Monday Project - Wallet from Girl's Jumper

About 15 years ago, I found this fantastic Santa tapestry-type fabric and made a shoulder bag from it.  Every December, that's my purse!  This year, though, I about choked when I went to put my wallet inside - the one I made in this post.  No, no, no - not even close to going together!!

Long story short, I had a girl's red velveteen jumper I'm planning on using for fabric for a Christmas quilt - more on that later.  That left me with a beautiful invisible zipper, already sewn in, and a fair amount of fabric on the bodice back.  Hmmm - looked like a wallet to me!

I'm including the instructions on how make a wallet or zippered bag from a similar jumper and pictures of the embroidery in case that's more what you're looking for.


Materials List:
*girl's jumper you're planning on repurposing - I love going to Goodwill on $1 Thursdays and seeing what I can find
*embroidery thread

1.  Fold jumper so the zipper is at the top and arm holes are even, as below.

2.  Use chalk to draw where your cutting lines will be - try to get as big a rectangle as you can.

3.  Pin through both layers of fabric and cut along chalk lines.

4.  Unpin and open up to the wrong side.  Another great thing about using this dress was it already had lining.  Take off any tags.

Put a safety pin through the zipper near the zipper pull so it won't come off.





5.  Embroider.  I used lazy daisy stitch leaves, a meandering outline stitch to connect groups, and french knots as berries.  There are several good sites on embroidery stitches - I have instructions for these three in this past post.

6.  Open zipper about half way and pin with right sides together.

7.  Sew, going over the beginning and end (at each end of the zipper) several times to strengthen the seams.  I sewed mine with rounded bottom corners.  Trim, turn right side out, and make a thick bar tack at each end of the zipper.

Much better!

Happy Creating!  Deborah