Perfect for bridesmaids gifts or bridal shower favors, one of my past brides Angela has posted a DIY tutorial for customizing a simple wallet using fabric and paint.

Angela – who you probably remember from her Italy wedding last October – recently started a new blog Travel Dummy. This tutorial (words and images) is borrowed from that site. Be sure to follow her regularly as I think she’ll be posting photos and tips from her travel, in addition to arts and crafts.

Angela is the best!

Text and photos below used by permission | Originally found on Travel Dummy

For Christmas, Devo (my husband), had promised to buy me the adorable-and-I-cant-live-without-it wallet I had been eyeing in the mall. Unfortunately, he travels for work and arrived home three days before Christmas. Of course, by then the wallet had sold out.

Determined not to take out my vengeance on him for not planning ahead and buying it before he left, I decided to buck up and reproduce that glorious wallet myself.

I went to Target and found a simple hard case wallet (almost the size of a clutch) covered in a shiny faux yellow leather with a good metal clasp.

Then it was off to the fabric store.

When it comes to choosing fabrics there are two things to keep in mind. First should be something for inspiration. I was looking for a ‘character’ to create a theme for the project. The point is to find something clearly defined and around 1/3 the size of the front of your wallet after you cut it out. Examples would be a cartoon character, your favorite flower or a wiener dog. Fabric featuring a fun and bright peacock (about the size of a baseball) was one of my top picks, but in the end I found the holy grail…Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Next I needed a second fabric as a kind of backing for my character, to make it stand out and add a little bit of dimension. The key here is contrast without being too harsh. My ‘Lady’ fabric is pretty colorful and detailed, so I looked for fabric that was more abstract with deeper tones. Make sure the backing fabric also has clearly defined images, like large flowers or circles, you will need clean lines to cut along.

Speaking of cutting…lets do some shall we?

Carefully cut out your character. For me, it was a bit of a challenge since the image is repeated and overlaps itself. Just find what looks good to you (and make sure it is no larger than 1/3 the size of the front of your wallet!) and cut! Repeat with your second piece of fabric, though this piece should be larger than your character since it is going behind it and you probably want to be able to see it. It’s ok if this piece wraps around the back or down the sides of your wallet…thats what scissors are for.

Step 5 – Lay your backing fabric down on the wallet and trace around it. Why? That pleather has been treated and will most likely not hold glue…you gotta sand that sucker! So after you do the tracing, give the parts that will have glue a little sanding with fine sand paper…it just needs a little! Please don’t rip your wallet to shreds!

Alright! Glue glue glue! Glue your little heart out! After you get your backing fabric down, you most likely wont need to do anymore sanding. The fabric glue will stick to other fabric silly! Bits of my ‘Lady’ were off of the backing fabric, so I had to sand a little bit more before she could be glued on.

Last step! Puff paint…yes…puff paint…dont judge me (you can also use generic fabric paint, just make sure it comes in a squeezable container). The edges of the fabric tend to fray, get hard, snag on things or just look unsightly. Follow the edge of the fabric of your character with whatever color puff paint you desire to hold the edges down and give it that little bit of pop it needs.