Cosmetic cases and a make up brush roll.

I don’t know about you, but I have right old mixture of cosmetic cases, wash bags and jewellery bags that I use when going away for the night.
How lovely, I thought, to have a matching set. A set you could take out of your case and lay out on the dressing table in readiness for that night’s occasion or week’s relaxation. I decided this would make a great project for my second Minerva Crafts sponsored blog post.

I wanted something smart looking but with a soft trim.  From the Minerva website I chose some hard wearing black denim and a soft floral cotton lawn to compliment. I shall be purchasing more of this lovely cotton lawn fabric. It feels very much like the famed Liberty print fabric we all adore, but at a fraction of the cost.

I chose this Simplicty Crafts pattern with a good selection of bags. Some to make now and other, larger bags, I hope to make up in the future.
Never one for sticking to a basic pattern, I embellished each case differently and then added one of my own.
For the first time I also used some iron-on fleece to give the bags a slightly padded look. This made them all look so much more professional. Just remember to cut your fleece slightly smaller than your fabric so you are not creating bulky seams. And iron the fabric onto the fleece, not the fleece onto the fabric or you, like me, will end up with a very sticky iron!
The box cases were incredibly easy to make up. This will be my go to pattern when making up similar cases as gifts for friends, later on in the year.
For my first case I ran some red stitching in a quilting type pattern that I had marked out directly on to the wrong side after adhering the fleece, before making it up.

For my second box case I alternated the floral fabric with the denim before adhering the fleece and sewing close to the seam.
They were all lined in the same floral lawn.

The round cases were by far the most fiddly to make up. I didn’t like the way the pattern suggested to attach the zip. It said that you should pin the zip in between the 2 layers of fabric, both with 5mm seam allowance pressed under and just sew in place. I find it so much more professional looking to attach the zip between the two edges of the fabrics, right sides together, then press on the fabrics back and top stitch along the edge of the zip. So I made the outer and liner layers in 2 pieces, incorporating a seam at the bottom of the bag to enable me to do this.
The piping was also a bit of a mare, but I think I pulled it off.
I made up some lovely fabric ‘yo, yo’s’ to attach to these two round cases. They are so easy to make, but so effective.
Take a circle of fabric, twice in diameter of your desired yo, yo. I used a cereal bowl as a template. After knotting the end of a piece of cotton, sew a running stitch all around the edge, about 5mm for the edge of your circle.
Pull tight and secure with a few stitches through the centre. Attach a button, and voila!

For this next simple case, I added a contrasting bottom.
When inserting a zip into this type of case, I like to incorporate ‘covered ends’. I think it adds a lovely professional finish.
There is a great tutorial for doing this. Just click on this link here.
Finally I made up a makeup brush roll. I’ve previously made up a knitting needle case, click here, using this same method.
This wasn’t included with the pattern but so simple to make.
You will need
2 pieces of denim fabric 350mm x 230mm
1 piece of medium weight interfacing 350mm x 230mm(not in the kit)
1 piece of denim fabric 350mm x 120mm
2 pieces of floral fabric 350mm x 120mm
A length of ribbon 400mm (from my stash)
A contrasting button (also from my stash)

I adhered the iron on interfacing to the wrong side of one of the large denim pieces.

I attached one of the floral pieces to the centre of the right piece of the same piece of denim, sewing along the edges to give a nice crisp look.
To make the brush pocket, I attached the remaining floral piece to the small denim piece, sewing along the long edge, wrong sides together, before turning the right way round, pressing and sewing close to the edge.
Then I pinned this to the right side of the remaining large denim piece of fabric.
On the wrong side I marked out where I wanted my pocket lines and stitched along the lines, stopping at the top of the pocket.
All that remained to do was sew the two large pieces of denim together, wrong sides together, leaving a gap for turning, turn the right way round, after clipping the corners, pressing and stitching around the edge. I inserted a length of ribbon half way down one of the short edges, running backwards and forwards over the ribbon to secure it safely.
Then finally I added a button and I had finished!
What do you think?
I shall be very proud to pull out this selection from my case when next I am away.
If you fancy making up your own set you can buy all the materials here.

I hope you enjoyed my second Minerva Crafts post

Love, Lucie xx