Wallet Pattern Calculator

Every fold in a wallet has to wrap the leather around its own thickness, and thicker leather needs proportionally more slack at that fold to lie flat without cracking or straining the material. This calculator adds that thickness allowance directly into the shell width, which is why a thicker hide produces a slightly larger finished pattern for the exact same number of card slots and bill compartment choice.

A trifold folds twice instead of once, dividing the wallet into three sections side by side rather than two, so its overall shell has to account for three panel widths across the unfolded pattern. Each panel is proportionally narrower than a bifold's, since the bill compartment's width gets divided down for the trifold's tighter, more compact fold, but the total layout still spans three sections.

A cardholder skips the bill compartment entirely and doesn't need the extra shell width required for a fold, so its dimensions are driven purely by how many card slots you're stacking and their standard credit-card-sized footprint. Removing the bill compartment and the fold allowance are both significant reductions, which is why a cardholder generally needs meaningfully less material than a bifold or trifold with the same number of card slots.

No — the reported dimensions are the flat pattern pieces themselves, sized around the card and bill compartments they need to hold, without any extra margin added for stitching or edge finishing. Depending on your stitching method (saddle stitch typically sits a consistent distance from the edge), you should add your own margin to each pattern piece before cutting your actual leather.