I know I’m definitely not the first person to think of this, but I tried it yesterday and it works so well: using PVA glue (Elmer’s glue-all) to stiffen fabric.

The back-story is this: I finally needed a proper wallet, so I made one myself using some denim from old jeans. Unfortunately, it was way too floppy and the large pocket in the back for putting dollar bills was so loose it would let the bills fall out really easily. As a last-ditch effort to fix it before just buying a proper wallet, I decided to try mixing some glue with water and brushing it on the relevant compartments, then drying the whole wallet in a toaster oven with some pieces of parchment paper in the compartments to prevent them from getting glued shut.

Overall, it worked really well; drying took a bit longer than I expected because of how many layers of fabric there were. However, the fabric was stiffened a lot, and completely eliminated the aforementioned problem. The texture turned a bit rougher and the cloth now has the feeling of cardstock. I don’t know if it’ll ever wear out, or if the cloth will get really sticky if I put it in a sweaty pocket. My fingers are crossed.