Mini Make-up Bags

Every lady needs a little make up bag for her purse. I have been making these bags for about 8 years now and giving them out as small gifts to friends and family. I can make a bag in about 15 minutes if not embroidered. Adding some embellishments like embroidery will add a few more minutes.

Enjoy the tutorial! (Click on any photo to enlarge)

- Cut 2 lining pieces:  6 1/2" x 8 1/2"
- Cut 2 solid linen pieces:  9 1/2" x 4 1/2"
- Cut 2 printed cotton pieces: 9 1/2" x 3"
- scrap of same printed cotton piece for the applique of the embroidered bird
- Heat n' Bond Lite (optional) enough to applique the bird, follow directions on package
- One 7" zipper (I buy these in bulk at Zipperstop.com)
- Heavy Duty spray starch
- Tear Away embroidery stabilizer of your choice
- Scribbled Bird design, use the 2x3" applique

Starch all fabric pieces before starting

Sew each linen piece to each top piece to form the exterior of the bag. Add some tear away stabilizer to the back in preparation for machine embroidery. Place the hoop in the bottom left corner. Of course you can embroider the bird anywhere, I just like it in a corner.

Attach hoop to machine, place bird in desirable location (at least an inch from each side, and stitch placement stitch.

Stitch placement stitch first

Optional but recommended, fuse Heat n' Bond Lite to scrap for bird. Prevents puckering and fraying.

Second, place your fabric scrap over the placement stitching and stitch in place.

Remove hoop from machine and trim excess fabric from bird.

Finish the topstiching for the bird.

View from back. Always tear away excess stabilizer after embroidery is done. After embroidery, trim down exterior pieces to match the size of the lining pieces, 6 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Place zipper, face down onto your exterior embroidered piece of fabric.

Place one lining piece face down onto zipper and pin.

Sew the exterior and lining pieces together with a regular zipper foot. Move the needle all the way to the left and use the edge of your presser foot as a guide along the edge of the zipper.

Needle to left, stitch length of 3

This is what it looks like after sewing one exterior piece to one lining piece with the zipper.

Place the lining and exterior pieces sewn with the zipper, wrong sides to together, as seen below.

Then, following picture below, take the other lining piece and other exterior piece and "sandwich" the other side of the zipper between those two fabric pieces.

Pin together just like you did the first time. Lining, edge of zipper tape, and exterior piece should all have edges together.

Sew just like you did the first time.

This is how the bag should look now.

Pulling fabric away from zipper, iron and starch.

Make sure the lining is pulled away from the zipper as well. Iron really, really well or else it will get caught when you topstitch.

Now you can topstitch, both sides. Use the same settings for your machine as before: needle moved all the way to the left, use the edge of the fabric as your guide, as seen below.

This is how it looks all topstitched on the front.

And from the back:

Unzip about 3/4 of the way down.

Place exterior pieces together (right sides together) and lining pieces together (right sides together.)

Where you see the Xs above is probably the most important part of this tutorial. The pins at the Xs have to match up perfectly, as seen in the photos below.

The black line marks the spot where you should pin and where you want the needle of the sewing machine to pass through.

Pin and sew through the black line

Make sure the zipper tape is going the same direction and make sure the topstitched lines match perfectly as well. You will place the pins (as seen in the Xs two photos up) at the exact spot at which you want the sewing machine needle to pass through. You want to sew far enough away from the metal of the zipper (or you'll bust your needle) yet still catch the zipper tape for a nice finished look.

Sew all the way around the perimeter (leaving opening to turn)  about 1/2"-3/4" seam allowance and trim corners.

Turn bag right side out through opening in lining, tuck raw ends of lining into bag and sew shut. (Don't you love my green chipped manicure!)

Tuck lining into bag, iron, and enjoy.

The Ruffled Tote Bag

This has to be the fastest tote bag I’ve ever made. No interfacing, just a simple rectangle and lots of gathers using my ruffler foot for the pink version. Or you can skip the ruffles as I did on the beige linen version. The pink is a 5oz linen and the beige is 7oz—both nice sturdy heavier linens for tote bags purchased at www.fabrics-store.com. I love that website—they ship fast too and the prices are amazing.

This tutorial isn’t very detailed, but if all you need are a little whipper-snapper and can figure things out on your own then all you need are the measurements anyway. If you need more details I suggest buying my “weekday tote bag” pattern for TONS of photos and directions to basic bag making.

First, draw up a pattern using these measurements:

For the ruffled version, cut 2 of the lining using the full pattern, then fold on the 6.5” line and using just the upper piece, cut 2 out of the pink linen.  For the ruffled bottom cut 2 strips 6.5 tall by approximately double the length, or 32”.  (To eliminate the ruffles use the full pattern piece to cut 2 of the exterior, two of the lining.) For the straps, cut 2 pieces 3”x 23” or whatever your desired length would be.

To embroider a border,  hoop some stabilizer and spray with temporary adhesive spray. Place your upper bag piece so that the border will stitch 1/2”-1” above bottom raw edge. It doesn’t matter if the border stitches off of the fabric on the sides—in fact that’s preferable because you want the border to go all the way to the edge. I think stitching this design took 8 minutes. Nice and fast. I stitched in a pale pink.

Now you’ll make the ruffle part using your ruffler foot. If you don’t have a ruffler foot, my apologies, you’ll have to gather with two long basting stitches and pull to form gathers. The ruffle on the bottom is what it will look like before ironing. The ruffle on top is after I ironed the ruffles/pleats in place with lots of steam. This is why using linen is soooo great for this project—holds creases really well.

The ruffler foot is the best invention for sewers. Ever. I’d rather put a hot poker through my eyeball than gather ruffles with basting stitches.

Attach ruffle to your embroidered top piece. Place your pattern back over and trim excess ruffled fabric away.

Use the excess ruffle to make a cut pocket on the lining.

To make the straps, pretend you’re making double-fold bias tape—you’ll fold in the raw edges on the long side towards the middle, then fold in again, iron in place, stitch to bag front and back. You’re finished straps will be approximately 3/4” inch wide. Linen is sturdy enough that you don’t need any interfacing for straps this skinny. (Wider straps would need interfacing.)  Attach straps to your bag exterior in a pleasing manner, baste in place:

Assemble the lining in same manner, leaving the bottom with 8” opening. Sew the bag to the lining, right sides together around top, pull lining through, topstitch the top of bag and don’t forget to sew the lining shut. I opted to have some pockets inside but you don’t have to:

Yummy, ain’t it?

The “scribbled marbles” embroidery design can be purchased by clicking here.

The beige linen version is even faster without ruffles:

The “tall grasses” design can be purchased clicking here.

Happy stitching!