Blog,  Sewing & Quilting

Half Moon Makeup Pouch – Sewing Project

Designed by Debbie von Grabler-Crozier

Sewing is fun and it allows us to add our own personal twist to something that can be easily bought in-store. Pouches are always handy and can be used to store any array of items. 

They help us keep our smaller sewing notions together, Wonder Clips in one place or other miscellaneous things around our home. But most importantly they help keep our favorite and most essential makeup products together and ready to grab and go at any give moment! 

Grab a couple Fat Quarters of a cute fabric and make a Half Moon Makeup Pouch. Make one or a couple for yourself and they also make great gifts. 


Gather these supplies

Tools

Materials

Fabric:

  • Fat Quarter floral outer fabric
  • Fat Quarter coordinating lining fabric

Interfacing:

  • Fat Quarter #279 80/20 cotton mix waddling (Vlieseline)
  • Fat Quarter Style-vil foam interfacing (Vlieseline)

Everything Else

  • 17″ zipper
  • Pattern Diagram
  • Cotton yarn to coordinate with your main fabric
  • One or two wooden beads
  • Your usual sewing needs

Note: Seam allowances are all 1/4” (1/2cm) unless otherwise stated.

Please read all instructions through and assemble the equipment before beginning.


Here’s How: 

Cutting

From the outer fabric:
– One pattern piece cut on the fold

From the lining:
– One pattern piece cut on the fold
– 8″ (20cm) of straight binding. Cut a strip of lining 1 1/4″ wide x 8″ long (3.5cm wide x 20cm long).

Preparation

Make the binding first.

Press the strip of fabric if needed and pass it through the bias tape maker, pressing as it emerges.

Tip: Don’ t be confused if you are a newbie! We are using a bias tape maker but making straight binding! Straight binding is great for when there are no curves to negotiate. You can use your bias tape maker to neatly turn the edges in.

Make the tassel.

Wind the cotton yarn around the tassel maker about 15 times.

Tie the center off.

Use a long piece of thread (about 12″ / 30cm) for this and don’t trim it yet.

Tip: Use a slightly finer strong thread like a perle cotton to tie the tassel off.
This makes it easier to thread the beads on.

Cut the tassel from the tassel maker.

Fold the tassel over, tie the center and trim if needed.

It is now ready to be attached at the end.

Making

Lay the bag outer panel onto the wadding and quilt using your favorite pattern.

I love a random wave because it is easy to do and impossible to get wrong.

Cut the shape out and lay it onto the foam interfacing.

Pin and attach with a narrow machine basting seam all the way around.

Cut this out too.

Find the center of the top curve of the bag and mark it.

Tip: The easiest way to do this is to fold the panel in half and either make a tiny snick with your small scissors or use the water erasable marker. Repeat for the other side curve center too.

Find the center of both sides of the zipper.

Open the zipper right out and line up one side of the zip center mark with the center mark at the top of the curve and pin it.

Pin the zip right around the curve.

Wonder Clips are also great for securing the zip while you sew.

Tip: You will notice that the zip is a lot longer than needed – you have not made a mistake! This is to allow the zip to be opened fully and attached with ease. It will be trimmed at the end which is why we are using a non-metal one.

Attach the zip and repeat for the other side.

Lay the lining onto the zip with the right sides together and attach this too.

It is helpful to find the centers as before and simply line them all up.

Cut small notches along the zip being very careful not to cut the stitching.

This ensures that the top will sit flat without puckering when it is turned the right way out in the next step.

Turn the pouch inside out and sew across the ends.

Tip: Do make sure that the zipper pull is about quarter way closed so that you do not cut it off in the next step!

Trim the zipper ends and bind with the straight binding using the hand sewing needle and thread.

You can do this by machine but I find that it is neater by hand.

Some jobs are like that.

Turn the pouch the right way out and use the stiletto to poke the corners gently to get them perfectly sharp.

Attach the tassel to the zipper pull using the excess thread that you used to tie the top off.

Tip: You can add a bead or two for added drama.

© Debbie von Grabler-Crozier 2020

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