Super Thin Tyvek Card Sleeve Wallet!

A wallet made of five Tyvek credit card sleeves, often used to package gift cards. Tyvek is a durable paper compound used for event bracelets and packaging envelopes. Glued together, these five Tyvek card cases make a durable, simple, small wallet. You can simply collect these as you receive gift cars. I actually bought them off ebay for $3 (for all five). This design easily holds eight credit cards and five bills (my current load).

Step 1: Cut thumb holes in two sleeves

Use your old wallet as a template and traced around the thumb slider with a pen on the Tyvek. These two sleeves will be the outer card holders. Once you outline the thumb slider, cut the hole out with a razor blade. Make sure to put an old or unused card in the sleeve so the blade doesn't cut both sides. Additionally, you should cut a quarter inch slice off the top of the sleeve (third picture) to shorten the outer sleeves relative to the rest of the wallet.

Comments

[orksecurity]

Nice design. Cards are my current main problem -- health plans, travel, discount... and finding a wallet which will handle them all, even if I put several in each compartment, has been a challenge. Some variant on your approach might do what I need.

[jfred79]

Just made mine. Works pretty decent. I used some heavy duty double stick tape that seems to bind it rather well. I then used some glue on the binding to make it a little sturdier. In all a nice design. Thanks!

[skullblue32]

I made my own wallet and it holds 12 cards and it has a money slot.

[hansengel]

TYVEK SLEEVES like the ones used in this tutorial are available in 10-for-$3 packs on eBay. The seller ships to continental US only, unfortunately.

[bleach815]

cool. if it very small and thin and can hold a lot of cards, then i can use it as an extention to mi other wallets just in case if mi other wallets run outta card holders

 

[escapefromyonkers]

  i am pretty sure the wallettt i bought is tyvek.  it is a nyc subway map folded 
origima style into a functioning wallett.  
i bought it at a store in the village but had to make some mods to iy to make it usable.  
The first problem was the materiasl was way too slippery.  i would take the walett out of my pocket and it would shoot out of my hand if i had a firm grip on it.. losse grip and it would just slide out.  i was worried i was going to lose my wallett so i had to use rubber bands on it for a while got the added friction in ,my pocket. 
i found some  clear spray acriylic that  is osed for traction on stairs, etc.
i gave the walleett a couple coats and every month or so i give another coat.
the spray acrylic solved the slip problem.
I had to glue a couple areas, as the folds were coming undone when opening it, no big deal. 
i have to remember to pick up a subway map and see if i can replicate the folds or try a different design.

i get compliments everyday at the cashiers when i pull out my wallet.
people always ask where i got it . 

The other good thing about the subway map design, is the grab and run thieves are  less likely to target you when paying for a item at a outside vendor. They think your holding a free subway map.

[janpogi09]

can we use index card making a tyvek wallet

[Dolye Kong]

Dave and Busters is awesome saw your power card thing

 

[csn1106]

where do you get the envelopes?

[gizi37]

at teh post office....

THERE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hooray!!! that means if you mess up, it really doesnt matter!

[marksbren]

I purchased the sleeves on Ebay. They were $3 for a pack of 5. I have heard you can get them from banks as well. They give them out to protect the magnetic strips on credit cards.

[Mr.Stache]

It is awesome but instructions are a bit unclear send a reply please :)

[magicboy]

hmm i don't understand can you make a video on making it and send it at [e-mail] thanks

[connorg60]

you said it there should be a video for the tyvek wallet instructions p.s. can you please right back connor

[magicboy]

yes and lol?

[connorg60]

thank you it helped allot and I have been making paper wallets past the few days and this is the best paper wallet yet and the best in the world

[mcbee]

ohoho, i can see your SUID card! :) this is a great idea. i never thought to do that, but i'll definitely start. it'd be a nice way to organize all of my gift cards...

[13struc]

You need better pics.. it is blurry

[my_2_cents]

great design, i made mine from paper though because i dont have tyvek

[Lunacake1111]

I'm going to make one for my boyfriend, I'm sure he'll think it's pretty cool. It looks cool, I just need to find where to get the paper. I may try the post office like darcitananda suggested. This is a really good idea though. Props. =]

[darcitananda]

technically, you aren't supposed to steal from the post office, but they have free priority mail envelopes made of tyvek. chances are you receive on in the mail, so you could justify using that. and it would be free. :) it would take a little more cutting creativity though...

[sexyguy76]

this is a really nice wallet.I made it also.

[muffinhead]

i made one with the card envelopes from target and colored the wallet black and the inside of the thumb sliders red. ill post some pictures later. thank you for this wonderful instructable.

[GunnerRecall]

I would recommend looking into the small wallets that Hot Topic holds and making an instructable on how to make one of those babies. It's a simple design. Clear slot for ID on one side, and three slots for cards on the other side and finally a middle pocket for $$$<br/>well here's the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/store/product.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302028819&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442162808&bmUID=1198224248497">link</a> to a slim wallet<br/>

[Kevin90210]

could i also make it using paper

[tylerars24]

I love tyvek, its great

[raykholo]

nice idea however, cant you just do what the riaa did, except with tyvek?

[arthurs0]

I definitely need to make one of these! Awesome!

[eliottgtz]

cool wallet. looks pretty simple to make. Wish I had thought of this.

[chooseausername]

Seems that the borders of your dolar bills are not protected by your wallet. That would be even worse with european bills that are all of different size according to their value. Also, as shown in your video, to get access to a card, you need to bring them all out of the wallet until you find the one you're looking for. The idea is probably good, but that's not the wallet of my dream and, contrary to " Dr. McPherson " i don't see the market (at least here, in Europe)

[marksbren]

Thanks for your post. Where to hold the money was something I contemplated for a while. I settled on having the edges not protected. If you fold the bills in thirds instead, they do not protrude from the wallet (I am not sure about European currency). Ultimately, my primary design goals were compactness and durability. If you have any ideas about how to keep the wallet compact and fully protect the money please let me know, I would love to improve the design. As for having to bring all the cards out to get the one you want, the video was using one hand (I was holding the camera with the other), in which case you are right. If you have both hands free you can access any of the four credit card pockets without disturbing the other three. So, at most, you would bring two cards out when you only needed one.

[collinkrum]

does it come in black? i'll take two.

[cnm]

Wow... that's a wonderful idea! Quick and easy to make...durable... and small enough to fit in the back pocket of women's pants :-) ... I wonder if it's possible to get colored sleeves somewhere...

[marksbren]

Yeah, I have heard you can. Washington Mutual gives out free blue card holder if your magnetic strip is wearing down. I am sure other banks do the same thing.

[DelBrennemanPDX]

Wow, the wallet is unique. Mine would be even thinner because I never have any bills. What an improvement over duct tape.

[daniellwu]

what a great idea! it's cheap and compact :)

[hankey]

wow thats a great idea, you are gonna be a smart businessman. we should talk, i'll send you an email with my business address and we can set-up a deal, I'd like to order a few hundred and see how they do on the streets of chicago. - Dr. McPherson,

[beccare]

that's the hottest wallet I've seen!

[Dabacle]

Great idea! I love how simple yet functional it is.

[D.I.G.]

I think this is exactly the thing I was looking for: small, unobtrusive, efficient, durable. Now I just need to look around the house for some old Tyvek sleeves.