This simple DIY small travel bag comes together in no time.
Looking for an easy sewing project and good for beginner sewers (me!)? I have very limited sewing experience but wanted to try my hand at making a small travel bag. It can be used for many things, and not necessarily for travel – just organization.
I was looking for something to hold my makeup while traveling. The idea actually comes from a small bag we have at home that holds small bottles of shampoo and other items for the kids to take on trips.
I had some left-over nylon fabric I was using from these packing cubes I made for an upcoming trip. This works well for the inner lining of the bag. I also had left over cotton fabric from another project that worked well for the outside of the bag. You can easily change up the patterns and fabric as you would like.
I wanted something that would fit my makeup and maybe a little extra should I need it. The dimensions of the sides of the bag are 6×6 inches. This can be adjusted to whatever size you’d like, just make sure you adjust your dimensions accordingly.
The bottom of the bag is a longer piece of fabric. It is slightly folded at the ends to match the zipper width. I think this project turned out nicely and worked well to take on our recent trip.
Materials needed:
- vinyl fabric
- outer fabric -cotton is a good choice
- Zipper. these are nice as you can cut to the length that you need for your project. You could also purchase one 7-inch zipper.
- coordinating thread
- sewing machine
- scissors or rotary cutter
- sewing clips
To make:
Cut pieces:
1. Start by cutting the two side pieces of fabric (cotton) – 6 x 6 inches
2. Cut two 6 x 6 inch pieces of vinyl
3. Cut one 18×2 inch piece of cotton fabric and one 18×2 inch vinyl.
4. Cut 4×4 inch piece of vinyl (could also use cotton for this part if needed) for the zipper tab
5. 7 inch zipper
Sew:
1. Sew together the cotton and vinyl pieces together. 1/4 inch seam allowance works well.
2. Make the zipper tab:
Fold in the ends so that they meet in the middle. Fold the ends in one more time. Place the end of the zipper on the bottom part of the tab and fold the top half down over the zipper. Sew around the edges of the zipper tab to hold in place.
3. Take one of the side pieces and sew on the zipper. Make sure you have right sides together. You will need to move the zipper slider as you go.
Open up and top stitch getting as close to the edge of the cotton fabric as possible.
Repeat the same with the other side piece. Again open up and top stitch as close to the cotton as you can.
4. The bag is coming together nicely now. The last step is to add the bottom piece. Start with one side piece and the bottom piece. Make sure right sides are together. It can be helpful to use clips to hold the fabric. Sew along one side. Once you reach a corner, you can keep the needle in the fabric and lift the presser foot up as you turn it to the next side. This will help to create a nice, rounded corner for the bag. Continue until you reach the other end of the side piece by the zipper. At this point you could continue to sew to the other side, but I felt it was easiest to end the stitch here and turn it over to sew the other side piece on separately.
MAKE SURE THE ZIPPER ITSELF IS OPEN. You don’t want to sew the other side on without it open as you cannot turn it inside out when you are done.
When it comes to the edge by the zipper, fold over the corners of the bottom panel fabric slightly (1/4″ to 1/2″) to better match the zipper width. You can then continue sewing the other side piece to the bottom as you did previously.
Once you are done and have clipped off any excess strings, you can then turn the project inside out. You may need to seam rip a few stitches under the zipper tab to be able to turn that tab right side up. If necessary, sew this side edge back again under the zipper tab.
And, there you have it. A DIY small travel bag.