HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE MAKEUP BAG (A TUTORIAL)

I love making these bags, they come together quickly and the zip ends make them look so professional, you can also make them with just a few fat quarters.

What you will need:

I make most of them with an 8 inch metal zipper, that’s just personal preference, with simple maths you can make them any size you like. I’ll explain fully at the end.

Use whatever outer fabric you like, (for this one I use tweed but any cotton or canvas will work, don’t use any fabric that is very light or that has any stretch)

Outer fabric cut two squares both 10 inches by 10 inches

Lining fabric cut two 10 inches by 10 inches

Two zip ends 2 inches by 4 inches

Two squares of fusible fleece interfacing (I use Pellon 987F) 9.5 inches by 9.5 inches.

Iron & ironing board

Sewing machine, zipper foot & regular foot

 

Get the ironing board out! Fuse the fleece to the outer fabric, if you have a steam iron, put it to medium heat and high steam and take your time to fuse it in the middle, leaving half an inch on each side. If you don’t have a steam iron you can use a damp cloth.

Iron all the other fabric pieces too.

Fold the zipper ends, fold about an inch in on each side and then in half, see picture below.

 

To the sewing machine!

Put the zip in between the zipper ends.

Sew the zipper ends onto the zipper using a straight stitch

It should look like this:

Now you are going to attached the zip to the fabric.

Taking your outer fabric lay it on a flat surface right side up, place the zipper on top opening side down, then place your lining fabric on top. I’m using plain fabric here so it doesn’t have a right or wrong side but if you are using patterned lining fabric you would put this right side down. The below picture may make it clearer.

Don’t worry if the zip ends are a bit long and stick out, you can trim them after sewing if you like, pin the zip and head to the sewing machine.

With your zipper foot on sew slowly along the top line of the zip, when you get near the zipper pull leave your needle in the fabric, lift the foot, unpin and open the zip, then continue to sew along the line. Below is what it should look like, take your time with this part, zippers can be tricky.

the inside

This is what is should look like from the outside

 

Do the exact same on the other side, but you will now need to open you zipper, so outer fabric right side up, open zipper with pull facing down and your lining fabric on top.

Again slowly sew along the outer part of the zip, stopping when you get near the zip pull, this time you will unpin and close the zipper.

Yay, you’ve now sewn the zipper in!

It should look something like this when you open it out.

Top stitch the bag:

Top Stitching has two benefits, it makes the bag look more professionally finished and it stops the lining fabric coming up and getting stuck in the zipper.

Iron your bag flat as the picture is above so outer fabric on top of lining fabric and zipper in the middle, give the lining fabric a gentle pull away from the zipper, it needs to be as flat as possible, pin the layers at the bottom and zig zag stitch along the sides of the zipper with your regular sewing foot, stitch as close to the top of the fabric as you can.

 

 

It’s hard to see on the outer fabric in the picture above because of the colour of the tweed but you can see it on the lining.

Sewing the bag together:

OPEN YOUR ZIPPPER! this is so important and if forgotten will lead to some serious swearing at the end!

Lay your fabric on a flat surface, with the zipper open, line your outside fabric up right sides together on line you lining up right sides together, it should look like this:

Your zip ends should be pushed down into the lining side 

Starting at the lining side start about 3 inches from one side, sew all around the bag with about a half inch seam allowance, sew through the zip ends as the picture shows above, leaving a gap for turning at the bottom of the lining about 3-4 inches wide.

Corners:

Next step is to add the corners to the bag. Unpin the bag and bring it to a flat surface, with a ruler make 1.5 inch squares in the bottom of each corner, cut out each square. It should look like this:

 

Now pull the corners together so they look like this:

Pin and sew along the line, use your back stitch function here and sew over your stitches a few times, I usually do it three times, the last thing you want is your corners to go, again about a half inch seam allowance.

 

Once you have this done on all four corners you are ready to turn your bag right way out.

Through the gap that you left at the bottom, reach in and pull the bag through, this is why the zipper has to be left open if you left it closed you won’t be able to reach through.

 

 

Use your hands to push the corners out fully and pull the zip up, push the zip ends upwards and then pull out the lining flat.

 

 

Sew the gap closed:

I usually just zig zag along the gap but you can hand stitch this so that it’s not as visible

Push the lining down into the bag and make sure it is completely turned out and pulled up.

Ta-dah! You’ve made a bag, it should look something like this:

 

 

 

 

Now the maths I promised! The only rule with this bags is to cut your outer and lining fabric 2 inches wider than your zip, so for an 8 inch zip cut the fabric 10 inches, for a 6 inch zip cut the fabric 8 inches and so on. I have used a square but its the same principle to make it a rectangle.

The size of the squares that you cut for the corners will determine the base width of your bag, the one I have made with 1.5 inch square corners will end up with the bag having a just over 2 inch base (you loose a bit to the seam allowance on the corners) If you want a wider base you would cut bigger squares so for a just over 4 inch base you would cut 2.5 inch squares. The only thing is they must be equal squares.

 

I really hope the above tutorial is clear, any questions? Just shout!

Fantastic suppliers and where to find them!

Below are some of the wonderful places I buy fabric, interfacing, zips and other bits and pieces from, most of them are small businesses and are excellent to deal with. I will add to this list over time and will only recommend suppliers I have personally used and liked.

 

Locally:

My local sewing go to is Stitch n Knit in Athlone, Stephane is the lady who runs it and she is just the best, I buy most of my zips here, some interfacing and fabric and the majority of my thread. She also offers and excellent embroidery service and is great for a chat. If you are ever passing through Athlone do call in!

Tweed:

If you’re looking for Irish Tweed I would highly recommend Hanley’s in North Tipperary, they have some beautiful tweeds and have been weaving for years. They are not as well known as the famous Donegal Tweed but in my opinion they are just as nice. They are also a lot more reasonably priced. They don’t sell tweed by the length online so you will have to visit, but trust me its worth it!

 

Online:

Fabric

The Crafty Mastermind– great for all types of fabrics, I get the majority of my Rifle Paper Co. fabrics from Melissa, orders always arrive super quick, they are so well packaged and she throws in sweets too!

Bob Bob Bobbin – I get all my plain canvases from Kaz and some lovely cottons too, again shes super quick with postage and everything is amazing quality.

M is for Make – Another great fabric site based in the U.K. there’s a beautiful selection of fabrics, including one of my favorites Kokka

Love Fabric – A great little Irish site, lovely cottons and canvases here, fast delivery and the odd free sample!

Textile Express – I really want to go to Textile Express in real life but for now I have to suffice with online ordering, they have a huge array of fabric, faux leathers and vinyls. Great quality and delivery too.

The Village Haberdashery – Another place I want to visit in real life, a crazy selection and not just for fabric.

 

Interfacing

The Limerick Quilt Centre – great for Pellon fusible fleece and regular interfacing too, they also do a great range of fabric. You can order online and delivery is free on orders over €50, just be careful on the postage as they courier everything so it can be expensive for smaller orders.

Bobbin Girl –  Alison does a great selection of interfacing, hardware and straps, she must live in the post office to get the orders away as quickly as she does, always great quality.

U-Handbag – Another great site, they also sell patterns alongside interfacing, hardware and straps.

Hardware

Along with Bobbin Girl and U-Handbag, Bag Clasps are another great U.K. site.

Adam Venture is another great site for hardware.

How I started sewing.

 

Do you want the long story or the short story?

I’ll try keep it snappy, I had worked 13 happy years in the hotel and catering industry, I loved it and hated it in equal measure but I was good at it, it was all I had ever done since getting a job washing pots in the local hotel when I was 16.

Then I found out I was pregnant (YAY!) but what was I going to do afterwards, my partner is a chef, he had to work unsocial hours, would I do the same? Who would mind the baby? Was I going to have to work just to pay a creche to raise my child? Slight  mental breakdown followed…

So I had Peadar and I decided a career change was really the only option, I went back to training and did a course in administration in order to get the coveted office job. I was lucky and got into a grand little job in a shop office, I count the tills, fill the ATM and keep the books right, happy days! But my god was I bored.

And we were broke, Aidan (partner in life and crime) was running his own place and taking very little out of it, I was working about 15 hours a week and we were skint, Christmas was coming and we had no money to buy anyone anything. I had bought a sewing machine in Aldi and was convinced I would learn how to use it at some stage. It sat in a box for about 2 years until I decided I would make some bags for people for Christmas presents.

And that as they say was that, I was hooked, anyone I gave bags to loved them and I got the sewing bug, I kept making and perfecting until Aidan pulled me up one day and asked me what I was going to do with them all. And that’s where the shop came from. So here I am still working the day job and sewing at night. It’s great, I’m going at my own pace and messing up less and less, I’m getting to know some wonderful people through social media and in real life at craft fairs and life is good.

For anyone thinking of starting something themselves, I would totally recommend just going for it. I think it’s an Irish thing to run ourselves down and under estimate what we can do, but seriously if I can do it anyone can.