wallets WALLETS - Specifically card slots/edging for them.

[samNZJP]

Alright, hello, and thank you to anyone who can point me in the right direction.

So, recently I have started working with leather and I just want to master making wallets, but I'm confused as to how people do card slots. I've been following some people on Instagram and have been inspired by their work - Maybe someone could tell me how they do their card slots?

Here are the examples I'm looking at:

So judging by the stitching around the card slots, I believe that each slot has been cut so that each piece can line up with each other where I assume there is only two layers on the edge, a back and all the card slots lined up. 

Here's a T-slot!
 

So, at this point I'm thinking, OK - Make T-slots, easy... But when I made a wallet there were "tightness" issues where the card slots at the back worked fine, but the card slots at the front were very tight - SO, do people make different sized card slots for the first, second, third and fourth card slot?
Another side note, Mattnudi from this T-slot photo told me that he glues two pieces of leather together 0.5m leather x 2. IS this common practice as well?!

Right moving on... Here's my biggest confusion....


 

So obviously this wallet is layered and T-slots are not used. I wonder if their are two pieces of leather glued together for each slot as well.

Anyway, I have big problems with T-slots and whether they should all be the same measurements, and if so how do I avoid tight card slots? And how can I make non-t-slots viable without super ugly edges?

Was going to include edge tips as well in this - Anyone know a good edge paint product?

Sam

[coachcraigk]

Hello!

 

I hope someone else responds on this because I have similar questions. I have researched and found that the card slots are all the same size and a small piece of the bottom is sewn to prevent the card from falling too far.

[Instinctive]

Having just finished  a bunch of wallets, I will jump in on this.

T- slot pockets, yes. The bottom of bottom of each T is stitched to the backing piece.

I used a single layer of 2-2.5 oz calf skin for these interiors. I would say that gluing to thin pieces together in the not the norm unless you are doing very high end builds.

Tightness just may be because the slots are not wide enough for the number of pockets. This 10 pocket (2 hidden) interior have slots 4" (100 mm) wide. I have placed 12 cards in this interior with no difficulty.

10 pockets (black) is a lot. 8 pocket (brown) is better in my view. Slimmer wallet and the slots can be a little narrower if desired.

[Webicons]

There are a lot of good questions here. 

I don’t know anyone who makes different card slot widths according to the number of slots.  These slots usually break in over time or increase the overall width.  

A good trick is to oversize each pocket, glue up, and then trim them all at the same time to get a nice even edge rather than try to line up each pocket to the edge. 

Lining the pockets is done on many high end pieces.  You can choose to do it or not.  Many line with fabric as well.  Not just leather. 

I recommend Fenice edge paint.  There are tons of tutorials on the forum about edge tools and application.  

Matt is a super helpful guy.  Not sure how he helps everyone and still has time to do anything else.  A true asset to the community.

[todahatelier]

Does anyone here knows the right thickness for a wallet? 
Coming in the direction of a fine looking classy wallet.

[Ferg]

As thin as you can make it and still retain the strength of the leather

Ferg

[Matt S]

3 hours ago, todahatelier said:

Does anyone here knows the right thickness for a wallet? 
Coming in the direction of a fine looking classy wallet.

There is no one correct thickness for any particular job -- it varies depending on which part of the hide it comes from, which animal, how it was tanned and curried... I find that 1.0mm works well with firm (non-tumbled) bridle shoulder as an all-round thickness -- it does okay with backs, liners and pockets. However the same thickness in goat skiver is far too floppy to make a good wallet, and in cow rawhide would be too stiff. Knowing the correct thickness depends on the feel of a particular leather, and that comes with experience.

[eternoui]

I have done my wallet with 1mm double shoulder leather. it was my ever first project. its been 2 and half years now and the wallet holds very good. I think making a wallet without a pattern its tricky. I have purchased the pattern online including a video step by step how yo do it and it was more than helpful.

[charon]

Lots of good advice here, I will throw in my few points here since I also started in leather to make wallets. In terms of thickness that mostly depends on personal preference. I'm from Europe and we like really thin and nicely done wallets. For my Bifold wallets I use veg tan from 0.8mm to 1.0mm max. However, you could use thicker leather for your outside piece (up to 2.0mm) but I wouldn't recommend it for the inside pieces. Basically wallets - especially the style you posted, which I also prefer - consist of 3 "layers": The outside piece, the inside divider, which forms the bill slot with the outside piece and your card slots/coin pouch pieces. Normally I construct the card holders completely separate and the stitch it to the middle piece. Now to comment your last picture: These aren't layered but also T-pieces. You can see that clearly when you look carefully at the picture: At the edge you always have two layers of leather. You would never stack up 5 layers of leather that would look really bulky. The trick is that you have a small piece (about 10mm wide and 10mm high for my card holders) on both sides that form the T with the body of the card section. These "overlaps" get butted up perfectly underneath each other make it look like it were squares and not T-parts. You plan the height of the pocket so that you have only 2 pockets overlap with the body part and stitch them together. That stitching is hidden in your card pockets. Maybe that helps. Takes a lot of precise cutting and practice tho but keep going, you'll get there. 

Buying patterns has already been mentioned, I totally recommend buying those of Ian Atkinson (Leodis Leather). You get the sizes, the exact patterns and hour long videos you can follow step by step. Helped me a lot to get started.

[baroness]

2 hours ago, charon said:

Buying patterns has already been mentioned, I totally recommend buying those of Ian Atkinson (Leodis Leather). You get the sizes, the exact patterns and hour long videos you can follow step by step. Helped me a lot to get started.

I have also bought a pattern from Ian.  He also talks about why he makes the decisions he does, which helps a lot to decide what to do in your specific case.

[Tugadude]

There are a ton of wallet-making video tutorials on youtube that detail how to construct what you are after.  Essentially all of the pocket pieces are identical except the outermost one.  The back pockets are typically cut in a "T" fashion in order to minimize thickness on the edges.  The pockets are "stepped" one on top of another and each pocket is sewn to the one behind it, except for the front pocket.  This prevents the cards slipping down to the bottom.  Again, this is detailed in numerous videos.  

If you are using glue to lay up your pockets, remember to take a bone folder and open the pockets up after stitching.  This may be why some pockets are tight.  If you cut things right all the slots should fit the same.

[Tugadude]

This should help.

http://makesupply-leather.com/leathercraft-tutorials/4-tips-for-making-a-bi-fold-wallet/

 

[Tugadude]

One way of stitching the bottom of the pocket piece...

 

[charon]

Perfect visualisation of that T-style piece I was trying to explain with words. Thanks Tugadude!

[bennadatto]

Hey all!

Bringing up an older topic, but I can't wrap my brain around one part of the T-slot thing.

I understand that in making the T slots, you're minimizing bulk on the edges.  But...in the middle, you'll still have multiple layers of leather all stacked on each other.  It seems to me that in doing this, you'll end up with a wallet that is thin on the borders, but has a mound in the middle where all the leather is stacked.  

I've seen videos where people skive down the edges of the card slots, but it still seems like you'll have a bulge in the middle.  What am I missing?

Thanks all!

-sam

[Matt S]

22 hours ago, bennadatto said:

Hey all!

Bringing up an older topic, but I can't wrap my brain around one part of the T-slot thing.

I understand that in making the T slots, you're minimizing bulk on the edges.  But...in the middle, you'll still have multiple layers of leather all stacked on each other.  It seems to me that in doing this, you'll end up with a wallet that is thin on the borders, but has a mound in the middle where all the leather is stacked.  

I've seen videos where people skive down the edges of the card slots, but it still seems like you'll have a bulge in the middle.  What am I missing?

Thanks all!

-sam

As far as I can see, you're not missing anything. This is exactly why I don't like to make wallets with any more that 3-4 card pockets in one "stack".The only way I know to completely eliminate the "mound" is to not have any dividers at all -- just slots in a piece of leather. This doesn't take much material, you have a wide range of leather you can use, and you can put a lot of slots into a fairly small wallet. However it doesn't stop the customer from pushing their cards too far and getting them stuck inside their wallet. (Sounds like a good way to save money to me!) If you want a way to stop the cards being pushed too far in, you're going to have to have something behind.

Some manufacturers cheat and use nylon webbing or cloth for their card pockets and sew leather to the bits that your average customer isn't going to look at. It works and keeps things real thin but in my experience the nylon always wears out before the leather. And, IMO, you're then not selling a leather wallet, it's a nylon wallet with some bits of leather stuck on.

Otherwise you're stuck finding a balance between leather thin enough to not be very bulky and strong enough not to tear.

@nstarleather has written this all up and illustrated it better than I can do: https://nstarleather.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/north-stars-primer-on-pockets/