Rachel Robin's Nest

Crafts, Projects and Recipes to Help Feather Your "Nest"

Quilted Placemat April 22, 2013

Filed under: DIY,Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 9:42 pm
Tags: , , , ,

This is the follow-up post from my DIY Fabric Napkins post.  I promised to tell you about how I used up the scraps.  Well, this is what I made:  A quilted placemat for the center of my table.

Blog 009

This was a fairly straightforward and simple project, so I have made an equally simple tutorial.  Please let me know if you have questions.

First of all, I trimmed each of the leftover strips to make sure that they were perfect rectangles.  This was necessary to make sure that the stripes were even.  Next, I decided what color order I wanted it to go in, and began sewing the strips together along their long edges.  As I went, I pressed open the seam allowances.

Blog 003

Blog 004

Once I had one long strip of fabric, I ironed a piece of fusible cotton batting onto the wrong side.

Next, I measured the finished piece, and cut a back out of another fat quarter.  I pinned the two pieces right sides together and sewed around the perimeter with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, leaving a 3-4 inch gap for turning.

Blog 006

I turned the piece right side out, pressed the opening to make it nice and neat, then top-stitched around the perimeter to close it up.  Lastly, I “quilted” along on each side of the joins between the fabrics.

Blog 007

Blog 008

And there you have it!  I completely used up all of the fat quarters from my napkin project, and most of another.  I hate having a bazillion tiny scraps hanging around, so if you’re like me, this would be a great scrap buster project.

 

DIY Fabric Napkins April 17, 2013

Filed under: DIY,Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 9:43 pm
Tags: , , , ,

This project made me so happy.  Ben’s family has some vintage cotton napkins that were salvaged from his grandmother’s cabinets.  They’re all different colors and patterns, but they just look lovely all together.  For those of you who know me, I’m not super into color matching.  In fact, my dishes are all different colors of Fiesta ware, because I prefer lots of colors instead of just one or two.

So I decided to make my own napkins, inspired by the ones from Ben’s grandmother.  I went to Joann’s and picked up 6 fat quarters, all in different colors, but all with floral patterns, so that there was a sense of cohesion.  Then I followed the fantastic tutorial for napkins with mitred corners at No Big Dill.  Since fat quarters are generally about 18″ x 22″, I just trimmed them to 18″ x 18″ squares before I began.

Blog 001

Blog 002

Stay tuned for a project using the scraps leftover from this project.  I only wasted a few crooked ends, but otherwise used every bit of all six fat quarters.  It was extremely satisfying to have so little waste!

 

Look what I made! October 8, 2012

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 3:08 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

My friend Erin over at Wicked Vegan has been having a tough time lately.  Some lady pulled a hit and run on her car in the parking garage at work, she’s going through a breakup, AND her checking account got hacked and she had a bunch of money stolen.  No fun.  I decided she needed some cheering up.

I’ve had these adorable kitchen towels kicking around since last Halloween.  I got them in the dollar bins at Target not knowing quite what I was going to do with them, but I finally figured it out.  I also used a leaf print for the lining.  You see, Erin is every bit as obsessed with fall as I am.  Possibly even more so.  So this is perfect.

I followed the Open Wide Pouch Tutorial over at Noodlehead.  I chose to do the “small” pouch, but there is a size chart to make three different sizes, so take your pick.  The tutorial is fantastic–beautiful pictures and clear directions.  Plus, Anna’s got lots of other super tutorials that you can use to make gifts for friends, and she also sells patterns that you can then use to make her awesome products for craft fairs.  Go check it out!

 

Sewing Tutorial: Grocery Bag Holder September 6, 2012

Filed under: DIY,For the home,Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 2:39 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

I know, I know.  You’re thinking, “Grocery bag holder?  But Rachel, don’t you use reusable grocery bags, like the eco-friendly pseudo-hippie we all know you to be?”  Well yes, of course I try to, but like the rest of the world, I don’t ALWAYS have a reusable bag on hand.  Or I don’t say “I don’t need a bag” fast enough and the clerk has already bagged my item and I don’t want to be an ass and make him/her take it out again.  So like the rest of the world, I end up with a lot of plastic grocery bags.  A. Lot.  See evidence below.

All of those bags were stuffed in that Whole Foods bag. Disaster.

This situation was not working for me.  And sadly, this is only a few months worth of bags.  I cleaned this cabinet out not too long ago.  It’s like they breed or something.  I tried to keep it organized by stuffing all the bags in another bag, but every time I opened this cabinet, bags would leap out at me, or I’d find them spilled all over the cabinet.  And tonight, at about 9pm, I decided that I simply couldn’t live like this a moment longer and had to fixitrightnow or I’d go crazy.  And so I give you this tutorial, and I hope it helps to keep you from going crazy over ridiculous plastic bag situations.

I whipped this up pretty much on the fly, based on similar products I’ve seen before.  A fat quarter of fabric is perfect for this project, but you could also use some scrap fabric in a similar size (18″ x 22″).

Sewing Tutorial:  Grocery Bag Holder

Materials:

  • fat quarter of fabric (or 18″ x 22″ish scrap)
  • 1/2 inch elastic
  • grosgrain ribbon
  • safety pins
  • general sewing stuff–pins, sewing machine, scissors etc

Directions:

1.  On the short ends of your fabric, fold over a 1 inch seam wrong sides together, pin, and sew down with a 5/8 inch seam allowance.  These will be the casings for your elastic and ribbon

2.  Fold your fabric in half lengthwise, right sides facing, pin, and sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, making sure to stop just before your casings–you don’t want to sew them shut!

3.  Cut an 8″ long piece of elastic

4.  Secure a safety pin to each end of your elastic.  Pin one end to the seam allowance of your tube, and use the other to thread the elastic through the casing.  This will take some patience, as it’s a tight fit.  Just keep scooting the safety pin along and gathering the casing as you go

5.  Once you’ve threaded the elastic all the way through, pull enough out of each end of the casing so that you can overlap the ends and pin them together.  Don’t let go of either end until you’ve got them secured!  Use the safety pins to pull back and secure the casing on either side.  You don’t want to sew the elastic onto the casing.

Not so pretty, but effective

6.  Secure the elastic with a zigzag stitch, back-stitching several times to secure

7.  Unpin the casing and spread it out so that the elastic is totally covered, and turn your tube right side out

8.  Cut an arm’s length of ribbon (I know this isn’t very precise, but I didn’t measure.  It’s better to start out with more, and then if you don’t like the length, you can always trim it down later)

9.  Feed the ribbon through the casing on the other end using safety pins, the same way you did the elastic

10.  Shuffle the casing around and center the ribbon, trim if necessary, knot, and you’re done!  Go stuff that bad boy with bags!

All in all I’m very pleased with how this turned out.  Whenever I’ve seen them in stores or at craft fairs, they’re typically some ugly fabric with roosters or floral or something, but this matches the colors in my kitchen perfectly, and I just used fabric and supplies I already had around the house.  Even better, I finished the whole thing in under an hour.  Best of all, it fit nearly every single bag I had stashed under the sink, and now I don’t have to look at them every time I duck under the sink for some cleaning supplies.  Phew!  Crisis averted!

 

DIY Hot/Cold Pack May 23, 2012

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 1:01 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

This is probably an over-share, but my boyfriend has an infected gland in his armpit.  Yeah.  Gross.  At first it was scary cause he had a lump and we didn’t know what it was, but now it’s just funny.  And gross.

He’s supposed to be doing hot compresses three times a day, but because it’s a huge pain to put rice in a plastic baggie and heat it hot enough to be effective but not so hot that it melts the plastic, he hasn’t been keeping up with it.  Therefore, I decided to be an awesome, caring, crafty girlfriend, and make him one myself.

This project is fast, easy, and very inexpensive.  The resulting pack can be heated in the microwave to soothe sore muscles or chilled in the freezer to ice bumps and bruises.  All you need is some soft fabric, a sewing machine, and some rice!

DIY Hot/Cold Pack

Materials:

  • Flannel or fleece fabric
  • Plain rice (not quick cooking)
  • Optional scents–essential oils, tea bags etc
  • Basic sewing supplies–scissors, sewing machine, pins etc

Directions:

1.  Cut two squares of fabric to whatever size you’d like–I made mine fairly small at 6″ x 6″

2.  Pin the two squares together right sides facing

3.  Sew all the way around the edges with a 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving about a 2″-3″ gap for turning

4.  Clip the corners

5.  Turn right side out, pushing out corners with your fingers or a chopstick

6.  Using a funnel, fill the sack with rice until it is a pleasing fullness

7.  If you’d like a scented pack, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, or do what I did and cut open a bag of your favorite tea and dump it inside!

8.  Pin the turning opening closed and stitch shut.  Make sure you completely close off the opening so you don’t have rice and/or tea spilling all over the place!

And there you have it!  Simple, fast, cheap and awesome.  Make a few to have around the house when injuries strike.  If you’re worried about it getting dirty, try making a washable pillowcase to go around the outside, using my Envelope Pillow Cover Tutorial.

 

Link to Tutorial: Makeup brush travel roll January 30, 2012

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 11:53 am
Tags: , , , , ,

OK.  It’s official.  I’m a Pinterest whore.  Now that I’ve started, I just can’t wait to make every single thing I’ve ever pinned.  Which is a LOT of things.  600 and counting.  So I’ll share with you today another project that I first stumbled across on Pinterest.  To be honest, I had thought about making myself one a long time ago, and was too lazy to get around to figuring it out myself.  Thankfully, Pinterest knew that I was not motivated enough to do it myself, and gave me this tutorial from Sew4Home for a travel makeup brush roll.  Using laminated cotton or oilcloth for the interior is a truly inspired choice–wipeable and ohsopretty!

This is my version, made for my dear friend Nikki’s birthday:

I was too lazy to go get actual makeup brushes for the picture...Oops!

You can see quite obviously from the photos that mine is NOWHERE near as nice is the ones in the tutorial.  I’m a lazy and impatient sewer, and I couldn’t be bothered to download and print a corner template, round my corners, and use bias tape for my edges.  Since mine didn’t come out quite so nicely, I won’t bother to make my own tutorial-you should visit Sew4Home and follow her instructions.  They are very clear and concise, with great pictures.

How did yours come out?

 

From Ugly to Awesome November 9, 2011

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 3:32 pm
Tags: , ,

My boyfriend Ben and I moved into a new apartment a few weeks ago, and it’s just lovely.  We were really excited to move out of our starter apartment (hot, dark, in a noisy, ugly brick building) into a nicer place (brighter, bigger, yard, porch etc).

I have been absolutely giddy over the details of nesting and decorating, and one of the things I’ve been meaning to do ever since we moved in is to make a sink skirt for the bathroom.  We have one of those stand-alone sinks that just hangs off the wall, looking sad and ugly.

I was really hoping that our new apartment would have some cabinet space for storage in the bathroom, but it just didn’t work out.  However, a sink skirt would provide some much needed style, and camoflage some of the stuff I like to stick in the bathroom, like cleaning products and the scale (which I use once in a blue moon anyway).

I really winged it on this project.  I’m sure I could have done a much nicer job and been a bit more professional about it, but when I decided to work on this, I had already had a glass of wine and was determined to just get it done once and for all, so forgive me if the directions are unclear.  Also, there are LOTS of sink skirt tutorials out there, like this no-sew tutorial from Curbly, or this one from Cheap Chic if you need some more help.  Basically, you just need enough fabric to go around the width and depth of your sink and enough length to reach the floor, some sticky back velcro and some sew-on velcro.

I decided to use this lovely Waverly home decor weight fabric called “Tres Chic.”  I wanted a fabric with a bit more weight to it so it would hang well.  I measured all around the edges of the sink to determine the width of the fabric, and then measured from the floor up to the base of the sink where I would be attaching the skirt to determine the length.  Since the piece of fabric I had was almost the correct width anyway, I just hemmed the edges to bring it to the correct width.  I needed to cut a few inches off the length, but I left enough for a healthy 1 inch seam allowance at top and bottom, so that the fabric would hang nicely and not flop all over the place.

After all my edges were hemmed (I did really sloppy hems-just a turn, press and fold instead of encasing the raw edges, because, like I said, I was a glass of wine in and feeling sorta lazy), I went into the bathroom to see where I needed to place my sticky back velcro.  I didn’t have quite enough to go all the way around the edges of the sink, so I strategically placed some pieces at the corners and in the middle, following the package instructions.  However, I HIGHLY recommend getting enough velcro to go all the way around, so you don’t have to finagle with matching up the velcro on the sink with the velcro on your skirt, which is what I did, and it was a pain.

Next, I needed to sew the velcro to my skirt.  I held the skirt up to the sink, and lined up the sew-on pieces with the pieces on the sink, pinning them in place, and then sewed them down.  NOTE:  Do NOT attempt to sew sticky back velcro onto your fabric.  You will ruin your needle and have a generally lousy time.  Trust me.  Again, perhaps if I’d not had the wine, I might have thought better, but, well, you know…

Anyway, once the velcro was sewed on, I stuck the velcro pieces together, and…

TA-DAAAAAA!  Oh so much better.  Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do about the mustard colored tile, but I think I can live with it.  At least now you can’t see all of the miscellaneous junk.

 

Reusable Coffee Cup Sleeve November 7, 2011

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 2:07 pm
Tags: , , , ,

I’ve been going crazy lately trying to come up with awesome, easy, fun projects that I can whip up for the upcoming Holiday Bazaar at work.  I’ve been scouring my favorite blogs and pouring over pins on Pinterest, and there’s SO MUCH out there that at times it’s completely overwhelming.  Seriously.  Go check out Pinterest.  You’ll probably be there the rest of the day.  It’s ok, I understand.  I’ll still be here when you get back.

This week I finally found something that I think is absolutely perfect for the upcoming holiday season:  reusable coffee cup sleeves.  I don’t know about you, but when I’m Christmas shopping, there’s no better companion than a hot cup of something.  Even though during the rest of the year, I really try to avoid spending $5 on a coffee and generally make my own, during the holidays I’m a Starbucks junkie, and have been known to make multiple stops on one outing.  Their holiday drinks are just so good I can’t help myself!  Go try a white chocolate peppermint mocha.  Yes, I know it’s amazing.  You’re welcome.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand:  I try to use a reusable mug whenever possible, but sometimes carrying a travel mug in my purse just isn’t feasible.  I like to carry a smaller purse when power shopping so I have more hand and arm space for shopping bags.  A cup sleeve, on the other hand, hardly takes up any space at all, and is totally cute and fun.

Rather than stealing a pattern from someone else in the blogosphere, I used a lot of trial and error on this one to come up with something all my own.  I took a cardboard cup sleeve from Starbucks and used it to create a couple of templates to help me out.  It took me a couple of tries, but I think I’ve finally got it right!

Reusable Coffee Cup Sleeve

Materials:

  • Cardboard coffee cup sleeve from your favorite shop
  • 2 fabrics in coordinating colors (or you can use just one)
  • Button
  • Hair elastic
  • Cardstock (to make some templates
  • Cotton batting
  • Sewing basics like scissors, sewing machine etc

The first thing I did was disassemble the cardboard cup sleeve and lay it out flat on top of my cardstock.  I traced it pretty much exactly-I just smoothed out the edges where it tucks underneath, because it was a funky shape.  This true-to-size template will be for the cotton batting, because you don’t want to bulk up your seams.

Next, I traced the sleeve again, but added 1/4 inch all the way around to include seam allowances, to make the inner/outer template.  This time, I kept the sort of funky shape, because on the finished sleeve, you want to make sure the underside doesn’t stick out ( I learned this on attempt #1.  It didn’t go so well).

The finished templates

Now it’s time to cut out your pieces.  Trace the inner/outer template onto the wrong side of your fabric using a water soluble marker.  Now, this is very important-FLIP YOUR TEMPLATE OVER SO YOU ARE GETTING A MIRROR IMAGE, and trace and cut out one piece this way.  Trust me, it’s the only way to make it work (I learned this on attempt #2.  I threw that one away in frustration).  Then cut out a piece of batting using the batting template.

Now it’s time to attach your batting to the wrong side of one of your inner/outer pieces-it doesn’t matter which.  Make sure it’s as centered as possible.  I used fusible batting, so I just ironed it down, but you could also use spray adhesive, or tack it down in a few key places.

You'll notice I trimmed the corners of the batting to go with the shape of the sleeve. I probably should have just done that to the template. *facepalm*

A very important step is to attach your elastic.  I cut a small hair elastic in half, and basted it down to what will eventually be the outside of my cup sleeve-the side that did not have batting attached to it, just to simplify things.  Just lay the elastic down on the right side of the fabric with the raw edges lined up.  We’re going to sew over it again multiple times, so I didn’t worry about getting it too secure.  Just make sure it’s centered!  Sorry I don’t have pictures of this step-like I said, I was flying by the seat of my pants on this one!  Maybe next time I make one I’ll insert a pic!

Next it’s time for a sandwich.  Place your inner/outer fabrics right sides together and pin-this is where you’ll see whether or not you cut correctly!  If you cut two pieces with the template facing the same way, there is no way you’ll be able to line the pieces up right sides together.  Trust me.  It was very frustrating!  Pin the pieces together and sew down using  a 1/4 inch seam allowance, but make sure to leave a 2 inch opening to turn.  I recommend leaving the opening on what will be the bottom of the sleeve.

You may notice that the seam allowances look a little wide-they are. I accidentally used 1/2 inch, and so my sleeve came out a bit too small :(

Turn her right side out and press, tucking the extra at the opening in to make nice seams.  Don’t worry about stitching the hole shut, because to finish it up, you’re going to topstitch all the way around, using a 1/8 inch seam allowance.

The final step is to attach the button to hold it all closed.  To get the placement right, I wrapped the sleeve around an empty Dunks cup, stretched out the elastic a bit, and marked the spot where the button should go with my water soluble marker.  If you’re not too comfortable attaching buttons, check out this tutorial over at Purl Bee.  I promise it’s not too hard!

And there you have it!  Now you can be stylish, planet friendly, and protect your hands from those steaming hot white chocolate peppermint mochas!  Mmmmm.

If anything is unclear, or you’d like some additional coaching, feel free to email me at rachelrobinsnest@gmail.com.  Happy sewing!

 

You Can Make This! October 24, 2011

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 7:55 pm
Tags: , ,

I have a thing for headbands.  They are a great way to keep little flyaways out of my face, and also a nice way to accessorize.  Unfortunately, good headbands seem really hard to come by.  The plastic ones always pinch behind my ears and give me a headache, and most of the elastic ones end up sliding right off my head.  Not terribly helpful.  So I decided to make my own.

A few years back, my buddy Emily’s mom had made me a fabric one that I liked quite a bit, aside from 2 problems:  1) It didn’t stay put (see above), and 2) the fabric part was really wide, so it didn’t lie flat against my head-it sort of poofed up in the back, which wasn’t terribly flattering.  So I decided to sort of go with her basic idea, and create a better fitting headband.  Sadly, I no longer have said headband as a guide, but I remember it pretty well nonetheless.

Reversible Fabric Headbands

Materials:

  • Cardstock (to make a template)
  • 2 coordinating fabrics (or you can choose to use just one)
  • 1/2 inch elastic

The first thing I did was create a template to help make sure that my headband would be symmetrical.  To do this, I folded a piece of cardstock in half length-wise.  I knew I wanted my finished headband to be a bit less than 2 inches wide at the wides point, so at the top of the piece of cardstock, I measured 1 inch out from the fold.

I wanted the fabric of the headband to be long enough that it would extend behind my ears on both sides, so I measured the top of my head from ear to ear, which was about 16 inches.  So I then measured 8 inches down from the top of the cardstock (we’re going to cut on the fold of the fabric, so we only need to do half the length!).

Finally, down at my 8 inch length mark, I measured out about 1/2 inch out from the fold, because I knew I wanted my headband to taper to about 1 inch where it meets the elastic.  Using a flexible ruler as a guide, I traced a slightly curved line from the 1 inch mark at the top of the cardstock to the 1/2 inch mark 8 inches down.  Then, with the cardstock still folded, I cut along the line, so that when I opened up the cardstock, I had a finished, symmetrical and even template.

Now it was time to cut out my fabric.  Because this was an experiment, I decided to use a fabric I’m not particularly fond of, so that I wouldn’t be upset if it didn’t work out.  (Funnily enough, Ben absolutely loves this fabric.  I was wearing my new headband when he got home from work and one of the first things out of his mouth was “I really like that headband!”)

I folded my fabric in half, and placed the template along the fold.  I used a water soluble marker to trace around the template-I cut two pieces.  I also cut a 6 inch length of elastic.

Next, I placed the fabric pieces on top of one another, right sides facing, and stitched down the long ends with a 1/8 inch seam allowance, as I didn’t want to lose too much width.   Afterwards, I turned the fabric right side out and pressed it flat.

One either end, the raw edges were sticking out, so I folded them inside and pressed to make nice, neat openings.

Now, it was time to attach the elastic to the fabric.  I did this by sliding one end of the elastic into the opening at one end of the fabric sandwich.  I only put about 1/4 inch in, and stitched it down very close to the edge.  I did the same thing on the other side.

Lastly, to give the headband a nice, finished look, I topstitched all the way around about 1/8 of an inch from the edge.

I’m pleased to report that this headband is a definite success.  It stays in place, does not pinch, and lies flat against my head, the way it should.  I can’t wait to make lots more to match all my outfits!

 

Boxy Makeup Bags October 13, 2011

Filed under: Sewing — raediantphoenix @ 3:12 am
Tags: , ,

I have a new obsession…

It’s called oilcloth.  And it’s delightful.

It’s shiny, waterproof, and comes in all sorts of fun colors and patterns.  The best part?  It doesn’t fray, so finishing your seams is a breeze!

A few months ago I ordered a couple of yards just to see what I could do with it, and this is the first time I’ve really used it.  I decided to make some boxy little makeup bags following this tutorial from Three Bears.  I love the fabric she used, and I think this shape of bag is just right for so many things-makeup, first aid kit, tampons… the list goes on and on!  So check out the ones I made using my shiny, happy oilcloth!

Oilcloth Makeup Bag

Materials

  • 8 in zipper
  • 2 pieces of oilcloth measuring 9″ x 6″
  • 2 pieces of oilcloth measuring 3″ x 3″ (optional)
  • Sewing machine
  • Rotary cutter and mat (recommended)

Instructions:

First, cut out your rectangles of oilcloth.  (As we continue, please disregard how sloppily mine are cut.  I really need to get a right angle measure to make sure all my pieces are square!)  The long edge will be the top/bottom of the bag, so keep that in mind when using a directional print!

For the smaller pieces, fold two opposite edges in 1/4 inch, then fold in half and topstitch down the long edges to form a strap.  Repeat with the other piece.  These will become pull tabs on either side of your makeup bag.  Put them aside for now.

Next, it’s time to attach the large rectangles to the zipper.  Apparently, zippers are really scary, intimidating things.  I’m always seeing blogs or comments like “Oh, how cute, but I’m too scared to try a zipper!”  However, nobody told me this before I got started sewing, so I just found a zipper tutorial online and went to town.  It wasn’t until later I realized I was in the minority for tackling the dreaded zipper.  Hopefully my instructions will be clear.  If not, check out this great tute from twelve22, which is what I used when I learned.

Anyway, grab your first piece of oilcloth and put it so the right side is facing down.  Now fold one long edge over about 1/4 of an inch and press with your fingers, a credit card, or any other hard thing you having lying around to form a crease.  DO NOT iron your oilcloth, or both your project and your iron will be ruined!

(Please excuse the photos for this step-they aren’t that great, and the fabric is different. That’s because I figured out after making a couple that the way I was doing it was not optimal for an unlined bag.  The way I’m showing you is DEFINITELY the easiest and best way to do it!)

Now, lay your zipper down right side up, and place your oilcloth, right side up, on top of it, aligning the edge of the fold with the teeth of the zipper.  It’s not recommended to pin oilcloth, because the holes will show after, so I used some paperclips to hold everything together, and used my zipper foot to topstitch along the fold, securing everything.

A note on sewing with oilcloth-you may find that your presser foot sticks to the shiny side of the oilcloth.  Luckily I did not have this problem, but if you do, just stick a bit of masking or painter’s tape along the bottom of your presser foot, and it will glide flawlessly!

Now repeat the last few steps with your other piece of oilcloth, attaching it to the opposite side of your zipper.

This is what your project should look like at this point:

Now, fold your pieces of oilcloth along the zipper so that the right sides are together, pin or paperclip into place, and sew along the bottom, long edge.

This next step is very important:  MAKE SURE YOUR ZIPPER IS PARTIALLY UNZIPPED.  If you do not do this, you will be very sad and have to undo all your stitches later.

Place your project so that the zipper is facing down, and line up the bottom seam that you just sewed with the zipper.   Line up all the edges and pin or paperclip in place.

Grab those little tab pieces that you put aside earlier.  Fold each one in half, and insert between your oilcloth layers, right above the zipper, lining up the raw edges with the raw edges of your bag.  Now sew along the two open edges, getting as close to the ends of the zipper as possible to avoid gaps.

This is what you’ll end up with:

Now it’s time to box it up.  Reach inside and pouch out a corner, and press the seam into the opposite side, creating a triangle, like so:

I like to measure my corners to make sure that they are all even.  On this size bag, I did a one inch corner, marked it with plain old pencil, and paper clipped it.  Repeat for all four corners.

Sew along the lines you just drew, and cut off the excess fabric at the corners.

Now, simply turn your bag inside out, making sure to gently push out all the corners, and…

This is the "bad" one-I forgot to put the tabs in, so I'll keep this one for myself!

Gorgeous!  All done.  A water-resistant, wipeable makeup bag that is just so darn cute!

What do you think?

 

 
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 301 other followers