Quilted Toiletery Bags by Rosie Caldwell (pattern review)

My first sewing project for the month of July was two quilted toiletery bags made from a pattern by Rosie Caldwell. I needed some bags to store toileteries and sewing accessories and I found this pattern while watching the designer’s youtube channel.

For the materials, I had the chance to find some good quality zipper on sale at Bergère de France. The fabric was a quilting cotton from Liberty that I bought on Club Tissus. I hesitated about the print, but as soon as I saw it in real life, I fell for it. First, I love small florals. Then, the quality of the fabric was so good I could not resist. For the batting, I used some 100% cotton batting I had for a couple years from Michael’s. I do not recommend this specific batting because I had to double it just to have a noticeable quilting effect and then only had enough to make two bags instead of the three planned by the pattern. It might be what caused the only problem I had with this project.

While assembling, I soon noticed that the zippers were too short of at least 5 cm for the quilted pieces. I had to shorten all the quilted pieces, which modified the proportions of the bags. I might have mismeasured the zippers or it might be the quilting that has not fluffy enough to shorten the pieces. Fortunately, it did not had any effect on the final results. However, when I will make this pattern again, I will use a thicker batting and planned for longer zippers just in case.

The assembly was very easy, espacially with the instructional video. I appreciated that the designer intended the use of a normal sewing foot instead of a zipper foot. Also, the inside finishings look clean and tidy.

I use my bags for three weeks now and I can’t live without them. The boxy toiletery bag was very useful when I visited my sister at the beginning of the month and the large bag now store my current (secret) crochet project. I still miss a bag for my sewing accessories and another one for my makeup so I plan to sew two small bags as soon as I find the correct batting. 

Pattern : Quilted Toiletery Bags from Rosie Caldwell

Fabrics : Cotton Home Collector by Liberty, Botanist Blossom Blue

Zippers: Fermeture en métal non séparable écru (the only one still in stock)