DIY Easy Makeup Bag Tutorial

DIY Easy Makeup Bag | Cosmetic Pouch. Free Sewing Pattern & Tutorial.  Step by Step Sewing

Making this toiletry bag is actually not difficult at all. It requires some insight and dexterity, but nothing insurmountable.

I used invisible nylon thread because I love these fabrics from Melody Miller and Cosmo so much that I don't want to ruin them with visible stitching.

Needed:

- outer fabric
- lining
- fusible web (pretty sturdy)
- waterproof fabric
- zipper of at least 35 cm
- yarn, plain, or nylon, as you prefer

1. From each fabric, cut 2 pieces of 35 cm by 29 cm. In total you will get 8 pieces.

2. Iron the fusible web onto the outer fabric. You may cut the interfacing 1 cm smaller (so 35 by 28). This will leave you 1 cm where the zipper should go.

3. Place the waterproof fabric on top of the lining and pin in place. Topstitch every 3 cm with invisible nylon thread.

4. Follow the zipper bag tutorial or the pencil bag tutorial to put your zipper in. With the former, your zipper will be nicely finished with “flaps,” with the other not.

Once you've stitched all parts to the zipper, this is what you'll get:

5. If you want a side pocket, this is the time to stitch it in. You make a side pocket by folding a piece of fabric in half, ironing the seams inward and stitching nicely. It is advisable to iron fusible interfacing on the inside for extra strength, possibly you can also add a piece of waterproof fabric. I omitted the latter because I didn't feel like topstitching again.

The height of the side pocket is up to you. This is 15 cm high. The only “difficulty” is positioning it correctly. You leave 1 cm seam value at the bottom + 5 to 5.5 cm you need to make the corners.

Once the position is determined, you stitch the three sides to one side of the lining.

6. Fold outer fabric and lining each to one side and close like a zipper bag. Make sure your zipper is (half) open and leave a hole in the lining to turn the whole thing over.

You then get a giant zipper bag.

7. Put your hand through the turning hole a take a corner. Decide for yourself how wide you want the bottom. This is related to the height of the side compartment. So you should definitely keep those two in mind.

8. Draw the corner through the turning hole. Take a drafting triangle and make sure that the perpendicular line is right on the seam and both sides of the drafting triangle follow the fabric. (Not quite like this so, but photographing with 1 hand while the other is holding a toiletry bag AND a drawing triangle is not what you would call obvious).

9. Topstitch to the desired height. I stitched so that I had 5 cm on each side. When turning, the result was a width of 11 cm.

10. Do this for all four corners (2 outer fabric, 2 lining). You may topstitch the corners of the inner lining at slightly more than the outer lining, so if you took 5 cm for the outer fabric, now topstitch at 5.3 to 5.5 cm. That way, the lining will sit “stretched” better in the bag.

11. Close the retaining hole with the invisible closing seam.

12. This is the result!

Tip: You can also stitch the triangles that are between the two fabrics. This gives your bag a little more strength.