The Necessary Clutch Wallet (NCW) from Emmaline Bags is very popular in the bag making community. The wallet is medium size, but you can fit your sunglasses, keys, or mobile phone in it!
After reading so many reviews and seeing so many beautiful NCWs in the NCW Addicts Facebook Group, I decided to give it a try. I have sewn two Penny Inn from Chris W Designs and I read that the NCW is similar. Sewing the Penny Inn is very time consuming (as it is with all Chris W Design Patterns). It is a big wallet! perfect for my mom and she loves it but it is too big for me!
If the NCW was similar or so I thought, I was hesitant to try it.
This is the Penny In that I sew two years ago!
The Penny Inn is larger than the NCW – It has a third set of card slots, space for your id, and two zipper pockets.
The wings are separate from the body and a pain to install. The snap never worked properly because I didn’t had the gold start presser back then.
I watched Jessica Cruzan’s video in how she is able to produce the NCW and her efficient techniques to sew it faster! It is a great video and I learned a lot from it. She calls the NCW Mahua Wallet.
Also the Sreamlined NCW Instructions published in the Production Bag Making Facebook Group has great tips to make the sewing process faster and efficient. With these instructions you can almost make this wallet without the pattern. The only pattern piece used is to draw the wings curve.
My first try was a disaster!
I used outdoor canvas for all the pieces and the final wallet was so thick that did’t fit in my Sailrite sewing machine. I also messed up the twist lock placement and made the hole too big. When trying to close it, the thick fabrics plus the large twist lock didn’t work.
This is what left of it:
My second try was ok, but not perfect. I used scraps of fabrics that I had and it was better. I used vinyl for the body of the wallet and cotton for the flap, card slots, and zipper pocket. I did the topstiching around the wallet from the inside and it didn’t look great on the outside. I also used a thin vinyl for the wings and I didn’t like how it looked. Also the inside zipper pocket and dividers were not tight .
For my third NCW, I used black and silver cork and is perfect! I used the flap from the Penny Inn and used the construction techniques from the video – The wallet C-section is brilliant!
Pattern: NCW and Penny Inn for the flap
Fabric: Black and Black and Silver Cork
Stabilizer: Foam Underlayment
I’m very proud of my cork wallet!
I added two D rings to use it for a strap and use it as a clutch or cross body bag.
For stability, I added boning to the zipper pocket and the divider; and for a nice finishing I used zipper tabs.
For the three wallets I used Foam Underlayment (commonly used for floor installations) and it worked great!
I used Peltex for my Penny Inn wallets and it creases when folding it.
Jessica Cruzan uses a Stiffy from Long Creek Mills, which is cheaper than Peltex (I haven’t try this one yet).
The hardest part for me was topstiching the wings over the card slots – it was hard to catch the card slots edge!
I enjoyed sewing this wallet and I’m planning to sew a few of these to give as presents for Mother’s day. Now I get why there is a NCW Addicts Facebook Group 😉
I’m in love with cork fabric, is so soft and beautiful! this is my third bag using the black and silver cork. The others were: Clover Convertible Bag and two Clutches.
I would make some changes for the construction of my next NCWs:
- added an id slot
- used double cap rivets
- Lengthened the flap by 1″
Happy Sewing,
Anabelle
