A Pair of Trifold Wallets (Manly style)

When I get a request from one of my brothers for me to make them something, I get excited! For some reason they aren't really into purses... however, one of them asked me for a wallet for his birthday. The requirements were a)doesn't make his pocket sweaty b)Not HUGE. I found a few patterns, and then went to town. 

Two wallets, what happens when you live several states away and I can't decide which one is best

The first one is the Ultimate Men's wallet, a pattern I found on Etsy. This one uses fabric and while it is pretty thin and has good pocket situation, it's not super flat. The fabric means that it shouldn't make his pocket sweaty like leather or vinyl would (a real concern in FL since he works outside at times), but it does require some interfacing and finished edges, which added a little bulk to the wallet when it was folded up.

Bill pocket

This wallet does have some nice pockets, including an ID pocket with clear vinyl! It holds full sized flat cash money, and has several card slots. There's also a little zipper pocket for change!

There is a 'wing' part that has card slots on the back

And opened up, has the clear ID pocket that was covering more card slots

Big enough to hold a bunch of change, but it would make it lumpy

I also found a Kraft-tex Wallet pattern, but somehow I lost the link to the pattern in the time (almost 2 years) since I made it...The good news is that the last update I got was that the wallet was holding up fine! Kraft-tex is a paper product that has been treated somehow so it's almost like a fabric. I think it's the same stuff they use to make labels on jeans, so it will hold up to washing and general wear. It's almost like a leather look after you wash it, but it still cuts like paper.

I prewashed my Kraft-Tex to give it the 'leather' look, and then had to iron it so I could cut the pieces straight.

Simple pockets, no ID or zipper pocket on this one!

The wallet has no zippers or hardware, just a simple slide through closure 'strap' and pockets for cards and money. It was super fast to make, so I really need to try to find the pattern again! I bought a small roll of Kraft-tex when it first started showing up in sewing a few years ago, and this was my first time actually using it.

The cash pocket holds bills flat

According to my brother, this could be a popular wallet, if I did it in other colors or put 'stuff' on it. I think it would be pretty easy to embroider on the Kraft-tex, but I'd probably stick to a sketchy design. I have several artists in my house could be commissioned to decorate a few, if I bribe them sufficiently...I think some drawings or doodles using permanent markers on these would be so fun!

Could add some designs to the outside easily!

Comparing the 2 wallets, you can see how much smaller the paper one is, but the other one has some good features, so it really depends on what you want your wallet to do!

Here's the Kraft-tex wallet almost 2 years of use pictures...Considering it's made of paper, I think it's holding up pretty good!

The edges have softened up a little

I think it looks like a well loved wallet!