If you've got a wallet sitting in a drawer — picked up secondhand, never quite used, too beautiful to throw away — this tutorial shows exactly what to do with it. I take a bifold wallet with magnetic closures and turn it into a compact junk journal with two signatures, decorated pages, and a few finishing touches that make it feel genuinely giftable.
What we cover
Starting from an unmodified secondhand wallet, this tutorial covers making a fitting template, assembling and decorating two signatures from mixed papers, binding both into the wallet using a pamphlet stitch with waxed thread, and finishing the pages and cover with embellishments, tags, and a fabric tassel.
What you'll learn
How to make a fitting template for an irregular journal cover — the wallet has pockets, a central fold, and magnetic closures, all of which affect where pages can actually live. I show how to cut a scrap-paper template first, test it inside the wallet, and use it to size all your pages before cutting anything precious.
How to assemble a mixed-paper signature with intentional variety, including:
- Selecting a range of pages — scrapbook paper, magazine pages, ephemera, smaller inserts — so that every turn of a page offers something different
- Aligning pages at the bottom fold and trimming from the top using the template as a guide
- Checking the full signature against the wallet before binding, not after
How to bind a signature into a wallet using a pamphlet stitch, including:
- Making a binding strip from scrap paper, folded and marked to create evenly spaced stitch holes
- Piercing holes through the wallet cover at the right position (not centred on the spine — more on that below)
- Pulling waxed thread through with pliers for tight, clean passes
- Finishing with a knot and bow, then working the signature gently into position
Why the binding position matters when your cover has a magnetic closure — if you bind right at the centre fold of the wallet, the two sides of the wallet no longer align when closed and the magnets won't meet. I show how to locate the binding point slightly off-centre toward one side so the closure still works.
How to add a second, smaller signature to the other side of the wallet — I use just four folded pages for the second signature to keep the overall thickness manageable. The process mirrors the first, with the same attention to binding position relative to the closures.
How to fix pages that fold or sit awkwardly after binding, including:
- Rounding the corners of pages that curl at the edges — a quick fix that makes a real difference
- Trimming pages that are still slightly too wide after binding, rather than accepting the awkward fit
How to embellish the finished journal without overfilling it, including:
- Inking edges and adding stencilled details directly on the pages before binding
- Sewing decorative stitching along page edges
- Clipping in tags, small ephemera pieces, and folded inserts after binding
- Adding a fabric bead and tassel to a protruding tag for a finished look
Tips & gotchas
Always make the template before you cut. It sounds like an extra step, but with something as specific as a wallet — pockets on one side, magnetic flap on the other, a central fold that can't be ignored — guessing page size means you'll be trimming twice or redoing a signature entirely. Cut a scrap-paper template, place it inside the closed wallet, and confirm it fits before touching your good papers.
Don't bind in the middle of the wallet's fold. This was the thing I had to figure out by actually testing the fit: if the signature sits right at the centre spine, the two wallet halves no longer close flush and the magnets won't reach each other. Binding slightly toward one side keeps everything aligned. It's a small shift but it makes the difference between a journal that closes cleanly and one that stays slightly open.
Round the corners of your pages. Once everything is bound in, any pages that are fractionally too wide or too square at the corners will fold over on themselves when you close the wallet. Rounding the corners takes thirty seconds and stops that entirely.
Check fit before you bind, not after. After decorating the pages but before sewing them in, drop the signature into the wallet and close it. If it's too tall or too wide, trim it now. Trimming a finished signature is fine; unpicking a bound signature is not.
If you're adding a second signature, keep it small. Four folded pages on the second side was about the limit with this wallet — enough to feel substantial, not so thick that the magnetic closure was fighting against the bulk. The satisfying click of those magnets closing is worth protecting.
Once both signatures are in, you have very little room for thick embellishments — a tag or two, a small insert, a tassel on the outside. Test the closure after every addition. It's easy to get carried away and find that the last thing you glued in is exactly what broke the seal.
There's something about the wallet format that makes it feel personal in a way a standard journal doesn't. It tucks into a bag, it fastens properly, it already has little pockets built in. And it came from something that was just sitting in a drawer, waiting. That's the part of this kind of making I keep coming back to — not just the finished object, but what it used to be.
