Using the rest of the bag fabric

After making a basket out of the bag fabric, there was still some of it left. It was enough for making the smaller makeup bag, so that's what I decided to use it for.

The first photo shows the parts needed for it. There's one set for the outside and another for the lining.

First, I assembled the lining. There's some padding attached to the parts of the lining, but it's thinner than in the previous versions I've made.

The next stage was assembling the outside. The zipper goes to this one. I also did some additional stitching here that I didn't do in the previous ones. The fabric was so thick and stiff that it was best to stitch the seam allowances flat.

When both parts were ready, the last stage was to put the lining inside and stitch beside the zipper to attach the outside, zipper and lining to each other.

Here is a photo of the bag with the zipper closed. I'm planning to use this with the bag for all the small stuff I usually carry with me (meds, tissues, band-aids, etc.).

And there was still some fabric left. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it, but the pocket I made for the big tote bag gave me an idea. I used the rest of the fabric for making a cover for my small diary that I keep with me at school.

First I cut the pieces using the diary to get the measurements right. Then I sewed bias biding to the edges of the inside pieces and stitched the inside pieces in place (it's easier to do the bias binding when the pieces stay together).

Then I sewed bias binding all around the edges. I'm starting to love bias binding. You get so neat edges with it.

Here is the inside, with the diary in place. It's a really close fit. If the remaining piece of fabric had been even slightly smaller, the cover would have been too small.

This cover is so much nicer than the orange color in the diary covers. I bought it from a sale at half price and there were only orange ones left.