"Making up" a little gift - with Steph

Today's guest - Steph from Crafting in the Rain - has no shortage of awesome ideas.  From ridiculously cute paper earrings (that don't look like paper), to hanging Monogrammed PVC pipe toothbrush holders, to revitalizing boots with duct tape, to creating a crazy comfy home office out of a camper trailer (!), she's got you covered.

My mom loves her new makeup organizer I sewed for her, so I knew it would be the perfect fit in the Gift It series! You will find similar instructions on my last makeup holder tutorial, but there were some changes here, and I love the buckle closure maybe more than the tied version I did before.  You should compare the two and see which you like best. You will need:

• 2 coordinating fabrics.   One inner, one outer.  2 fat quarters or 1/3 yards cut work great.  
• iron-on (fusible) interfacing 10 x 20 inches, especially if one of your fabrics is lighter or slightly transparent
• vinyl fuse if you want to be able to wipe the inside clean, 10 x 20 inches
• ribbon 20 inches long
• decorative buckle (mine came from scrapbooking supplies!)
• matching thread

Cut outer fabric to 10 x 20 inches and sew interfacing to wrong side.

Cut inner fabric to 10 x 20 inches and 8 x 20 inches.  Iron vinyl to the right side of the larger piece, following instructions on the product (make sure to not touch the iron directly to the vinyl, always have the protective paper under the iron)

Iron 8 x 20 piece in half, wrong sides touching, so it's now 4 x 20 inches.

Pin it so the bottom raw edges  match up with the bottom of the inner fabric piece.  

Draw lines on a piece of freezer paper or tissue paper and pin it to the inner section.  You will stitch along these lines to make the pockets to hold brushes, tubes and compacts.  You may adjust your measurements if you need space for more brushes, etc, but here's what I used, starting from the left side:

3-3-3.75-1.5-1-2.25-1.5-1.5-.75-1.25  

Once all the lines are sewn, tear off the paper and remove all pins.  

Fold ribbon so there is a 6 inch overlap and pin fold right about the top of the pockets as shown, on the left side.  

Pin outer layer to the inner layer, right sides together and sew around with 1/4 inch seam.  Be sure to keep the ribbon all inside (tucking it into one of the pockets helps) so it doesn't get caught in the stitches.  Leave a 5 inch opening on one side to turn it all inside out.

It will look better, I promise :)  When it's all out, iron the whole thing flat (only on the fabric side, not the vinyl side) Fold in the edges of the opening you used to turn it inside out and iron that as well.  Top stitch around the whole thing very close to the edge.

To attach the buckle, loop the short ribbon over the right side of the buckle, fold it under, and attach with stitch witchery or by sewing.  {1}

To close, fold up the organizer, wrap the longer ribbon around and loop it through the buckle, first under/over the middle, then under the left side.  {2}

And now it's ready to be filled up with pretty goodness!  Here's what mine looks like inside.

So thanks for having me Kimberly, and I hope you guys will all find an excuse to make one of these soon :)

I believe I may need one for myself!  Though I think this would make a great Christmas gift - especially for someone who travels a lot.  Thanks so much, Steph!

Don't go away!  More super awesome ideas coming up!

*Be sure to check the right sidebar for all the fun parties I link to!