On a Roll

There are two types of people that are very difficult to sew for; males and teenagers. Teenage boys have no hope! I needed to sew something different for my 17 year old niece that was quirky and fun, plus there are only so many bags that you can send someone.

I found out that her foundation brush was in desperate need of replacement so I decided to replace the brush and make a brush roll to put it in. I had some fantastic aqua fabric with pandas in cars, aeroplanes and teacups. I bought the fabric on-line at Fabric Rehab which has a lot of fun and unusual fabric and great customer service.  I had made a few rolls before for pencils, although these were easier in some ways as I had a whole set of pencils to use for sizes.

To make the brush roll I used twice the length of the brush that I bought and added 4cm to get the height of the fabric. I used the brush in the packet and measured approximately 10 times the packet width to get the length of the fabric. As you can see this is a really rough way to do it, but it really depends on how big you want it and how much you want to put in it. I cut both rectangles the same size, using plain white cotton to line it. I placed both rectangles right side together and sewed the top and bottom seams and one side. On the other side I put a short row of stitches in the top and bottom of the side seam and left a turning gap. I turned it right side out, added in a folded piece of ribbon and closed it all with a row of top stitching. I folded up the bottom so it covered the handle of the brush then pinned it all in place. I stitched the edges in place and then added 11 rows of stitches to make 12 pockets. These got slightly narrower in size. I was quite generous with the width as I though that it could easily be used for mascara, lip gloss and eye liner as well. I tucked the lose ends in with buried knots, and when complete the top folds over and it all gets rolled up and tied with a pretty bow.

Open roll with brush

Closed with ribbon