Design Process

I've always had a history of wallet design, starting around 8 years ago. I was intrigued with the idea of duct tape wallets, and as a result experimented with making a couple different designs. I made a bi-fold wallet, a "magic" wallet, and a beastly tri-fold wallet that was full of features, including a visible ID holder, plenty of card storage, and even included a "magic" wallet section in one of the sections. After I completely wore out the duct tape wallets, I upgraded to a more professional purchased leather bi-fold wallet. It had suited my needs for the last five or six years, but recently started rapidly deteriorating. I began researching wallet designs for inspiration. I decided on a bi-fold style wallet as it allows for ample storage space while also maintaining a slim profile. I carry quite a few cards, so I wanted ample space for 6-15 cards. I also have always been a fan of a specific slot for an ID card, which makes it easy to present, so I decided a flap to hold my Driver's License was necessary. In addition, I wanted a couple hidden slots for any additional cards or items.I drafted a pattern for each card sleeve, and made the sleeves angled as a design feature and for easier access to pulling cards out. The rest of the wallet was designed around providing enough space for money to fit, and also accommodate for cards. Most of the material was sourced from the scraps of my backpack project, which was a great use of the expensive fabric. An initial wallet drawing was created which includes some rough dimensions for fabric sizing. A prototype was created to test the constructing process, and make sure steps were completed in order and dimensions were correct. The only change that was made was using some additional fabric as edge binding and switching the direction of the ID card flap. The only construction picture of the wallet can be found in the last image of the above slider.