Cosmetic Bag of Felt Tutorial ~ Free-Tutorial.net

Sewing a Pretty Spring Vanity-Case of Felt and Fabric Tutorial

I offer you to sew a very spring vanity-case. I also want to show how you can combine felt with cloth and leave it, at the same time, the main working material.
You need:
- thick felt 1.2 mm
- matching fabric
- a little fusible webbing
- zipper
- decorative elements — a piece of cotton lace, iron-on image and light colour felt for it
- metal findings

The pattern is simple, but I still prepared it for you in a printable form, the best format is an A3 sheet of paper or two glued A4 sheets. The size of the ready vanity-case is 21 cm by 15 cm by 6 cm.

The pattern is printed and cut out along solid lines. Take one piece of felt and two pieces of fabric. Lining is also cut from felt - glue the two pieces of the pattern along the dotted lines and cut out one more felt detail. Rememmber to transfer all dotted markings on material — careful transfer is practically the key to success :)

Pay attention that the fabric is duplicated with fusible webbing to prevent fraying.
So, make the outer side of the vanity-case: sew the felt piece with cloth.
*By the way, Ferrero Rocher boxes are perfect for storing threads, you can see everything inside and the size is great :))

Stitch felt with fabric on both sides and iron the seams. It's high time to add lace if you want.

Just lay the lace along the seam and sew with zig-zag or, better, with a beautiful decorative stitch.

Now it is the time for iron-on image.
1. Cut out the desired image along the contour from an iron-on sheet. It can be cut with or without seam allowances, as you wish. The piece of felt to transfer on should be a little larger than the image. Only light shades of felt are suitable for this work, I took pale cream colour, 1.0 mm thickness.
2. Clear felt of all dusts and hairs, otherwise they will be visible. Sticky roller is perfect for that.
3. Put the picture with the plaid side up on the felt. Meanwhile, warm up the iron.
How to select the right temperature? It is necessary to select the temperature mode by a test for each felt. The test: take a scrap of felt and lay it on the iron. Gradually add temperature until the felt begins to curve at the corners, then low down temperature a little bit. Thus, you find the maximum temperature at which felt doesn't melt for 30-45 seconds.
Pay attention! Don't be afraid to add temperature. The hotter the iron, the more iron-on paper likes it. Or there's a danger to spoil your work when the image doen't trasfer on felt.
Don't be afraid of all these difficulties, make this test to know exactly how to warm the iron.
4. When the temperature is selected, just put the iron in the middle of the image for 25-30 seconds :)

5. Take the iron away and allow the pattern to cool down completely. I do not recommend to remove the protective layer from hot felt — the picture loses its gloss.
6. Trim the excess of felt while all cools down. Not necessarily, but I usually do it at this step. I recommend to use a sharp knife, not scissors.
7. Finally, remove the protective layer, gently hocking it from a corner. It is easily removed when all is done correctly.
8. Here it is, here it is — tears of joy!

And sew it to the main dateil.
A lifehack: glue the picture with a stationery glue on the back side to fix it to felt before stitching.

Use any cute stitch.

Now you can sew in the zipper.
Take a thin (not like mine) needle and a contrasting thread for tacking on. Insert the zipper into the slot of the upper side of the case and tack on.

Take the lining and evenly combine it with the outer side to which the zipper is sewn.

Pass the needle to the inner side and continue tacking the second round through two layers of felt at the same time.

It turns out so:

Stitch it on the machine and take the running thread away.

The backside:

Cut off the excess of the zipper and scorch with a lighter.

The perimeters of the outer side and lining are left. Fold the parts in half, face to face.

Stitch the side seams and the bottom of the vanity-case on both sides. Remember to leave a hole for turning in the bottom of the lining. And undo the zipper :)

Carefully cut off the excess of the material along the completed stitches.

Now make all four tucks and again cut off the excess.

The vanity-case is ready, turn it outside in, gently straighten all corners and sew the hole for turning.
You could stop here, but I wanted a "cherry" — a tassel on the zipper.
Take a piece of felt and line it as shown in the photo. Step a little from one edge.