Passport Wallet Tutorial

I set out with the idea of making passport covers for my girlfriends as stocking stuffers for Christmas this year.  I thought it would be useful to be able to tell whose passport was whose when you have them together in a pile (for instance if we had to pile them all in a safe in the hotel, or if you had to hand over the pile to a custom's officer when you are crossing the border via vehicle).

I found a good little tutorial here that gave me the basics on how to make a passport sleeve.  However, I wanted to add a functional "plane ticket" pocket to the sleeve.  I can't count how many times that I have gone to the airport and had to fish through my purse to gather my passport and ticket togther - they somehow always separate in the mix and jumble of going through security and then you need both again to board the plane!

I debated on a single pocket on an outside panel, or a continuous pocket throughout the exterior.  Asking my husband for his opinion, he whole heartedly voted for the continuous pocket and I agreed because I thought it would be easier and it would look cleaner in the end.  However, when I made the the first one, and tried to create the same sleeve effect by folding over the ends, there was way too much bulk because of the extra added pocket!  Back to the drawing board.  I couldn't stray too far because I had already measured and cut out all of the material.

I decided to make a passport and ticket wallet instead.  I also read that at the US customs, they make you take off any passport sleeves anyways, so I guess this worked out for the best!

Instructions for one passport wallet (fits Canadian, American and Australian passports)

Materials
1 - 6" by 12" rectangle from fabric A (exterior print)
1 - 6" by 12" rectangle from fabric B (coordinating lining)
1 - 4" by 12" rectangle from fabric A
1 - 4" by 12" rectangle from fabric B
1 - 6" by 12" rectangle of medium weight fusible interface
1 spool of coordinating color thread

1) Match the 4" fabric A to 4" fabric B, right sides touching.  Sew a 1/4 seam along one length.
2) With an iron, press the seam allowance "towards" the exterior pattern (this allows the exterior print to  "fold over" the lining print and so you end up with a cleaner look at the end.
3) Take the interface and match the fusible side with the wrong side of  6" fabric A.  Laying a large scrap piece of cotton over both layers, spritz water on to make the scrap cotton damp.  With the hot iron, press (don't iron) along the entire length of the material to fuse the interface to your fabric

4) Layer the pieces in the following order:
top = 6" fabric B with wrong side up.
middle = 4"fabric A/B pressed combo with fabric A facing up.  Match the open sides with the bottom of the bottom piece.
bottom = 6" fabric A with interface side down
5) Carefully pin so the layers hold together.  I found that just two pins in the middle work the best to keep the layers together, and allow me to line up the edges evenly while sewing.  I started with pinning it all the way around and found that it bunched everything and displaced all of the layers because of the interface thickness.
6) Starting from the top (the 12" side without the pocket piece) somewhere in the middle, sew a 1/4 inch seam all the way around the rectangle, but stop about two inches away from where you started sewing.  This leaves a hole.
7) Trim the seam allowance corners to reduce bulk.
8) Using the 2 inch hole that you reserved, turn the fabric inside out.
9) Carefully press the layers flat, making sure to fold in the edges at the hole also.
10) With the pocket side facing down, fold the right side 3.5 inches in, and press.
11) Sew border 1/8 inch from the edges all the way around.  Making sure to back-stitch a couple times at the junctions for reinforcement.
12) Fold the left flap over 3.5 inches in and press the fold and the entire project. DONE!