In the 1700s, wallets were commonly made of fabric. Civilian men and women — including those who followed the Continental Army — used these market wallets to carry their personal belongings, slung over the shoulder. Civilians, and possibly some soldiers, would have carried them as they marched into Valley Forge on December 19, 1777. Here is how to make one.
Fabric wallets carried a variety of personal items. NPS photo.
Materials
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Linen fabric | Enough to fold into a long rectangle that can drape over your shoulder even when twisted in the middle. You can also stitch several swatches together into one patchwork piece |
| Linen thread | |
| Beeswax | A small chunk |
| Pins and a pincushion | |
| Scissors | |
| Tape measure |
Image from the National Park Service's maker tutorial on the 18th-century wallet.
Step 1: Prepare the fabric
Measure and cut the linen into a rectangle. To mark a straight cutting line, pull out a single thread along the warp — the lengthwise threads at the core of the weave (the weft threads run across them). This also keeps the edge from fraying once you cut.
Image from the National Park Service's maker tutorial on the 18th-century wallet.
Step 2: Mark the opening
Fold the fabric in half and measure to place the opening — a slit in the center of the wallet. Make it big enough to move things in and out comfortably, but not so big that they fall out when the wallet is twisted shut. Mark each end with a pin.
Gathering the materials. NPS Photo.
Step 3: Prepare the needle and thread
Wax the linen thread with beeswax. It keeps the thread from fraying, makes it stronger and makes the needle easier to thread.
Image from the National Park Service's maker tutorial on the 18th-century wallet.
Step 4: Sew the long seam
With a backstitch, sew the seam along the fabric's length — leaving the marked opening unstitched.
Step 5: Finish the long seam
Roll each interior hem under itself, pin it and finish with a whipstitch. This strengthens the seam and stops fraying.
Image from the National Park Service's maker tutorial on the 18th-century wallet.
Step 6: Sew the end seams
Backstitch each of the wallet's two ends closed.
Step 7: Finish the end seams
As with the long seam, roll, pin and whipstitch the interior hem of each end.
A completed wallet with finished seams and central opening. NPS photo.
Done — huzzah!
Your 18th-century wallet is complete. Now, what will you carry in it?
Park Ranger Jennifer Bolton models the finished wallet. Image from the National Park Service's maker tutorial on the 18th-century wallet.
Sources
Based on "Maker Tutorial - The 18th Century Wallet," Valley Forge National Historical Park, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Pictures an earlier version of this page left out were restored on 2026-09-26.
In these publicationsValley Forge National Historical Park
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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