"Last Week" Gift Idea: Manicure Roll-up Caddy

This isn't necessarily a "last minute" gift to sew, so it's more "last couple days" or even "last fortnight".  I finished it up in a couple hours, but I've made things like this before, so your mileage may vary.

Make this handy manicure roll-up caddy as a gift for a niece, sister, or other manicure-worthy friend! This is more of a faux-torial because I didn't take as many pictures as I should have for a "real" tutorial.

Materials:

• Lined Boxy Pouch about 8" long finished (materials varies by method of making the bag - check out this list of tutorials by Sew Mama Sew! for instructions)
• 2 coordinating fat quarters
• Medium to heavy interfacing, 8 1/2 x 22"
• Velcro or other fastener

The first step is to make the box pouch part of the caddy; mine roughly ended up 8" long by 3x3" around.  The roll-up part of the caddy is made to match the 8" length of the pouch.

Roll-Up Exterior:

• Cut one of the fat quarters that you want to be the exterior to 8 1/2" x 22".
• Fuse to interfacing.  I used Decor Bond because it was nice and heavy, and it's what I had on hand.

Roll-up Interior, with Pockets!

• Lay your exterior piece down for reference.
• Lay your 2nd fat quarter down on top (right side up), aligning up the top edge of the FQ with the top edge with the exterior piece.
• Fold the bottom of the FQ so it aligns with the bottom of the exterior piece, like so:

 

•  Take the top of the FQ and fold it back down to line up with the bottom edge of the exterior piece. It will look like this:

 

• Press the snot of out this piece so the creases are permanent. It is now your Roll-up Interior. Stick a couple pins along that folded edge so it doesn't go funky in the next step.
• Put your interior piece right side together with your exterior piece.  Stitch with a quarter inch seam along the two long edges and end edge (I left the selvedge edge unstitched from the photo above).
• Clip corners, and turn right side out! Press the snot out of it again. Seriously. Snot all over your ironing board now. Sorry about that.
• Go ahead and get a tissue for all that snot you just pressed out.
• Now it is time to stitch up the pockets so it makes cozy little places for your manicure bits!  If you have implements in mind, go ahead and lay them out on top of the Roll-Up and mark where you want to stitch to make pockets. If you don't, I spaced my stitching to range from 1 1/2" to 2" widths to accommodate a variety of implements.
• Top stitch the whole thing so it looks pretty.
• Now it's time to attached this to the side of your zippered pouch.  Place unfinished end of the Roll-Up on the side of the unzipped pouch, with the exterior of the Roll-Up against the outside of the pouch.  It will be awkward to stitch on the machine, but you can do it - pin it and then stitch.  Look at the photo below for placement (mine is on the bottom part of the side of the pouch, but not quite all the way to the bottom)
• Fold the roll-up so the Roll-Up interior is against the outside of the zippered pouch.  Then stitch so the unfinished end of the Roll-Up is now encased by that seam and not visible.
• Here is what the attached Caddy looks like (with the totebag I also made for my niece, who is the recipient for this caddy):

 

• To make the strap to keep it closed when it's rolled up, cut a piece of fabric from the FQ used for the exterior about 2 1/2" by 6" (I used a scrap from a different FQ. Do as I say, and not as I do). Fold lengthwise and stitch along one short and one long end to make a strap. Turn right side out. Attach Velcro piece (or snap or whatever your chose) to the finished end of the strap. Tuck in the unfinished end of the strap and stitch it onto the end of the Roll-Up; I used a zig-zag stitch.

• Roll that bad boy up (when it's stuffed, to make sure the strap won't be too tight), and hand stitch the other part of the fastener onto the Roll-up exterior.

Voila!

 

I stuffed this one with nail file, cuticle sticks, fun nail polish, nail polish remover, fingernail gems, nail clippers and such. Perfect for a girlie girl!