Easy Travel Makeup Bag Sewing Tutorial

Made at Home
by Made at Home
8 Materials
$5
1 Hour
Easy


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 the fabric

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.

Cut two small rectangles


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 fabric

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. 

Make a travel makeup bag

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. 

Clip or pin the edge


Then I clipped everything in place. 

Sew down the zipper

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 outer fabric to the zipper

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.

Flip it over


Then I flipped the whole thing over, so the lining fabric was facing me. 

Pin the lining to the zipper


I folded the lining fabric up, and pinned it to the unsewn edge of the zipper, as well.

 

Sew a travel makeup bag

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.

Travel makeup bag tutorial

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. 

Flip the lining to the outside


Then I flipped it so the lining was on the outside and the outer fabric was on the inside. 

Snip the corners

Snip the corners

I cut a very small piece off the corners of the outer fabric.

Small travel makeup bag

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 edges inward

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.

Fold in half


Then I folded it down the middle, so the ironed edges were opposite the fold, and pressed it flat.

Sew both long edges


Step: Sew down the edges

I sewed along both long edges of the rectangle.

Insert tabs

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.

Basic travel makeup bag

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.

How to sew a travel makeup bag

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.

Cute travel makeup bag

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.

Suggested materials:
  • Outer fabric
  • Lining fabric
  • Interfacing fabric
See all materials

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