Retired Vinyl Tarp Wallet

 I wish I could say exactly how long I used this wallet. But was a long time. This particular tarp scuffs according to the wear spots and along the raised parts of the internal mesh.  I retired it and I'm using another.

I designed this wallet to hold up to 40 cards, because that's life these days. Lots of cards.

After I emptied it out my 5-month old golden doodle got ahold of it for a brief period of time. She can make short work of a lot of things very quickly. I wouldn't make dog toys out of this because I reckon the polyester mesh isn't good for puppy's teeth. And the inks aren't food safe.

Designing a wallet

I put my nerd glasses on and I'm figuring out the cut files for some simple foldover wallets. Tomorrow I'll make the cut file and try out some samples. The wallet will have a clear vinyl window and four card slots.

I had already advertised these wallet features on my website but there hadn't been any request for quotes so I hadn't figured out the exact measurements for the card slots. On this design I want to have finished foldover edges. My previous designs I had raw edges or twill binding for the edge.

Update: this is taking longer than I thought as a bout of sickness has beset me. So when my energy shows up again I'm going to make sure I build efficiency into the design.

Modular wallet design, website progress thereof.

I'm not set up to produce volume at this point, so I figure what's the point in going for mass appeal? I can leave that up to Freitag. Instead, I can offer customers the custom features that they want in their wallets. I'm planning to have a form with all the types of design modules I can offer in a wallet; the potential customer fills out the form and I give them an estimate. When I'm producing the wallet I gather the various cut files needed to create the wallet, sew and ship.

This picture is to help the customer see what the various modules are so they can fill out the form to get a cost estimate. I need to add a sketch for adhesive custom decals, and include photo samples of the tarp colours I have in stock.

I sketched out the components using Sketchbook Pro.

Man's wallet in Recycled Vinyl Tarp

Well I've been procrastinating on making a man's wallet. Maybe for good reason. Look at all the pieces! That is a lot of sewing. I had some lightweight nylon on hand so I'm going to use that for the card pockets. Wish me luck. On the other hand, maybe a whole new market for men's wallets will open up!

I'm thinking that wallets, being highly personal, should be modular in construction. The client I'm designing this one for keeps his change in his pocket, and so does not require a coin compartment.

I think my website should have something like "For your wallet, pick modules (card slots, coin purse,cash/cheque slots), pick your colours, pick your decal colours, with a flat rate for additional design work. Made to order. Since the website is not yet, there you can request a custom product at vinally@vinally.ca

Monarch Butterfly wallet

Here I am experimenting with pattern brushes that I created in Adobe Illustrator, with printing on fabric, and with rubberized coating of said fabric. I have some warping happening with the seam binding, so I'll have to redo it. I like the effect. I think I will do a peacock feather brush next, since that's a hot trend on Etsy right now. I don't know if people are buying that trend, but it's been identified as a trend.

I like the idea of creating my own fabrics to use in my crafts. The printing here was rather dull so I had to use dye pastels to brighten up the colors before spraying the fabric with PlastiDip.

Update #1: I've been using the wallet for several weeks now and it is performing well. The white background picks up some dirt, but becomes like new by using a Magic Eraser on it. As you can see by the photograph the laser-jet-printed wallet fabric had to have some piecing to make it long enough for the wallet's design. I'm concluding that coating laser printed fabric with Plasti-Dip is successful, and therefore I can offer this as a custom fabric option for wallets in my Etsy shop.

I am also using a system of removable card slots for all my cards. This system is also working well for me. All the card categories are available at a glance.

Update #2: I changed the design from these removable card slots to an accordion-style organizer. The new design holds 30+ cards in different categories. I think it's a good solution to the number of cards we carry these days. See here for the redesign: http://vinally.blogspot.com/2009/09/organizer-wallet-redesigned.html