Easy Travel Makeup Bag Sewing Tutorial
This easy travel makeup bag is so cute, you’ll want to make one for everyone you know! I love the monster print fabric I used for the outside of the bag. And of course, this bag can be used as a pencil case or coin purse, as well. Happy crafting!
Tools and materials:
- Outer fabric
- Lining fabric
- Interfacing fabric
- 9-inch zipper
- Scissors
- Pins or clips
- Fabric chalk or pen
- Sewing machine
Cut fabric and interfacing
I cut one piece of outer fabric, one piece of lining fabric, and one piece of interfacing, each of which was 23 centimeters (9 inches) long, and 33 centimeters (13 inches) wide.
I also cut two small pieces from the same fabric I used for the lining, each one 6 centimeters (2.5 inches) long and 8 centimeters (3 inches) wide.
Iron the interfacing onto the outer fabric
I laid the interfacing fabric on the wrong side of the outer fabric piece and ironed it on.
Layer the zipper between the fabric pieces
Next, I turned my outer fabric so the right side was facing me, and laid the zipper along one edge, right side facing the fabric. On top of that, I layered the lining fabric.
Then I clipped everything in place.
Sew the zipper into the fabric
To sew the zipper into the fabric, I opened the zipper partway and sewed along the outer edge of the fabric until the point where the zipper was still closed. Then, I closed the zipper back up and continued sewing along the edge of the fabric until the end.
Pin the fabric to the second side of the zipper
Next, I flipped the lining fabric behind the outer fabric, so the zipper was exposed. I opened the zipper partially, then folded the outer fabric upwards and pinned it to the farther, unsewn edge of the zipper.
Then I flipped the whole thing over, so the lining fabric was facing me.
I folded the lining fabric up, and pinned it to the unsewn edge of the zipper, as well.
Sew it in place
Once again, I sewed along the edge until I reached the point where the zipper was closed. Then I zipped the zipper up all the way and continued to sew till the end.
Arrange the fabric
Once the zipper was sewn in place, I rearranged the fabric pieces so the outer fabric was on the outside and the lining was on the inside, instead of being folded side-by-side.
Then I flipped it so the lining was on the outside and the outer fabric was on the inside.
Snip the corners
I cut a very small piece off the corners of the outer fabric.
Put the zipper in the middle and pin
Next, I folded the fabric so the zipper ran down the middle, instead of along one edge, and pinned all the layers of fabric together on either side.
Fold the small fabric pieces
Next, I moved on to the small pieces of fabric I had cut. I folded the shorter edges of each rectangle inwards about 1 centimeter (half an inch) and ironed it flat.
Then I folded it down the middle, so the ironed edges were opposite the fold, and pressed it flat.
Step: Sew down the edges
I sewed along both long edges of the rectangle.
Fold the tabs and insert them between the outer fabric
I folded the tabs so the raw edges met, and then placed the folded tab beneath the zipper, between the two layers of outer fabric, so the folded edge was on the inside, and all the raw edges were aligned. I pinned both tabs in place and sewed them down.
Mark and pin the corners
In each of the four corners of the bag, I marked a 7.5 centimeter (3 inches) line and pinned the edges down.
Sew down the corners
Then I sewed along the line I had just drawn across each corner. Once I had finished sewing, I cut a very small piece off each corner.
Turn it right side out
Then all I had to do was flip the bag right side out, and it was complete!
This bag is ridiculously adorable. I love it so much! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I’d love to see how your makeup bag projects turn out.
Enjoyed the project?
Suggested materials:
- Outer fabric
- Lining fabric
- Interfacing fabric
- 9-inch zipper
- Scissors
- Pins or clips
- Fabric chalk
- Sewing machine
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