This round makeup bag would make a great gift! Look at me, thinking about the holidays already...but really, they’re right around the corner. What is so great about this bag is that you can see clearly what’s inside when you open it up. You can lay the entire bag flat and get a good look at all of your products, and little tools. Just pull the strings to gather everything up and close the bag.
And what is really great is that it’s a quick, easy, beginner proof project!
This bag is about 19 inch in diameter when it’s folded open and 7 inch when it’s closed, but you can make it any size you like. The main pattern piece is a circle. You can make an extra EXTRA large version for your (grand)children’s toys and use it as a play mat!
But I’m making a smaller version :-) And I made one for my sewing clips as well! You can use it as a basket as well!
If you want to use this bag for make-up, you can use laminated, waxed, or vinyl fabric on the inside so it’s easy to wipe clean. These types of fabric will make the bag a little stiffer.
The ribbon might seem very long. If you want to be able to open the bag completely like a little mat, you need the circumference of the complete circle plus a little extra. (2 x π x r = 2 x 10 inch x 3.14 = 62.8 inch)
The supplies
a 20 inch x 20 inch piece of fabric for the outside
a 20 inch x 20 inch piece of fabric for the lining (laminated/vinyl/waxed fabric)
a 20 inch x 20 inch piece of fusible fleece or other type of batting
grommet
2 yards of ribbon
a (double) cord stop
PREPARE THE FABRIC PIECES
Draw a circle with a 19 1/2 inch diameter on a piece of paper or cardboard. Use a large protractor or a pencil tied to a string. Cut out.
Draw a circle on the outside fabric, lining and batting and cut out.
Outside of the bag
Wrong side of the vinyl lining
Fusible batting
Press the fusible batting onto the wrong side of the outside fabric.
INSTALL THE GROMMET
Measure down 1 inch from the top edge of your bag’s outside piece (+batting) and put a mark.
This is the top of the grommet. It will be 1 inch down from the raw edge of the fabric.
Follow the instructions on the package of the grommet set you bought. Install the grommet. Basically, you have to make a hole first and attach the 2 parts of the grommet with pliers or a tool + hammer.
ASSEMBLE THE BAG
Use sewing clips to clip the lining and the outside pieces together, right sides facing.
Sew the two pieces (outside+batting and the lining) together at 1/4 inch, right sides facing.
Leave a 3 inch opening in the circle so you can turn it right side out. Make sure that you don’t position this openingt too close to the grommet. Trim the edge and clip all around.
Turn the bag right side out. Press the bag edges on the fabric side with your hot iron. Don’t press directly on the vinyl fabric. Use a cotton cloth in between your iron and the plastic.
Edgestitch all around near the edge of the circle.
If you use laminated fabric, stitch with that side up. If the fabric is too sticky use a non-stick foot. Mine worked well with a regular foot. To keep a nice ⅛ inch from the edge I used the edge joining foot.
Sew the second circle 1/2 inch down from the grommet. To keep an even distance from the edge, I used my walking foot and attached the guide. If you don’t have these at hand, you can draw a helpline on your fabric with an erasable marker.
Using a safety pin of another threader tool, feed your ribbon through the grommet in the channel you created.
Feed the ends of the ribbon through the cord stop, tie a knot in the ribbon ends and pull up the strings to gather up the fabric.