DIY Makeup Bag

Actually, I don't wear makeup on a daily basis. If it's hard enough for me to find the energy to brush my hair in the morning, why would I bother with makeup?

However, I do keep some cheap stuff on my person, in case I should have a business meeting or a date with my husband.

My method of storage is not so pretty.

Tired of toting around my crumply plastic bag, I whipped out some fabric, ribbon and elastic for an impromptu session with my sewing machine.

Isn't it a cute print? A $3 piece from my favorite store, Daiso, and I only used maybe a fourth of it for this project.

I should add a disclaimer here - it's not wise to do piece-meal construction without thinking everything through on paper first. Sloppiness abounds, to say the least - but in this case it's okay since it's one of those just-for-me projects.

I cut out two 9" x 15" rectangles (and yes, that's a totally arbitrary dimension). Iron out the wrinkles, and also cut out two 8.5" x 9" pieces for pockets.

I notched some 1" flaps from the pocket pieces.

Sew up your raw edges, then tack the pockets one at a time to the face-side of one rectangle. Sew the bottom and top lines, leaving a 1" closing flap, and the remaining 4" of pocket.

Now the tricky part, accordion-fold the side-flasp, using an iron to press the seams down. Sew the side-flaps down.

Pocket!

Repeat with the second pocket.

Next, I added a bit of elastic to the left side, to hold my brushes and pencils. There's probably a cleaner way to do it, but I just sewed lines straight down to divide the sections.

I did have to redo the lines a couple times to find the right size for each brush!

Finally, I added a big pocket to the right side, a simple one without an expanding pocket.

I tacked down a handle string to the top, and some ribbon for closing to the side.

Place the second rectangle on top, face-side down.

Sew around, leaving a small gap to turn the piece inside-out.

There we go!

Does everything fit?

I think so! Roll it up for easy transport!

Much cuter than the plastic bag, eh? Though in hindsight a sturdier fabric would have worked better. My thin stuff is a bit flimsy. And I probably shouldn't have been lazy by leaving the manufacturer's surge-ends showing. Ah well.

But wait! Did you notice? I don't have closures on my pockets. Fail!

I was going to use buttons, but my sewing machine is being a bum and not helping me make buttonholes. The easy solution would be to use velcro, but I hate how noisy it is. Any solutions? Snaps maybe? Zippers seem too cumbersome.

Do you have a makeup bag? Maybe one of those cute freebie ones that come with makeup purchases? I always see those ads and want the bag, but I'm never interested in buying the makeup.