Cosmetic Bag for a Cat-Lover

This wasn't on my list of things to sew at all, but when I was tidying up my sewing room, the pattern and fabric (already cut) fell out of the Tilda book Sew Pretty Homestyle. How could I resist??

I had been thinking of how to thank a friend of mine who loves cats. She always remembers each of my children's birthdays and our wedding anniversary, every year with perfectly chosen cards. I thought she might like this.

Of course it helped that I was looking for inspiration for my newly delivered janemeans ribbons, particularly the very recently released cat ribbons (there's a dog version too and a lovely piece on the background to their design) also stocked by Liberty of London.

I've made this Tilda pattern about 4 times before (for a niece, for a friend, for my sister-in-law) and it is very straightforward. This time I chose to use a lace zip from My Fabric House, and it meant I had to change around the order of sewing so that the zip would be on the outside. Basically, I had to leave the base of the bag and lining open to allow the zip to be sewn on in a later step. That might make it seem easy, but the seam ripper got a lot of use!!

Matching the ribbon ends is the most important part to get right, and if you squint at the picture, I just about got them even!

Stitching the ribbon to the outer fabric is the first sewing step and this has to be measured carefully. Then the ribbon will be straight and meet at the side seams.

The thread colour is exactly the same as the ribbon colour, so that the stitching wouldn't be noticeable and detract from the lovely cat silhouettes

This is my first attempt at applying a zip on the outside or 'exposed zipper'. There are a few tutorials on the internet on how to do this on clothes (Threads, Burda), but none that I can find for bags, especially those with a curved top.

The lining was bought a few years ago from Dotsnstripes and is a medium weight cotton. As the outer fabric is a heavyweight cotton (bought locally), I took a chance in not using interfacing, because I hoped the weight of both cottons would give the bag enough structure. It worked - the bag holds its shape even when empty.

My friend should hopefully be pleasantly surprised. It got the vote of confidence from my no.1 fan - my daughter (5y) was wide-eyed when she saw it, and that was even before she realised that there are dog ribbons too.

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