I recently purchased the Trifold Long Wallet Pattern from Corter Leather, and I thought it might be useful to document my project for those interested in available templates for long leather wallets.
On we go!
First thing to note here is that Corter’s patterns are not exhaustive and are basically a cut pattern and order of operations. You are on your own with your skillset to complete the majority of the project. Corter does offer quite a few build videos on YouTube that certainly help (and some are also incredibly relaxing to watch), but there are times that I find myself unable to see exactly what is going on with the wallet in a spatial way, such as which direction a component is pointing. Don’t get me wrong, the videos are phenomenal, but some of the angles make life hard for people like me who have a degree of dyslexia (yay for doing all the things backwards at least once!). In short, if you are just barely starting out, this particular pattern is not for you. If you want a starter wallet pattern that introduces you to the basics of what Corter builds involve, check out their new video, The BEST Easy Beginner Leather Project!, which includes a link to the pattern used in the video (a mere $2 for a great little intro project and gift item).
Printing the Pattern
To start off, I print small patterns like this one on cardstock and ALWAYS CHECK the size with the included gauge printed on the pattern. Make dead sure your print size is set to 100% actual size. If you don’t catch a printing error at this stage, it is an absolute headache. Pretty much every leathercrafter I’ve chatted with has done this at least once, so spare yourself the migraine and check every time!
The Leather
I picked out a 3/4oz veg tan for the back of the wallet and a 1/2oz purple kidskin for the interior. I’ve read that kidskin can be too stretchy for this application, but I had some and needed a project for it, so the rest is history. Maybe I’ll do a comparison between kidskin, calfskin, and pigskin interiors later. Onward!
The Interior
I didn’t get a cut pieces photo, but since 1oz through 4oz leather is easy to cut through, the cut time didn’t take too long. Between my box cutter and rotary knife, most of the cuts were quick, though I’m still having trouble with corners, especially inside ones. Time to invest in some corner punches, maybe?
The interior of the trifold pattern has 2 panels (a multi-card panel and an id card panel) and a pouch (with random extra pocket) glued to the interior…’lining’, let’s say (but I hesitate to call it that for reasons I’ll show you later). The lining has cutouts for extra storage between the interior and exterior of the wallet. There’s also a space behind the pouch, and I’m highly uncertain as to why it exists. Maybe you could stuff a phone in there? I dunno. Mine doesn’t fit.
A note on the pouch: you do have to install a zipper (gasp!). Thankfully, there’s another Corter video for that: How to Install Zippers in Leather.
The multi-card slot panel is my favorite part of the pattern. There’s something very satisfying about lining up all the slots with Corter’s included slot top guide. My one complaint isn’t the pattern’s fault; lining up the stitching over all that material is still really hard for me. More practice will improve that aspect, I’m sure.
The Exterior
To finish the outside of the wallet, I painted a gradient of pinks and purples (not my usually my thing, but I was thinking of matching the interior in kind of a desert sunset fashion). Not too bad!
Next we have to install half of the snaps. This is something I didn’t see on the Corter Video and for some reason I had a little trouble visualizing exactly which snaps went on first and where (again, dyslexia). The back of the button part of the closure needed to be installed behind the lining.
The Glue…Ew
Right at this stage, things almost always go screwy for me. For one thing, I still haven’t bought one of those little glue pot / brush sets yeat, so I have to smell the entire can of contact cement every time I do this. Which means we go outside for ventilation!
I also dread the part where something can easily get glued backwards, so I try really hard to make sure it doesn’t happen…
Which means other things happen because I’m concentrating so hard.
I messed up pretty badly. The pattern should be glued around the edges, but my brain was still stuck in my last project where I glued in an entire liner. Didn’t realize my mistake until there was no way out. Glue was even in parts of the open slots and would definitely be visible, so I improvised with some 3M spray adhesive and batik fabric.
If those little slots were going to be glued shut anyway, I might as well make them a pretty design feature
The Stuff Before Sewing
The other half of the snaps (I used line 20, did I mention it yet?) goes straight through the whole project, so I installed those next. For anyone new at this who was just handed a box of rivets, setters, and closures without instructions, this is a snap setter.
Also you need a different size for different snaps (no shame in not knowing, honest! I didn’t…)!
On to trimming!
The Sewing
I have some diamond chisels from Craftool that work pretty well so far. I used a tool that I don’t actually know the name of to mark my stitch line…perhaps it actually is an adjustable edge creaser, perhaps not, but it does the job so far. Then I fiddle with the hammer and chisel until I get the holes about right using a six prong chisel where the leather is straight and not too thick. I switch to the two prong or even the single when things curve or get complicated.
That’s a whole lot of words to say I whacked in a bunch of holes and stitched the thing up. It’s pretty straightforward.
I used a black thread of unknown origin all the way around the edge. My saddle stitch is looking pretty good after all those long hours on hat brims.
What I didn’t do and should have, probably, was use an edger. My cheap Amazon edger died recently, and I’m still looking at my options. I’ll probably throw one in with my next leather order.
Let’s get to the part that would make the guy behind the Corter videos and patterns cringe (even more?)!
With my lack of a decent small trim blade and the material difference between the kidskin and the veg tan as far as burnishing goes, I got a pretty wonky edge in a few places. Since I was afraid that painting the edge with Angelus would result in cracks and that dying the edge would either bleed or be uneven because of the different leathers, I used…a sharpie.
I know, I know, it’s not the best finish. If I’d had an edge paint, it would have been much, much better. Still, if you aren’t holding it right up to your eyeball, it actually looks just fine. For this project, anyway. I’m looking into buying all the things I need to up my pretty edge game soon.
Post-sharpie, I waxed the edge and gave it a good burnish.
To Sum It Up
This is a moderately straighforward build if you already have a few leather skills in your toolbox and are used to the way Corter’s patterns usually work themselves out. I would like to see the order of operations written a bit more clearly, but mostly that’s just because the visual step of the snap locations threw me. One of the cut guides for the id pocket (I think there were two) was also confusing because it didn’t seem necessary…but maybe I missed something there. Otherwise, it’s pretty darn cool and fits a ton of stuff. I especially like the addition of the little zip pouch.
I’ll probably be making this one again, hopefully without gluing the whole dang thing wrong the second time around. But that’s how we learn around here!
Questions? Comments? Revelations? Use the form below to add your thoughts!