Maggie's Waitress Wallet
My son's sweetheart, Maggie, a college student and bartender, asked me to make her a wallet with the following specifications: neutral color, lots of room for paper money (tips!), three card slots, a detachable wrist strap and her initials stamped on it. The photos below show the result. The exterior leather is Montbelle from RML, the lining and strap are goat skin from Siegel Leather, which specializes in bookbinding leather. Tuck locks from Ohio Travel Bag. The hardware for the wrist strap is from Wuta, I think. I used a 3.85 Amy Roke iron with 0.6mm braided thread. F2 fileteuse tip.
One feature of the wallet that I could not figure out how to photograph: It has two "fronts." That is, I put a tuck lock on both sides. So, you can open it from either side, and it always shows a front face. People have reacted quite, quite positively to this. The downside is that the strap could potentially be lost because it is not sewn on -- not likely but possible.
Question: Ohio Travel Bag is the only place I could find small tuck locks (that I did not have to send back owing to their low quality). Who sells high-quality tuck locks that are small enough for a wallet like this (8" across)?
Question: The stitching is 3mm from the edge. Looks too far from the edge sometimes. Does anyone else have that reaction? If so, what's the spec on a project like this?
Feedback welcome.
@smithdal Yes, I think a finer stitch closer to the edge would frame this piece really nicely.
For this I would personally have gone with a 3.0 - 3.38mm iron and a finer thread for a tad more finesse. This would look more at home closer to the edge than 3.85mm with endangered tiger whiskers.
Regarding tuck locks, Abas in Italy sells them. Being Abas, expect a long waiting time, lots of money and high quality:
https://abasfashionaccessories.com/collections/tuk-locks
What do you think of the Montbelle leather?