Lovely Loaf Cosmetic Case Tutorial

How to make a cosmetic case that I call a lovely loaf, because it looks like a lovely loaf of bread.

Ingredients to make your lovely loaf: One outside fabric piece in the shape of a rectangle. This one is 12 by 18 inches but as you can see from the photo, I've been experimenting with different sizes. You will need a lining fabric the same dimensions. Also you will need a zipper that is at least long enough to cover the span of the short edge. This is a 14 inch zipper and it just barely fit nicely. A zipper that is too long is actually easier to sew.

Optional extras: The bag looks a lot nicer with batting or filler fabric in between your outer and lining fabrics. In this case, I have chosen a fusible batting, 11 by 17 inches, that will adhere to both fabrics when ironed. You could also use a sew in batting or fleece. Another option would be to sew applique designs on the outside fabric. In this case I am using a couple hearts, just to show some helpful positioning on the bag.
Notice the batting is a bit smaller than my fabric. I layer the outer fabric, right side out, then the batting, then the lining goes on top, right side facing out. Iron, with steam if possible, to fuse the batting to the layers, creating one solid unit.

If you are using fleece or sew-in batting, you will need to do some extra stitching to make the pieces stay together.
Line up the zipper, right side of zip centered on the right side of the outer piece of fabric, at one of the short ends. Use a zipper foot to sew the zipper on to the edge, carefully lining up the top edge of the zipper with the top edge of the fabric.

Only sew it to the top/outer piece. Tuck the inner batting and lining back away from your stitching. This edge will be visible later, inside the bag. We want to make the edge clean looking.
Flip your work over to view where the inside of that zipper edge meets the lining.

Tuck the lining into the remaining zipper flap and pin it. Trim any excess outer fabric that might be poking out of your clean edge. Another helpful tip for this point is to iron, which will help straighten the outer side. You're about to stitch here where you see the pin. This will tack down the lining for a clean inside edge. This stitching will also make a visible stitch line on the front/top of your bag, so keep it straight!

Here you see your work on the right side. Next you will fold the other side on top of this, so the opposite top edge meets the remaining free zip edge.

Line up the zipper, right side of zip facing the right side of the outer fabric short end.
To get at the lining side, reach in and unzip the zipper.
Tuck the lining inside the leftover bit of the zipper flap and pin it. Trim away any excess outer fabric that is peaking out. Make a clean edge here that will look nice when you see it inside the bag later.
Next, use a pen or cut a notch to mark the center base of the bag.
Oh yes, by the way, sew on your applique if you have them. I waited to this point so I can see there the top edge is along the zipper, and figure the center of the bag. This will be the center top of the finished bag. Your choice of bobbin thread will be visible inside the bag so you should choose a color that matches your lining (unless you intend for a contrasting color).
Fold down the zipper to the center base line, as shown by your marks.

Flatten the bag and spent a moment to pull the fabric taught all around.

We're going to seal the bag now --- so Open the zipper!

Sew the short ends. I drew a line on the fabric to illustrate where to sew, about an inch in from the edge. Make sure to get some of the batting in the seam here for stability of the bag. The larger than usual seam allowance gives you extra fabric to fold a clean edge a bit later.

I tried to pin the zipper into place but it looks open in this picture (oops). Sew over the zip as if it were zipped up. Always double check that you will not be sewing over any heavy zipper hardware. I broke a needle during the making of this tutorial by catching the zipper end (oops).
The corners are going to be cut so it isn't necessary to sew them. Trim an inch at each corner.
This will allow you to cut near your stitch line, three layers of fabric/batting, leaving only one, bottom, lining piece of edge left. When trimming the zipper extra, use old or cheap scissors. Save your sewing scissors for thread and fabric.
Fold the last bit of edge over and sew. This makes the edge look much nicer. Even though the edge is inside the bag, it would be distracting if it were an open edge. If you wanted to further perfect this clean edge, you could use bias tape. Again, be careful not to sew any zipper pull or hard metal. But it is ok to sew over most zipper teeth.
Here you see the clean edge.
Your bag will look terrible if you do not measure perfect squares at each corner. Some sewers are very talented at making duck bill corners and stitching a perfect corner. The rest of us could use a nice tip such as this to make corners without frustration. Measure with a ruler, 1.25 inches perfectly square, from the edge and from the seam edge. I use marker to make certain where I will cut. Cut this out.
Here is what the project looks like at this point. Perfectly square corners cut out are ready to sew.
My best tip for sewing the corners is to pull the openings taught. If you cut your squares well, this should work well.
I sew close to the edge because I want to make this edge look as though I used a serger.
Here is my corner, first line of stitching in place. To close up this open edge, I use a zig zag stitch, that wraps just a bit over the edge, or just up to it. Sometimes one pass is good enough. Sometimes I zig zag back and forth over this edge a few times. You won't notice it inside the bag too much, but this is your chance for a clean edge.
Here is my clean edge. Maybe I will get a serger for Christmas. Otherwise, this is not bad.
This last step is optional. It makes a nice touch to add this last bit of top stitching to the sides of the bag. You may decide for yourself if it's worth the trouble of sewing inside of the bag!

Locate the place where the edges make that T shape there, as shown in this picture. The top stitching will go from side to side, following a quarter inch down from the seam that cuts across the center of the sides of the bag.
It's like dressing your presser foot. Remember to lock stitch or back stitch a few stitches to lock your thread in place here.
At last, you are finished. Turn the bag right side out. Iron as much as you can to fine tune the shape.

There you have it: a Lovely Loaf!

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. Perhaps you can improve the process yourself as you go. Thank you and have a great day!