Tutorial: Make A Zippered Cosmetic Bag

Even if you have never sewn in a zipper before, you will be able to make this cute little bag in about an hour and a half. To make it, you’ll need two fat quarters of fabric (18″ X 22″), two pieces of batting that measure at least 8″ X 10″,  one zipper at least 10″ long, scissors, thread, pins and a sewing machine.

To get started, cut two pieces from each of the fat quarters that measure 8″ X 10″. Decide which one will be the outside of the bag. In this tutorial, the outside will be the puppy print fabric, and the inside will be the yellow prints.

Make a “sandwich” using one piece of each fabric and one piece of batting. Make sure the right sides of each fabric are facing out, with the batting in between the wrong sides of the fabric.

Sew some lines of stitching through all three layers to quilt them. I usually sew from corner to corner in both directions, then do a couple more lines. It is up to you how much you want to stitch.

When you are finished quilting both sides of the bag, set one sandwich aside for later.

Lay the remaining piece right side up, and place the zipper face down along the edge of the piece.

Pin the zipper in place with a couple of pins. Then, starting at one end, stitch along the length of the zipper. Open the zipper part of the way to begin. After you stitch a few inches, close the zipper back up so that the zipper pull doesn’t get in the way of the needle and presser foot.

After stitching the length of the zipper, fold the zipper to the inside. Press with an iron.

Go back to the sewing machine with the piece, and top stitch 1/4″ from the edge of the fabric.

This is what it will look like when  you have finished top stitching:

Next, repeat all the steps for sewing the zipper with the other piece of sandwiched fabric. When you have finished sewing in and topstitching the other side of the zipper, the bag will look like this:

Next, fold the two pieces so that the outside pieces of fabric are together, on the inside. Match up the edges, and pin. Make sure the zipper is open half way before you start to stitch.

Stitch along the three sides of the bag, starting at the zipper edge and ending at the zipper edge on the other side. Be careful not to stitch over the hard pieces of the zipper. Stitch the beginning and ending few stitches back and forth a couple of times to reinforce the stitches so they won’t come apart.

Stitch around the entire seam again with a zigzag stitch to prevent ravelling of the seams inside the bag.

Turn the bag inside out, and press with an iron to set the stitches.

This little bag can be used for so many things! I use one for manicure supplies, one for jewelry, one for holding toothbrush, toothpaste and floss, etc.

What is your bag going to hold?