Making the Cosmetic Bags!

Each bag requires:

7 inch zipper
2 pieces of fabric (main outside) 5 1/2 inches by 9 inches (in a perfect world, you could              make 4 outsides from one fat quarter)
2 pieces of lining fabric 5 1/2 x 9 inches
2 pieces of fusible fleece 5 1/2 x 9 inches
1 piece main fabric 2 1/2 inches x 3 inches

Enclosing the Zipper:

1. Cut the 3 x 2 1/2 inch piece  into 2  1 1/4 x 1 1/2 pieces.
2. Wrap one of the pieces, right side against the zipper around to the back of the zipper overlapping the two sides.  This should be about 1/2 from the ends of the zipper.
3. Sew the tube down right next to this and then trim the bottom of the zipper.  Do this slowly just in case you judge where the bottom of the zipper is. Trim away the excess zipper.

1. Pull the zipper through so it looks like the zipper is closed by fabric at the bottom.

1. Repeat for the top of the zipper.  I would suggest opening the zipper up a bit.

Making the bag sandwich:

1. Unzip the zipper halfway.
2. Take one of the fused main pieces and center the enclosed zipper underneath it centering it on the right side of the fabric (wrong side of fabric will be facing you). Hold it stable with a couple of pins.
3. Take one of the iining sections and place underneath the zipper with the right side facing you.  Pin the three sections together.
4. Sew using a regular presser foot and sewing just a presser foot width from the side of the fabric (I would guess that is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch).  This keeps the stitches about 1/8 from the zipper teeth.  When you get about an inch from the zipper pull, lift the presser foot, and move the zipper to the part already stitched.  Continue stitching until the end.  This will give you a nice even seam.

1. When you have finished the above, do the same on the other side of the zipper.  
2. When this step complete,  you will have a zipper in the middle, the lining fabrics below and the main fabrics on top.

Completing the bag:

1. Trim the excess from the sides of the zipper so that it lays in line with the outside and linings.
2. Make sure zipper is all the way open (very important).
3. Put the right sides together of the outside fabrics and pin.  Do the same with the lining fabrics.  Make sure they are even where they meet at the zipper.  At the junction of the zipper, push the seams toward the iining and make sure that the zipper facing is pinched in half.  Do for both sides.
4. Start sewing about an inch from the sides of the bottom of the lining and sew all the way around until you are about 4 inches from where you started on the lining.  Backstitch and end.

1. Trim the seams neatly and cut across at the corners (to reduce the bulk).
2. Turn the bag by pulling the outside through the lining.  Use a knitting needle or large scissors to make the corners square and to push the junction of the zipper and the bag so it sits nicely.
3. Either hand stitch or machine stitch the bottom of the lining so that nothing can slip through.
4. Give it a little press!  Sometimes I press it along the way when I have finished making the bag sandwich.

Its a little darker on one side because I managed to squirt water on it when ironing but it is done!

This is what it looks like looking down on it.  I could have sewed a little closer to the bottom of the zipper but you can see how the little piece of fabric makes it look a lot more finished on top.

A Use for My Marbled Fabric!

I love to do fabric marbling but have really been in a quandary about what to do with the fabrics once I have made them.  For the most part the fabrics are somewhere between a fat quarter and a fat half yard of fabric.  I tend to use a lot of color when marbling and can actually get two prints many times -- one dark and one a nice light print.

This is a long long ago example (and not the best one) of a second pull -- hard to go through all those files to find one of the better ones.

The first picture is of my design wall with the 30 or so "cosmetic bags" that I made this week while binge watching the very old BBC Jane Austen series -- acting terrible but keeps closely to the original books.

This is a closeup of one of my favorites.  Each bag is lined and is approximately 8 inches wide and 5 inches in height.  They all have fusible fleece giving them some oomph.

I have wanted to do something with the marbled fabrics besides using it in clothing (which I have done successfully).  They get lost in a quilt although some pieces could easily be almost stand alone.  It is a very serendipitous process (doing the marbling) and you really don't know what you will get many times.  I have been collecting quilt patterns that feature nice fabric but somehow it just didn't feel right.  I have dutifully brought these pieces down with me (about a third of my stash of marbled fabrics) hoping I would find inspiration.  A friend used some of these fabrics to make lovely notebook holders which she gifted to my school group of online friends.  It was a great use of the fabric.  

Here are three more closeups.  They are fairly easy to make.  I will put together a post on that as well for later!

I have a ton of 7 inch zippers that I bought years ago when making a lot of my own clothes.  Even back then I didn't use 7 inch zippers so not sure why I have so many (I used 9 inch zippers for skirts).  I have ordered a bunch of zipper pulls onto which you could add some sort of adornment.  Once I get these, I will see what seems right.  I have used thin ribbon in the past on the zipper pulls and that works well.  We shall see!