This leather bifold wallet was the first wallet design I ever created. I had made another similar wallet which inspired this one, but it just wasn’t quite right. The spacing seemed off and it had a weird unnecessary piece which I didn’t love. I figured it would be easy to make my own template and have the exact wallet I was looking for -it wasn’t.
Although pattern-making has a fairly steep learning curve and is an art in itself, I managed to figure out how to do it enough to spit out a few templates here and there (something I plan on doing more of in the new year). If you haven’t taken a look at my other templates, they’re all free to use. My most popular are definitely my long wallet and sunglasses case. Both of which have detailed instructions and a tutorial video.
Ok lets get into this.
Here’s What You Will Need:
- 1-2 sq ft Leather – Ideally two colours to give a bit of contrast.
- Normal leather tools – cutting tools, needle, thread, etc.
- Burnishing tools – I prefer to use Tokonole diluted 50/50 in a Grog Marker and a canvas cloth
- Optional but handy are a French edger and sander/burnisher machine
Building a Bifold Wallet
Making a bifold wallet is pretty straight forward, but if you haven’t made one before, it is important to note that the outside shell is intentionally longer than the inside. Getting these measurements right is crucial to a bifold wallet as the outside piece actually has a larger radius curve due to it having to envelope the inside shell and card slots. If you cut these two pieces to the same length, it will not look good when you fold it.
With that in mind, to procedure is simple. You cut out all the pieces from the template, stick them down, cut out the leather, then piece it together as you normally would. Punch a few holes and burnish a few edges and you’re laughing.
For detailed instructions, download the PDF down below or watch the video.
If you want, you can check out my other free templates here, otherwise click below to download the leather Bifold Wallet pattern!