Cell Phone Wallet Pattern

 

So I have been busy with a secret project. It is coming together nicely and I am almost ready to start quilting it. Unfortunately I can’t show it. I have also been working on another small project. One of my issues with taking the dog for a walk is having my pockets stuffed full of my phone, keys, identification, and of course doggy poop bags. My girlfriend and I took a road trip up the island one weekend to go and see the quilt show that was happening in Nanaimo BC, while shopping in one of the stores I came across a pattern for a little cell phone wallet. I thought, great that will solve some of my problems so I picked up the pattern. Tuesday I decided to try the pattern out.

 Upon completing the project I discovered two major design flaws. One, the bag is too small for today’s larger Smart phones. The pattern was new, the format came out at this year’s quilt market, however it turns out the design was a regurgitated one so I am not sure when exactly the pattern was designed. It obviously was not updated before being released in the newer format.

The second major design flaw is if you were to wear this purse across your body, as you would, and you were to open it up to get your phone out (if your phone would fit) your credit cards would fall out onto the ground. When I realized this I went back to the pattern thinking I made the mistake but nope all of the little inside pockets for your ID and credit cards are all facing down to the ground when the purse is opened. Hmm not good. So this is either a design flaw or there is a mistake with the pattern itself. Either way it is not good. Looks cute though huh. This could be used as a straight wallet and it would work well for that.

So back to the drawing board. I redesigned the purse so that it would fit my phone and switched things around so that the credit cards wouldn’t fall out when the purse opened. Here is my version of the cell phone wallet.

It looks the same but the body has been lengthened and I extended the length of the taps that hold the purse closed. The one on the left is my first attempt, it turned out fine but I was using the patterns recommendation of a 2.25 inch binding and although I switched up the instructions and sewed the binding on the front and brought it to the inside and machine sewed it down I still thought it looked messy on the inside so I made a third. The one on the right I shortened the taps a little bit and made the binding 2 inches. I am much happier with this design. Here is the pattern after I finished making my changes AND making all the corrections I found were needed.

Now this pattern didn’t have any measurement mistakes (other than the fact it won’t fit today’s phones). However, it had a lot of omissions. The illustrations were good and were the patterns saving grace. If the illustrations were not there this pattern would have been extremely hard to make given the lack of complete instructions. These were all little things but still, sometimes it’s the little things that can halt a sewing process in it’s tracks.

One example is on the first page (not shown in picture). The pattern called for drawing a line 3/4 inch up from the bottom on the 2 6.5  x 4 and the 1 5.5 x 4 inch pieces. Then in the next paragraph it went on to the next step but ONLY showing one 6.5 inch piece. The pattern did not mention that you were to do the same with all three pieces you drew the line on. Now did I figure this out. Yes! Would it have been nice to actually say that in the directions. You bet! I could go on with more examples but suffice it so say the lack of detailed instructions was the same throughout this pattern. Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine!

So all is well that ends well and I now have a cute cell phone purse I can take with me while walking the dog or anywhere I don’t want to lug my suitcase (purse) with me.

Life is short. If you don’t look around once in a while you might miss it.

Happy Quilting

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