#sewing: Passport/Travel Wallet take 2

I decided to take advantage of a rainy day to get caught up on some projects. I have made two of these passport travel wallets in the past (with a slightly different tutorial - see earlier Blog Posts) but have been meaning to sew one for myself. We went away on vacation last week and man I sure could have used mine when trying to keep track of both of our passports and boarding passes. 

This particular passport wallet was mirrored after the original blog post on Joann Fabric & Craft Store. 

Note: For my wallet I chose to use all one pattern of fabric this time. I have made ones in the past that had contrasting colours and they look great, I was just (a) in love with the fabric I chose (I have made curtains for our kitchen from this pattern in the past) and (b) didn't have any fabric that went well with it.

Materials Needed:
- 1m of fabric
- 1 package of interfacing fabric
- thread
- sewing machine
- rotary cutter & mat
- ruler
- straight pins
- scissors
- iron & ironing board
- bias tape (for a border)
- velcro or a button for your snap

#step 1: Prepare your Fabric pieces

Preparing Fabric Pieces

Front & Back Cover and Lining: cut two pieces of fabric 11"L x 11"W and two pieces of interfacing fabric 11"L x 11"W

Left Flap divider, cut two pieces of fabric 11"L x 5.75"W. Draw a curve on the upper right hand corner of both pieces (I used the edge of a bowl; and make sure your corner is on the right edge of a piece of fabric with right-side facing up and a right-side facing down. Otherwise your flap will have the wrong-side on the inside of flap... like mine now does! Whoops!)
Cut one piece of interfacing 11"L x 5.75"W

Passport pocket: cut two 4.75"L x 5"W pieces of fabric
if you would like to add a second passport pocket on top of the one you just cut, cut one piece of 3"L x 4"W clear plastic vinyl. I did not do this step.

Ironing Fusible Interfacing to Fabric

Cardholder Pocket: cut two pieces of fabric 6"L x 3.5"W

Right Flap Divider: cut two pieces of fabric 11"L x 5"W and one piece of interfacing 11"L x 5"W.

With your iron, set the iron to "Wool" heat setting and fuse interfacing to both front & back cover, left flap divider and right flap divider following the instructions on your packaging.


#step 2: Passport Pocket
With right-sides facing together, and keeping a 1/2" seam allowance - sew passport pocket pieces. Leave a 2" opening at the top edge of pocket. Turn right side out and press with your iron. I used a pen to make sure the corners were pressed out flat before ironing. 
Edge stitch top opening closed only.

Sizing Passport Pocket

Make sure your passport pocket will fit a Passport first! 

Centre pocket on the left divider 3/4" up from the bottom raw edge. Edge stitch the pocket onto left divider at the sides and bottom of pocket.

With right sides together and keeping a 1/2" seam allowance - stitch left divider pieces. Leave  small opening on curved edge below the curve. Turn right side out, use a pen to push out the corners to be flat, press with your iron. 
Note: If you chose to add a second Passport pocket with the vinyl, be sure to only press with your iron on the backside of the divider and ensure you do not melt the vinyl.

Edge stitch curved edge (inside edge of divider) to close up.

#step 3: Cardholder Pocket
With right sides facing together, and keeping a 1/2" seam allowance - stitch cardholder pocket pieces. Leave a 1.5" opening at the top edge of pocket. Turn right side out and press with your iron. Repeat steps with pen to make sure corners are pressed out flat before ironing.

Place cardholder pocket on interfaced right divider about 3/4" up from the bottom raw edge and 3/4" from right raw edge of divider. Edge stitch cardholder pocket onto right divider at the top, right side and bottom of the cardholder - leaving the left edge of cardholder pocket open. This will be the pocket opening. 

Placing Cardholder Pocket on Divider

Mark the centre of the cardholder pocket (approximately 2.75" in middle). Stitch a straight horizontal line to create pocket divider for cards.

With right sides facing together, and keeping a 1/2" seam allowance - stitch the right divider pieces. Leave a 4" opening at the inside edge (left side of divider). Turn right side out, push corners out with a pen to lay flat before pressing with iron. Press with iron to flatten out. Edge stitch the left side (inside edge) of right divider.

#step 4: Button Loop/Velcro Strap
Fold 1"x4" piece of fabric in half lengthwise (when folded in half, width should be 1/2"). Press with your iron. Open and fold along long edges in to meet at the centre crease. Press with iron again. 
Fold in half lengthwise again so that long folded edges are even. Press with iron & stitch along 4" long edge.

Note: I added bias tape to the outside edge of my strap to add decorative feature. Follow the same steps as above, and when you stitch your bias tape will be stitched on as well.

Velcro Strap to close Wallet

I used velcro to fasten my pouch. Stitch Velcro (sticky side) to one end of strap. Wrap strap around the wallet to align sticky-Velcro with the soft-Velcro where it sticks to. Stitch the soft-Velcro patch to the opposite end of strap. Stitch a horizontal straight line to hold strap to the folded edge of wallet. 

#step 5: Finishing Touches
With right sides facing together and keeping a 1/2" seam allowance - stitch Front & Back cover. Leave an opening to pull fabric through to right side out. Pull through, use a pen to press corners out to lay flat, press with iron.

Passport/Travel Wallet

Once front and back cover are sewn together, place and pin the left & right dividers on the inside of your passport case. Make sure all edges are even. Mine don't always line up perfectly, but you can fold the edges in to hide this when you are stitching.


Edge stitch around all outside edges, catching both dividers.

Happy Travelling!
<3 awaLL