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Sunday 14 February 2016

Experimental make-up bag

Bet the title got your attention! Normally I stick to making clothing but my tatty old scruffy make-up bag is definitely on its way out so I decided I should sew myself another one to replace it. Then my eye fell on a pair of old RTW jeans that I was going to throw out and I thought to myself, I could use some of that fabric from a less worn area and have a go at making a bag.


I googled make up bags and came across the Little boxy pouch post and followed the step by step tutorial. This tutorial is great! Here's my recycled denim experimental make-up bag in all its glory!


I changed my measurements from those in the tutorial as I wanted a bigger bag. I cut two pieces of fabric 12"x6" and by chance bought a tan 12" zip to tone in with my tan coloured contrast stitching. The bag has turned out longer than I wanted but C pounced on it and wants it as a pencil and pen case for his drawer at work. That's fine by me as I can make another next weekend and get it more the size I want. I will also sew in the zip a little differently, so you can see the exposed zip teeth and you get the benefit of the contrast in colour. I used a tan coloured 'normal' thread to sew in the zip. I had bought upholstery thread to have an experiment with, as my Machine hates topstitching thread and I'd heard upholstery thread was a good sub. It isn't. I tried altering the tension many ways. Still no! I quit while I still had my sanity intact! 


I mostly used the overlocker to construct this and obviously used the sewing machine to insert the zip. It's a fast make! I'll probably also add a lining in the next one although with the overlocker the innards are neat. And let's face it the the denim's been washed so many times that a handful of times more can't harm it at all! Have you ever sewn an experiment that worked great? Any non-clothing experiments? 

5 comments:

  1. What a brilliant idea to chop up old jeans and make a purse. The denim will make this purse very sturdy for filling up with makeup items.

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  2. What a brilliant idea to chop up old jeans and make a purse. The denim will make this purse very sturdy for filling up with makeup items.

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    1. Thanks, Marjorie. This was just a bit of a fun challenge and I wanted to see how it turned out. As it happens, it can also be used as a pencil case too!

      Old jeans seem to be a good thing to harvest ok fabric from. I used the front lower leg as this really doesn't get hammered as much as say, the knees do.

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  3. Nice! and you kind of made a muslin of sorts now you can go on to the real thing

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    1. Thanks Tasha, this muslin has now been 'requisitioned' for use as a pencil case so it's back to square one for me...I still have my tatty old make up bag and need to sew one up! Guess what I'll be doing at the weekend?!?

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