Dudely DIY: Leather Wallet

Update! Love the idea of this DIY wallet but can't/don't want to actually make it? Buy it at my Etsy shop over hereeeee!

I woke to a text the other day from my good friend (who is also an amazing dj/musician/drummer - check him out via soundcloud here or here if tumblr is more your jam) asking if I could make him a new wallet. I've been trying to figure out a way to include all my dudely followers, since my DIYs tend to be on the feminine side, so I totally jumped at it.

However, I've never made anything even remotely similar to this before and in all my excitement, I totally forgot to take any process photos. So the steps sound complicated, but it's really a simple project!

What you'll need:
Leather pieces a la picture below
Waxed thread
Hammer
Nails
Glue

Six inner card pockets, and the two larger base pieces for where bills go. 

What you do:

1) First, I glued down the top inner card pocket to hold it in place. Make sure to only glue down the very bottom, left and right edges of each pocket - NOT the top or in the middle!

2) Punch holes along the bottom of the pocket using a hammer and nail (much easier than trying to force a needle through two layers of leather)

3) Sew just the bottom of the pocket, and repeat 1-3 on the second rows of pockets.

4) Place the other large base piece (what will end up on the outside of your wallet) underneath the piece with the pockets sewn on so the "nice" sides face out. Punch holes along the entire bottom of the wallet, sewing the last row of pockets down as well as attaching the outer piece to the inner.

5) Punch holes for and sew down the inner sides of the pockets. Make sure you only sew through ONE layer of the larger base piece not both of them, otherwise you won't be able to get your bills inside the pocket!

6) Punch holes for and sew the outer edges of the pockets and the larger base pieces together.

 7) So awesome.