They might seem strange and simple, but I’m smiling about zippered pouches today. I bought my first one in Kansas when we were travelling to my family reunion and I discovered I had left ALL of my cosmetic items at home. Agh.

I think it was in Forever 21 that I was looking for something simple and cheep to hold my newly purchased makeup items when I stumbled upon a little zippered beauty. After seeing them pop up on pinterest and etsy, I decided to jump on the trend and make up a few of my own.

A friend of mine had given me a bag of vintage doilies and linens earlier in the year and I started digging through it to see if there was anything I could upcycle.  There was! Some of my favourite were some oval hand-embroidered linen doilies. After cutting them in half (yes it felt a little wrong doing that…) I made a lining of pink floral cotton, fused with interfacing to add some strength and sewed in a colourful zipper. My girls were drooling and I promised I would make them their own fun colourful pouches soon. In the meantime, I ended up making a whole batch from various materials and scraps in my fabric cupboard. I’ll be selling these on my etsy store (www.etsy.com/shop/suzannefaris), I have ideas for more as well so if I get the time you may see some new designs in the next couple of weeks.

If you’re interested in making a few of your own, check out this tutorial. It’s the one I used and it’s great! It was the first place I saw a good technique to put in a zipper with a lining where no top stitching is needed. Bonus!

http://www.ecabonline.com/2011/05/fold-over-clutch-metal-zipper.html