Cork Wallet Class

Ha!  The irony of our last post 2 weeks ago (!) about "keeping the momentum going".  We obviously have not kept the blog momentum going!  But I must say that Elizabeth is doing her best in New Hampshire to keep the quilt camp spirit going.  She continues to play with wet cyan and more dyeing with color magnet, but more about that in another post.

Yesterday Sue taught her class on making a cork wallet with the Lucky Penny pattern from Sallie Tomato.  Though a small group, we all had fun and everyone came up with colorful, creative takes using Sue's modifications to the pattern.  The original pattern looks like this on the inside.

The 2 tan rectangles are slots for bills or anything else flat. What you see through the openings is the back side of the outside layer of cork.  Since this didn't allow for any place to put coins, or a secure pocket, on her second sample Sue decided to add a zipper to the top section and make a closed pocket.  She also added a strip of fabric behind the bottom opening to add some color.

This is the version that the students in class decided to make.  Here are their results.

Linda chose a navy blue cork fabric and accented it with red stitching, zipper, and print fabric.

It turned out great! We all thought it resembled denim.

Etta combine pink and grey cork fabric.  Above is the outside.

And the inside.  Like the contrasting colors.

Maria used the same teal color as Sue's sample and accented with pink/red.  Interestingly, she had recently bought a small change purse/wallet out of the same color cork in Portugal and was making the wallet to match.

Sue stitched up a third sample using a beige cork that she had screen printed with our crackle screen.

The accents are coral fabric, zipper and thread.  So.......lots of ideas and color options for personalizing this wallet.  We even came up with another idea in class.  Instead of making the zipper pocket in the top section, it could be the middle section by changing where you stitch to make it a closed pocket.  Happy to have found this free pattern at Sallie Tomato!

Small Projects

Last week Sue used some studio time to make a few small projects that have been on the back burner.  First was a zipper pouch that she bought a kit for in June at the Quilters Unlimited quilt show.  The vendor was Bucklebee by Me (bucklebeebags.com) and the pouch is called the Skipjack Zipper Pouch for Washable Paper.

Washable paper (which appears to be the same as Kraft-tex, if you are familiar with that product) is a hybrid-textile product that looks and feels like leather.  The paper is wet and scrunched to give it the crinkled look.  Allow it to air dry before cutting the pieces.

These are the cut pieces.  Sue used a piece of hand dyed/screen printed fabric for the contrast trim and lining.

This is the beginning step of joining the outside bag pieces to the zipper.  The bag is fully lined with the fabric.  This was a fairly quick project. There was a little confusion with some of the directions but overall it seems to be constructed as intended.  The paper is rather stiff when it comes to turning the bag right side out, especially the corners. It helped to wet the bottom edge to soften it in order to get the corners pushed out.

Another thing Sue's had on the project list for a while is to make something using cork fabric.  As a first project, she decided to make this simple wallet which is a free downloadable pattern at Sallie Tomato.

It turns out the cork is very easy to work with and is actually very soft.  This is also an easy project, which took a bit more than 2 hours including cutting out the pattern and fabric.  The inside has 2 slip pockets, 6 card slots, and an ID pocket.   There is no storage for coins, however.

Sue will likely be teaching a class using cork for this project at Artistic Artifacts  in the near future - stay tuned for more information!