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Makeup pouch – upcycled placemat

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Makeup pouch

This is a makeup pouch that I use everyday. The outer fabric is blue Japanese cotton with pretty white floral pattern on it, and the lining is blue cotton.

But I didn’t sew the lining myself because this pouch was actually a rectangle placemat with lining already attached. I found a set of pretty placemats in a thrift store, still new and unused. Since I don’t have a dining table to put these placemats on, I turned them into soft pouches.

All I did was sewing the pompom trimming on one short side, fold the placemat, and then topstitching both sides to close it. There is a little tuck on the bottom edge so the pouch retain a nice shape when filled, but stay flat when empty. I use plastic snap-on buttons on the flap, I think they give a comfortable handmade feeling, if there’s such a term for it.

Actually I think this pouch is so simple it doesn’t need a written tutorial for making it. But since I love taking the step-by-step pictures, I compiled them into a PDF file that can be downloaded here. This is more of an idea than a tutorial, no exact measurements needed. For the tutorial, I used a white and blue placemat and red pompom trimming. I love pompom trimmings, they’re so cute! ^.^

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Makeup pouch
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Here’s some more ideas for the pouch:

  • Use scrap of ribbons or lace instead of pompom trimmings.
  • Using a bigger placemat, sew some frills and lace  trimmings on the flap to make an underwear pouch.
  • Instead of sewing the long sides closed, sew the short sides closed to make a long slim  pouch. Use it for… errr, knitting needles?
  • Make buttonhole on the flap and sew a vintage button instead of using snap-on buttons.
  • Make a strap and insert it when sewing the sides to make a wristlet.
Disclaimer: You may use the finished products for both personal and commercial use (craft shops or markets only – no mass production). Please do not pass off the pattern and tutorial as your own. Thank you!

Click to download:
Makeup pouch – upcycled placemat tutorial 0.00 KB

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9 Responses to Makeup pouch – upcycled placemat

  1. Dear Novita,
    I wish I could try to make a pouch like this but I just can’t see imagens 1 to 8 on your tutorial :(
    I wonder if you could send me the tutorial…
    Thanks a lot!
    Ceres

    P.S. I’ve already made my second Charlie bag after your great tutorial :) Thanks!

    Reply

  4. OMG, i follow your above tutorial and i made 2 hand-clutch purses with just one place-mat .. thank you sooo much and loving them big time and will post to my blog shortly hehehe .. hugssss

    Reply

  5. I absolutely LOVE your makeup pouches! Over the last couple years I’ve acquired a small stack of exquisite placemats from the clearance tables of high-end stores, knowing that some day I’d figure out something to do with them. Now I know what to do!!

    Reply

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