Beauty DIY: Pretty Brush Rolls (Part 1)

This was originally supposed to be a single post but there were so many pictures and steps, I decided it would be less mind-boggling if I divided it into 2 separate posts instead. Even I got confused after a while.

I had the picture tute for my brushroll lying in my HD for ages but completely forgot about it until Plue blogged about the brushroll her mother made for her here.

You don't need a sewing machine or superb sewing skills to make this. The only stitches you really need to know are the whip stitch and the running stitch. It only takes a day to make (about 15 minutes if you have a machine) and you can use any piece of cloth for this - from an old t-shirt to a bedsheet.

As you can see, I made 2. The pink one holds my big brushes while the little one carries my mini brushes, eyeliners, mascara and lippies for when I go a-travelin'. Tiny and compact - I just love it.

What you need: 2 pieces of cloth, a length of felt(I am wondering how did the felt go missing in the picture), ribbon, a pair of scissors, a ruler, some tailor's chalk, thread and a needle.

I used the black fabric for the lining and the pink for the outside. Felt was used as backing. You don't HAVE to back the brush roll but I feel that it gives more protection and makes the finished product less floppy. I know that felt is hard to find in Malaysia (think I stumbled across some in Daiso though) so you can use a stiff piece of material instead.

If you are doing this by hand or are a newbie to working with cloth, I highly recommend using cotton for this project. Silks may look lush but they are much more slippery to work with. Cotton is easy to cut, iron, pin and sew. You will get on much faster with cotton.

1. Cut the backing. Estimate how large you want your brush roll to be and cut it out. I winged the measurements by picking up my longest makeup brush and laying it out against the felt before drawing the outline with a ruler. For my baby brush roll, I used an A4 sized paper, snipped it to size and pinned it to the felt. My big one is about 11" by 20" while the little one is 7.5" by 10.5"

If you are wondering about the excess cloth on top, it's for folding over your brushes later so they don't slip out of their pockets.

2. Cut the lining. Lay out your backing against the lining then place your makeup brush against the backing again. You want the length of the lining to be longer than the backing as you need the excess for your brush pockets. Pin the backing and lining together then cut.

3. Sew the backing and lining together. The reason for doing this is so that the backing doesn't slip out of place when you are sewing later or get crumpled inside when you toss your brush roll into the washing machine. You don't want to unpick this thing apart after your first wash, trust me.

You can either do a simple running stitch along the sides of the cloth or whip stitch the edges together. For me, I whip stitched the three raw edges together and did a running stitch where the backing met the excess lining. (I don't have a pic showing what I am trying to explain so you will have to make do with this one where the cloth has been partially flipped. *groan*)

If you have a machine, just run close along the edges. Try to keep your stitches as close to the side as possible.

4. Cut the cover. First, pin the lining + backing to the cloth. You can even baste it (i.e. use BEEEG BEEEEG running stitches to hold the cloths together) like I did. Trace out an excess of 2 cm all around with your tailor's chalk and then cut the cloth.

Now, LEAVE EVERYTHING PINNED/ BASTED TOGETHER. I notice that immediately after cutting, people have a tendency to pull everything apart before asking "What's next?". So leave everything as it is for now.

The last bit is coming tomorrow. ;)