DIY Makeup Bag with Brush Holder | Sewing Tutorial

Follow this tutorial to sew a DIY makeup bag with slots for your makeup brushes so you never have to pack them separately again!

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I was recently gifted the Woosh Beauty Fold-Out Face Palette and Essential Brush Set and to say that I love it is an understatement! It is the perfect travel palette. It’s also a great grab-and-go palette for when you need to touch your makeup up throughout the day but don’t want to bring various bottles of makeup with you. The brushes are also numbered to match each step in the palette so doing your makeup is a breeze!

I have also been really into making small accessories and bags these days, like my Kindle Paperwhite Cover I made just a few weeks ago! Since I love this palette and set of brushes so much, I decided to create a makeup bag catered to taking this set on the go. The great thing about this makeup bag is that it is custom-made to accommodate ANY size or amount of makeup and brushes.

I’ve also designed it with slots to hold your brushes so that you don’t need to pack a separate makeup brush roll! There’s nothing fun about digging through your makeup bag among the sea of brushes to find what you need. With slots for brushes, it’s easy to keep them organized!

This was a fairly easy project that took me only a couple hours to complete! If you want to make your own DIY makeup bag with brush holder, continue reading to follow the tutorial!

DIY Makeup Bag with Brush Holder Sewing Tutorial

1 | Gather measurements for your bag.

Main Bag Sizing

First, measure out the size of your main bag.

Gather measurements of the largest item you plan to store in your bag. Decide on how much extra space you want in your bag. Then, add 1 inch to both the length and width to account for a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

For mine, I decided to add about 4 inches to the length of the bag, rounding my measurements out to 10 inches. I then decided to make my bag square, so I planned my finished bag to be 10×10 inches. The total amount of fabric I now need to cut for the bag is 11×11 inches to include the seam allowance.

Brush Slot Sizing

Next, measure out the fabric for your brush slots. Measure your longest makeup brush all the way up to the base of the brush head. You will want your brush head to stick out from the slot.

Next, double the length you measured and add 1 inch. You will be folding it in half later. The width of the fabric will be equal to the width of your bag.

For my bag, my longest brush measured out to be 6 inches. Doubled is 12 inches. The total length of my fabric to account for the seam allowance is 13 inches. The total amount of fabric I need to cut is 13×11 inches.

2 | Cut your fabric and gather additional materials.

Once you’ve determined the size of your bag, you will cut the following pieces using your measurements from step 1:

• 2 exterior fabric for the main bag (I used a gold rose fabric from Hobby Lobby)
• 2 lining fabric for the main bag ( I used a pink and gold dot fabric from Hobby Lobby)
• 1 lining fabric for the brushes
• 2 lightweight fusible interfacing for the main bag (if using a lighter weight fabric and need some added structure; I used Pellon 906F Fusible Interfacing)
• 1 all-purpose zipper in a length appropriate for the size of your bag.
• Coordinating thread

3 | With wrong sides together, fold the long lining piece for your brush slots in half and press. Topstitch 1/8 inch away from the folded edge.

4 | Lay your brushes vertically across the fabric and mark the width of each slot.

It helps to draw lines to use as a stitch guide, as you will be sewing it to the bag lining piece in the next step.

5 | With wrong sides together, baste the brush slot fabric to one of the bag lining pieces. Then, topstitch the brush slots using the guide you drew in step 4. Insert your brushes to test the fit.

6 | Iron on the interfacing to the wrong side of the exterior (optional if you are using interfacing)

7 | Sew the zipper to the exterior fabric.

You will want the exterior fabric pieces to be facing right sides together once your zipper is sewn on.

Once the zipper is sewn, press the exterior fabric towards the zipper tape.

8 | With right sides together, sew the zipper, exterior fabric, and lining fabric.

You will be sewing right over the stitches from sewing the zipper to the exterior fabric.

Flip the lining fabric so that the wrong side faces the wrong side of the exterior fabric. Press the lining fabric at the zipper edge.

9 | Open up the fabric so that the lining fabric is facing right sides together and the exterior fabric is facing right sides together. Sew around, leaving a 2 inch opening at the short end of either the lining or exterior fabrics.

10 | Trim the seam allowance down to 1/4 inch.

11 | Boxing the corners:

If you prefer to follow along with a video, I recommend this tutorial:

Open up one of the corners so that the seam is in the center. Pin the corner so that the seams are aligned.

Decide on the size of your boxed corners, and mark the line at a 45 degree angle to the corner edge. I chose 1 inch for my boxed corners.

Sew across the corner and cut down to a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Repeat this for all 4 corners of the exterior and lining.

12 | Turn the bag right side out through the 2 inch opening. Push the corners out.

13 | Hand sew the 2 inch opening closed using an invisible stitch (aka ladder stitch).

14 | Push the lining fabric inside the bag.

And you’re done! You now have a DIY makeup bag with brush holders that you can take on the go!

I can’t wait to hear about your DIY makeup bags, so make sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see how yours turned out!

See the video tutorial below on my Youtube Channel:

If you don’t have a go-to grab-and-go makeup set and are interested in the Woosh Beauty Fold-Out Face Palette and Essential Brush Set, you can get 20% off your order using the code ANGELICA_CREATES20 at checkout!