DIY: Handbag Wallet Protector

It was my 22nd birthday this weekend, and my boyfriend gave me a Prada wallet (with some jazz CDs, flowers and a sweet card).

I've never received anything so nice, and I was so excited that I quickly transferred all my cash to the new wallet and threw out my old (10 years!) wallet at the restaurant. And touted it around happily the next day. Till I realised that there was a little blob of glue on it.

My brother scratched it off for me as I watched and winced.

Well it's a very nice wallet and I'm hoping to use it for a fairly long time- another decade at least. So in the meantime I made a little pocket to protect my precious Prada commodity- using the fabric in which the wallet was wrapped when I first received it.

Here's how you can make a dowdy wallet protector. It will protect your expensive purse in two ways:

 1) by covering it from the dust and uncapped pens in your handbag and;
 2) keeping the brand hidden from potential snitches.

(As you can probably tell, I love my new wallet so much I'm protecting it like a baby. Charlie was a bit weirded out and is waiting to see how long I will stay with this system).


Please read all instructions before starting :)

STEP 1: Layout your fabric with the wallet on top. Make sure you have enough fabric to cover the wallet and cut off the excess. We're using these to make the sides.

STEP 2: Fold your fabric over the wallet like so, marking with a pin.

STEP 3: Remove your wallet. With the excess fabric you cut off before, lay it on the side of your 'pocket'.

STEP 4: Pin.

STEP 5: Stand your wallet on the excess strip to measure how wide your sides will need to be.

STEP 6: Give it a little bit of room (say, if you had coins or on those days when your wallet's bulkier than usual). Pin to mark

STEP 7: Nah, this is just a picture to show you what it should look like so far.

STEP 8: Flip over your pocket to the back.

STEP 9: Fold over your side strip so that the pin you marked in Step 6 meets the edge of the back of the pocket.

STEP 10: Pin.

STEP 11: Cut off the excess.

STEP 12: Use the excess fabric you just cut off and measure against the side you just pinned.

STEP 13: Pin to the other side and cut off the excess if needed.

STEP 14: Check if your wallet fits!

STEP 15: Hand stitch the sides to your pocket.

I used a ribbon to tie mine but have since removed it since the flap seems to stay closed in my bag.

The only embarrassing thing is taking out the pocket, then my wallet, then the cash at the register.

I'm not sure how long I'll use my pocket for- but while my wallet still feels new, I want to keep it looking like this for as long as I can :D

Thank you Dibs and Free Range Please for following! Welcome to JLTFK! Feel free to email me to introduce yourselves :)