zipper wallet

I started working on the stack of birthday ideas that I have for Logan.  My little man is going to be 4 in a couple of weeks, and this year I've decided to make him a few things.  I am probably going overboard with the handmade gifts, but since the creative bug bit me several months ago and the juices are still flowing, I better just take advantage.

I've never really made anything for the kids as birthday gifts.  At only 17 months, Trenton barely wants to unwrap gifts let alone show excitement over what's inside.  But at 4 years, Logan should be able to appreciate them.  After finishing my dad's quilt last weekend, I wanted to start with something small and quick.  So I chose to make him a wallet.

The idea came to me last week when the boys received $20 each for Valentine's Day from doating relatives (seriously, I don't remember ever getting more than a 2x3 inch Care Bear card for Valentine's Day when I was little--inflation I guess).  We told Logan that he had to save half of it but that he could use the other half to buy whatever he wanted to begin introducing him to the concept of money.  It occurred to me that there would be many more of these deals in the future, so I decided to make him something in which to carry his winnings (when he opened the first card with $5, he cheerfully announced "Oh my gosh, I won $20!").

This is the front.  Kinda plain for a kid accessory, so I might have to do something about that before the big day.

It's a tri-fold (my favorite) so it opens up a little big.  I included a place for a few plastic cards.  No one has ever given him a gift card before, but I imagine someone will someday.  And if not, I'll get another copy of our library card.

I was originally going to put a little change pouch on the outside or in the middle of the open space.  But I couldn't get the idea to solidify, so I decided to separate the large inner opening into two pockets: one for bills and one for coins.  I attached a zipper at the top to keep all of the money safely inside. 

The coin pocket is to the right of the bill pocket shown above (just behind the card holders).  It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped (smaller and the lining got screwed up somehow so it's a little bulky even without coins), but I don't imagine that he will carry around pounds of coins.  I do think that he needs to learn the value of coins, so I wanted to incorporate a coin compartment somewhere.

And here is the back of the wallet with the surfboard applique that adds interest to an otherwise boring kid wallet.  I cut this from one of my favorite onesies that I pulled out of storage just before Trenton was born.  There was a stain under the collar, so I wasn't going to hand it down to kid number two.  But the design was way too cute to throw away, so I folded it away in a drawer until I could come up with a new use for it.