Making a Wallet from Inkle Bands
Using the Ashford Inklette Loom
I designed this watermelon wallet after visiting Dallas, Texas in June 2010. The owner of White Rock Weaving Center really liked the wallet I had made from inkle bands so I sent her some instructions and a wallet. Here are the instructions reprinted so you can make one for yourself! Feel free to design whatever inkle band you want!
I designed this watermelon wallet after visiting Dallas, Texas in June 2010. The owner of White Rock Weaving Center really liked the wallet I had made from inkle bands so I sent her some instructions and a wallet. Here are the instructions reprinted so you can make one for yourself! Feel free to design whatever inkle band you want!
- Get an idea of what you would like and make a sketch. Try to aim for a size of 1 5/8 inches minimum and 2 inches maximum for the finished width of your band. I was aiming to make a watermelon looking wallet because I was impressed with Texas watermelons on a summer trip!
- Gather your materials. Warp your loom and weave an inkle strap. Use the whole length of your loom. You need 6 pieces 7.5 inches long, and you will have a little scrap leftover.
3. Sew the edge of the strap 3 times in one line. This is to make sure that the stitches hold all those threads together. Make sure your machine is set to a lot of stitches in one inch, like 15 sts to the inch.
- From the first line, measure out 7.5 inches with a ruler. Place a pin as a marker. Sew another line 3 times.
- Measure out 1/8 of an inch. Sew another line 3 times to make a small channel. Make sure you are on the outside of the 7.5 inches and not the inside or your wallet will end up too small. I like to use the other side of the foot on my machine to make the 1/8 inch channel, that way I don’t have to measure it before I sew!
- Measure out 7.5 inches from the 2nd line and sew another line and then measure out another channel and sew. Repeat until you have 6 pieces that are 7.5 inches. You will have a longer piece left at the end. Mine was 12 inches. You can save it for a scrap book or as a scrap piece for another project or a backup piece for this project. Cut all the straps apart through the channel. You may get some warp threads that come out, just trim them off.
- Hand sew 2 sets of 2 pieces together. Do this by putting the needle through 3 of the warp pieces on one side and then catch 3 warp pieces on the other side. Just zigzag back and forth. Try to make the pieces line up as you make your way to the end. You should only see the stitches on one side, but not the other.
- Lay out the pieces and lay some cards on top. Arrange them to the way you would like your wallet to be.
- Sew the back card holding piece to the back of the wallet pieces you already joined together. Then sew on the front card holder piece. Only sew the bottom of each of these pieces so far. I sewed this one twice.
- Sew down the center point of all these pieces three times. You sew the center first because the edges may move around and stretch a bit.
- Sew the edges of this middle section.
- Sew the very back of the wallet to this section. Sew the bottom first, then the edges last. I did 3 times all around to strengthen it all.
- Clean up the edges by cutting off the excess.
- These wallets don’t want to stay closed at first when you put all your stuff in it. Hold it closed for awhile with a rubber band, but eventually all the fabric pieces will stretch to fit the shape it needs. You may also notice the parts you sewed together by hand may leave a small bump, but again it will all stretch to where it needs to be within a month or two and not even be noticed.
Good luck making your own!!