Mini Necessary Clutch Wallet

My latest sewing project was a wallet... a Mini Necessary Clutch Wallet, to be exact. I made it to go with my  Sunrise Saddle Bag. Here it is!

The pattern is by Emmaline Bags and can be found here. I think there have been thousands of full-size Necessary Clutch Wallets (NCWs) made by now. In fact, there's a Facebook group called "NCW Addicts", as once people make one, they tend to want to make more, and they seem to be great sellers at craft fairs, etc. When I saw the pattern for the Mini, I thought that was more the size I wanted, as I'm not really a clutch or big wallet sort of person. Note that if you do decide to make the Mini, you also need to buy the regular NCW pattern to get the full instructions. I was fortunate to be able to buy them both on a 50% off sale, so it was like only buying one pattern. :)

I used the same pleather and fabrics (Jess's Holding Pattern barkcloth on the flap) that I used for my Saddle Bag, so they really are a matched set. I used a magnet snap closure for both. I even remembered to add my little label before it was too late to sew it where I wanted it. Ha!

Here's a side view. It's still a pretty good-sized wallet, and it can hold a lot.

Incidentally, I didn't even notice this myself, but my son did when he was examining it... look at the cool design at the top! That was not planned, but I love it!

It opens up to several sections. It has card slots on each end with a slip pocket behind them for holding paper money, receipts, etc. There's also a little zipper pocket for coins or whatever.

I confess that I used several of Erin (Erickson) Gilbey's Dog Under My Desk techniques instead of some of the NCW instructions when I put this together. I used her flap instructions from the Sunrise Saddle Bag pattern; the Essential Wristlet instructions for the zipper pocket; and best of all, the card slot pattern and instructions from the Encore Clutch because they turned out to be the perfect length (I just added a bit to the width) and they were so much easier than trying to do it the NCW way! So there are your tips if you decide to make one yourself. ;)

Here is my matched set!

I love them both, even though the wallet is bigger than I anticipated and takes up most of the space in the bag (which is only 85% of the original SSB size). But that's okay... this is my bag for traveling light, and I don't plan to carry much in it, anyway.