more than 6 zippered envelopes, increase size to 9.75"h x 8.5"w
The first thing you'll want to do is to iron on the fusible interfacing to each fabric piece. Each envelope pocket piece will be ironed to interfacing, as well as the wallet shell inner lining. The only fabric that does NOT get lined with interfacing is the wallet shell's outer fabric (the laminated fabric in my case).
The next step is to sew in your Velcro fasteners. Place the hook side of the Velcro about 1" down from one edge on one of the 5" x 2" pieces, and sew in place like so:
So now you have two pieces of the 5" x 2" outer fabric, one piece that has Velcro sewn on.
Place your two 5" x 2" pieces right sides together, and sew around the sides and the top closest to the velcro, leaving about 1/8" seam allowance.
Now turn the Velcro tab right side out, I find a crochet hook is helpful. {I loath turning sewing projects out! Worst part of sewing projects if you ask me.}
Finally, top stitch around the edges of your Velcro tab, you shouldn't iron if using vinyl iron-on/laminated fabric!
Now to sew on the fuzzy side of your Velcro fastening....
Place your Velcro in the middle of the 8.5" edge of your outer wallet shell fabric, roughly between the 4 & 5 inch marks. Sew in place.
Now to sew together the wallet shell. Remember to include the Velcro tab! It always takes me a moment to work my right-sided brain around these parts. Do NOT sew your wallet shell together with the tab sticking out like this:
Place the tab, pointing in, on the opposite side of the sewn on Velcro, both will be facing up, like this. THIS is how you want to sew your Velcro tab in:
Place your 9" x 8.5" wallet lining piece on top, face down. I do not pin in place so as not to damage the laminated fabric. Use binder clips if you need to secure these pieces together before sewing.
Sew around the edges, making sure your Velcro tab is sewn into the seam, and leaving about 1/2" seam allowance. Don't forget to leave a hole to turn the wallet shell right side out!
Now you will have a wrinkly shell, but resist the urge to iron, as we usually would at this point in a project, since the fabric is laminated. If you're not using laminated fabric, iron away!
Close up your opening and top stitch close to the edge around the entire wallet shell.
Your finished wallet shell should look like this:
Now to make our envelope pockets. Grab a zipper, place face down on the 8" side of your envelope pocket piece, like this:
Zippers once intimidated me, but they are actually easier than they look. Using a zipper foot, stitch fabric to zipper's edge. Feel free to open the zipper all the way to make it easier to sew, since the zipper should be at least 9", longer than our fabric piece.
Take the matching piece of your envelope fabric and place face down on the other, un-sewn side of the zipper, like this and sew:
Now you should have a sort of butterfly of two fabric wings, attached by one zipper in the middle:
A nice finishing touch to any zipper is to fold your fabric slightly over the zipper edge, and top stitch it down...
So you have a nicely placed zipper with fabric covering most of the zipper fabric:
Now, you'll repeat the same thing with a second zipper, on the unfinished sides of the same envelope pieces:
So that you'll end up with a loop of sorts, two pieces of fabric, attached at both ends with two zippers. Now, it is crucial at this point that you leave at least one, or why not both, zippers at least half open! Otherwise, you'll sew yourself out!
With this loop wrong side out, you'll sew the open edges together, with about 1/2" seam allowance. Yes, you can sew right over those polyester zippers! Just don't hit any of the metal bits.
Then trim off the excess to make it neat and tidy. Yes, again, you can cut right through the polyester zipper to trim off the excess:
So you see how this makes two envelopes now? When folded in half, you have two zippered pockets.
After making all the zippered pockets, the last step is to stitch them into the wallet shell. Stitching down the center, as you can see, is what makes the large one pocket into two zippered envelopes.
When I did a 6 envelope wallet, I stitched them individually, right up against each other. When I did this 4 envelope wallet, I stitched them all at once with a zig-zag stitch. Just right down the middle. It helps to fold and crease the shell first as a guide to know where the middle is before sewing in your envelope pockets.
One last tip, it really helps with bulk to sew your zippers in different directions, this way not all the bulky zipper pulls end up on one side.
There you have it, finished and ready to be used for sorting cash!
Or receipts...or coupons...or cats...or whatever you might want.
I really love having a special wallet for our cash envelopes. It's made the Dave Ramsey cash envelope method much easier for my family to have all the envelopes in one place!
One last optional touch is to add labels to your envelopes. I did this by using the letter stitches on my sewing machine to make the labels and then stitching them onto the envelope pockets. You could also use iron on prints, iron on labels, or fabric marker. It's up to you!
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments section! I'll do my best to answer them. This is a long tutorial but I hope it's clear enough that even a beginner sewer would be able to do this project. Zippers don't scare me anymore, they shouldn't scare you either!
As always, you're welcome to pin and share this tutorial, I just ask that you kindly link back or pin directly from this blog. I'd LOVE to see your own creations if you make your own version of this wallet!
Cheers & Happy Sewing!
Heather
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Also, this week on my family blog, Last Day Ago:
