Project by Katie Done at The Fabric Squirrel
I have seen a lot of dinosaur fabrics come through my craft room but this is easily my favourite. It is the latest Craft Cotton collaboration with the Natural History Museum and is called The Age of the Dinosaurs. There are 5 prints with realistic looking dinosaurs and their names on them. The colours are white, grey and green but with some hints of colours in the names. It is perfect for a 4 year old dinosaur fan so I used a few of the prints to create my little boy a wallet to keep his pocket money in. I added some felt teeth to make it extra roarsome.
YOU WILL NEED
· White Felt
· Bosal Double Sided Fusible Foam
· Sewing Machine with zipper foot
· Iron and Ironing Board
· Scissors
· 8" Zip
· 1m 1.5" binding
· Popper or KAM snap
METHOD
1. Cut fabric, the sizes are shown width x height.
White -
6" x 9"
Circes -
8" x 3" (fold in half and curve into the shape you prefer) x2
Green -
8" x 6"
2" Square
Grey -
8" x 7"
8" x 2" x2
8" x 3.5" x2
8" x 9"
Foam -
8" x 12"
2. Fold the small green piece of fabric over the end of the zip. Fold the edges in and top stitch into place. Repeat on the other side.
3. With the two 2" x 8"grey fabric pieces, sandwich and pin the long edges to the zip, right sides together and sew with your zipper foot on.
4. Repeat on the other side with the larger grey pieces. Now sew the opposite edges with right sides together. The zip will be enclosed inside. When this is done, turn it out and give it a press. See the picture below for reference.
5. Get your large white dinosaur material and place it face up. Now you need to layer up a few of the others. Fold the green and the grey in half, place the larger one on first with the edges lined up. Place the green one on top of that. On the opposite edge, put the zip compartment you have just made. Pin it all into place. Hopefully, the picture below will help.
Cut some triangles out of felt to make the teeth and pin them along both edges.
6. Top stitch all the way around.
7. Now stitch the flap to the top edge. Press it flat.
8. For the front of the wallet, sew the other flap to the front piece. You could make this one piece if you prefer but I didn't want my dinosaur’s upside down on this bit, so I sewed it on separately. You should have a foam piece the same size. Trim it to form the curved flap.
**If you don't have foam, you could apply some interfacing to the outside piece to add some strength and use wadding. I like the sturdiness and strength that the Bosal foam adds to bags and purses.
9. Layer up the outside piece, foam and inside pockets so everything is facing the right way. If you are using fusible foam, iron it into place.
I have top stitched the grey pocket down at this point. It falls on the centre line so helps it close, but you could do this before you layer it up if you prefer the stitch line to be hidden.
10. You could make some bias binding or use some pre made. I have made my own using the 45-degree mark on my ruler to cut diagonally across some green fabric. Make 1m of 1.5" wide strips. Press them in half long ways. Fold one edge into the centre and press it again.
11. With the edge that is not pressed, sew it around the edge of your wallet. The rounded edge is why you need to cut the binding on the bias. It allows the fabric to be manipulated around the curves without puckering. Press the binding round to the other side and either top stitch or hand stitch into place. I have decided to hand stitch.
12. To finish just add a fastening of your choice. I have gone with a green KAM snap.
I have made this with George in mind but with some swapping of fabrics and upgrading the fastening to something more grown up, this would be a great purse for young and old. If you give it a go, I would love to hear from you.
To see more from Katie, visit her on Instagram @thefabricsquirrel
Made by Katie Done for The Craft Cotton Company 2021