PREMISE
As you can read in “About me“, I try to be creative also at work and this project is definitely an example of this.
As Executive Assistant I have to collect monthly receipts and tickets that my manager provides to check business expenses.
Every month he arrived with a ruined envelope with business cards scattered in multiple pockets.
One day I decided that I wanted to help him to make order and I decided to create this very simple document holder with a pocket for business cards.
Here below I’ll explain how I did it.
Consider that the measurements correspond more or less to an A5 format, which would be an A4 folded in half. So you can fit in there also invoices from hotels which are often in the A4 format 🙌.
HOW TO DO
Firstly, choose an outer fabric that is a bit strong and rigid: I have chosen synthetic leather, which is a strong material: you can also find it easily and at a good price.
Then choose a fabric for the lining: it should be quite strong too because this document holder will be used often. At the same time it is still a lining, so I would consider a material lighter than the outer.
Here are the various steps to proceed (all measurements are in cm).
STEP 1
Cut a piece of the outer fabric of 40×22.
Cut two pieces of the lining: one of 42×24 and one of 13×10 for the pocket.
You will need also a small piece of bias tape for the pocket, about 12 cm.
Now we cut the triangle at the top to give it the shape of an envelope, in the image you can see the pattern I used. (in black the measurements for the outer and in red the measurements for the lining)
STEP 2
Let’s do the pocket now.
Take the fabric piece for the pocket and apply the bias tape on the top edge.
Now fold the side edges and the bottom edge by 1 cm, then press the folds with the iron.
Now we attach the pocket to the lining: the pocket should be sewn in the centre of part 2 (see pattern above).
In order to attach the pocket, simply sew along the folded edges with a seam allowance of 0.5mm: do not obviously sew the edge with the bias which will be the pocket opening.
STEP 3
Let’s now attach the lining to the outer.
Fold all the lining edges by the 1cm and press the folds with the iron.
Now join the lining and the outer, wrong side to wrong side, and sew all the edges with a seam allowance of 0.5 mm.
STEP 4
Now let’s create the shape of the envelope!
Fold the part 3 on the part 2 by keeping the lining inside. Now sew the two sides of the new pocket that has been created.
In this case, I sewed this part by hand because: although I had the needle for the leather, my sewing machine was struggling to sew it in double.
STEP 5
Now fold part 1 going down, covering the opening of the pocket created in step 4.
Now take the measurements and insert a button as you like.
To see how to insert an automatic button/snap fastener, like the one I used, you can watch this video I made about a diaper bag: from minute 12:08 there is an explanation of how to do it 😊
And now your document holder is ready!!
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