While recently hunting through a local fabric store, I came across a few rolls of laminated cotton and became obsessed with the idea of creating something out of this very cool material.  I didn’t buy that day but the idea was wedged in my brain for a few months.  Laminated cottons like these are great for lining makeup or tote bags or even making tablecloths, but I had something slightly different in mind. 

With all the weekend picnicking we like to do with the kids, I got to thinking I could combine this reversible placemat idea with this makeup brush holder idea and I came up with picnic placemats with pockets for utensils for all of our summer outings.  

In a patriotic spirit, I chose red and white fabrics and I love how the touch of red check is a throwback to the traditional tablecloth in the same classic pattern.  

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My oldest daughter is away at college and it’s her birthday this week so I wanted to send her something special for the occasion (and something easy to ship too!)  She mentioned she didn’t have any decent makeup brushes so I made a trip to Sephora to splurge on a new set for her.  While I was there I thought about something to hold them all and wanted to give her a little handmade gift to go with the new brushes.  I thought a cute fabric pouch would be perfect so I stitched up a makeup brush holder with some leftover fabric remnants from my stash.

This was one of those projects that I made up as I went along but I tell you this, if you can sew a straight line, you can make your own too!  Here’s how I made this fabric makeup brush holder for my college girl in about an hour.

First grab yourself some fabric, for this I used two remnants, one a blue medallion cotton fabric, the other a cotton duck lining.

Here are the measurements of fabric used:

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Hello all, happy Monday!  I’m slowly working on redoing my 8 year old daughter’s room, it will be shades of gray, white, and yellow with some blue too.  I bought her a new matelassé coverlet for the end of her bed but beyond white sheets and a white duvet, I couldn’t find a pleated pillow sham that I like so I decided to make her one out of simple cotton fabric.

Two weeks ago I bought myself a new sewing machine after my old (and very basic) Singer started acting up.  I thought cleaning it would help, it did a little, but it was in need of a repair, so I took it in to have it looked at. The estimate to repair it was slightly more than the trade in amount so I decided it was time to invest in an upgrade – I plan to do a lot more sewing in my life so after trying a half dozen machines in the store, I decided on the Singer Quantum Stylist and can I just say Oh Em Gee sewing with this machine is a dream.

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We had one of the best weekends ever.  Christmas tree?  Check.  Gift list nearly complete?  Check.  Christmas tunes party playlist?  Check.  Trip to the movies?  Check.  We saw the new Muppets movie, so cute!  It brought back memories of watching the show as a child, I confess I was nodding my head back and forth to the Muppets Show theme…”it’s time to put on music, it’s time to light the lights…”

Today is a great day, as we kick off  the Holiday Home Parties, and today Layla is hosting table decor.  I hosted a tablescape contest last week (announcing the winners soon!) so I thought I’d create something for the host or hostess you can make and give that they’d be proud to place on their  table!  The best news is these wine bags can be made with scraps of fabric you have leftover from other projects. They’re easy to make and a great way to personalize a gift of wine or bubbly.   

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