Hello! This week's post is brought to you by creative Kristen. It's been a while since she's appeared in life, but it's good of her to show up for a little while, wouldn't you say?
I started searching for a make up brush roll, mostly because I want to keep my brushes in good shape. The ones I came across all seemed to be too industrial looking. Black...pleather...ugly. Make up is supposed to enhance beauty, so shouldn't a make up brush roll be beautiful? Obviously the make-up-brush-roll-makers haven't done the math.
After digging through some craft supplies, I skeptically started to sew. And it turned out! Here's how I did it.
Time frame:
Amateurs like me: about 1.5 hours
Pro's: 2.5 minutes
You'll need: 2 colours of fabric (or one. If you're feeling monotone), a plastic sheet protector (or any kind of thin plastic), a sewing machine, stamps (optional), 2 pieces of ribbon, and the tallest items you'll be putting in your roll.
1. Iron your fabric. See that wrinkly fabric in the first photo? Not nice.
2. If you've chosen a solid colour for the inside, and wish to stamp it, go for it! I used my new camera stamp from
The Plaid Barn (thanks sis!).
3. Cut 3 pieces of fabric, 2 the same size (inside - printed fabric, and outside of your roll), and 1 piece for the pocket (same width, about half the height. Use your brushes to see how tall this piece should be). I chose my outside to be pink, and the pocket to be pink. I didn't measure here, just did some official sewing lady guesswork.
4. Hem the side edges, and the top edge of your pocket piece of fabric.
5. Sew the plastic sheet to your inside fabric. This is to protect that lovely printed fabric from getting full of make up dust. My plastic wasn't quite big enough to cover the entire thing, but it works just fine.
6. Sew the bottom and side edges to the printed piece of fabric. Sew some pockets. I did various sizes.
7. Find your outside piece of fabric and 2 pieces of ribbon. I had to do some more guesswork here to figure out how far to sew the ribbon so it will still tie when rolled. I basically filled my pockets of the inside piece, placed it against the outside piece, rolled it up, then measured the circumference of the roll. Mine was about 20 centimetres. After being unrolled, I decided to sew from about 5 cm - 20 cm, to leave some tying room on the ends of the ribbon.
8. After the ribbon is sewn, place the right sides of the outside piece, and the inside piece together, tucking the ribbons into the centre so you don't sew them! Sew 3 sides, flip right side out, fold last edges inward, and sew.
9. It's done! I filled mine with more than brushes. And it's wonderful.
Here's the little project all rolled up. Works wonderfully at home and for travelling.
What do you think? Would you try this easy sewing project? My instructions aren't amazing, and I am definitely still learning, but it was a fun project.
Have a lovely rest of your week!
