Essential oil bag tutorial

I have been super busy!  In between working/organizing the bird house quilt, cleaning my new treadle sewing machine, researchine my treadle, blogging, trying to clean my house and everything else a house wife has to do (who says homemakers don't do anything all day?) I made a bag for my friend Cara to put her essential oils in. Cara is a good friend of mine and is full of knowledge about essential oils.  I try to learn all there is to know, but then can't remember it, so I just call Cara when I need her help.  Here is her blog  http://e-oils.blogspot.com/ it is a great place to get information about essential oils and how to use them.  A lot cheaper and with no side effects than traditional medicine.  You can also buy oils from her website here http://stores.mybutterflyoils.com/StoreFront.bok
About a month ago she showed me a picture of a carrier and asked me if I could make one.  I looked everywhere and could not find a tute on making one (grant it though, I'm a terrible internet researcher!) so I decided to try to make one myself.  I made a lot of mistakes, but I now know what to do differently next time.  I'm going to make myself a small one to carry in my purse. (if I can ever find the time!)

Be sure to read the entire tutorial before starting to sew!  I forgot to take pictures at first, sorry.  I found about 5 different patterns to use together.  You can use as many or as little prints as you want, but I really like black, red and white.  I took my two main pieces for the front and back and cut them 12x15 1/2 inches.  These measurements are for the size I wanted, but you can make it any size you want.  First add a lining, more info on that farther on down.
The picture above is the pocket, I took the two main pieces and folded it in thirds.  I wanted the middle section for the oils and the bottom section for two pockets and nothing on the top section.   I measured across the material and added about an extra 1/4 in.  I made the pocket 5x12 1/4 inches.  I then sewed them right sides together and left an opening to turn it. 

I left the opening at the bottom and then sewed it down.  I then attached it to the bottom of the inside fabric and sewed up the middle to make two pockets. Don't worry about a little (little is the key word here) overlap, it will not be seen when the inside and outside fabric is sewn together.  I did make the pocket about a 1/4 inch shorter then the fold because I wanted the red contrasting fabric between the two blacks and the bag needed room to fold over.  This pocket is for band-aids, tweezers, oil guides, etc.  Next time I think I will add Velcro to the pockets to keep things from falling out. 

Next, I wanted the middle section a contrasting fabric also.  This section is to fold over the oils in the middle before closing the bag up.

Here is a picture of what it will looked like finished with oils in it.  I cut the middle the width I wanted then laid it down until it overlapped to decide how long to cut it.  I cut this strip 5 x 25 inches.  You will need to cut two pieces.

(Please do not look at my tacky chipped fingernail polish!  How embarrassing!)  I sewed the two pieces together wrong sides and then turned them and ironed the edges down before I sewed it together.  When I sewed it onto the inside fabric I sewed around the entire length to give it a more finished look.

This part I will change next time.  I sewed two pieces of felt under the middle strip to give cushion to the oils.  Next time I will cut an inner lining for the entire bag (felt, flannel, batting, anything will work).  Be sure to sew the lining to the inside fabric BEFORE sewing anything else on.  I then sewed the middle part on top of the felt.

I used elastic to hold the bottles in.  I made the top row for regular size bottles and the bottom row for small bottles.  Notice the two different sized elastics?  I also made a bigger size at the end for the carrier oil or spray bottle.

 I did make some of the elastic too loose.  Next time I will mark each piece where I want it to go.  I zig-zagged the edges of elastic then using a straight stitch , sewed up each piece using one strip of elastic for each row.  I just sewed along the bottom or top of the elastic until I got to the next part that I needed to sew up.  You can do that if your thread blends in with your material.
Remember that all of this is being sewn to the right side of the inside fabric only.  You don't want all those sewing marks seen on the other side.

Next you need to decide where you want your elastic.  You will want one piece on the inside and one piece on the outside, use a ruler to help guide and make sure it is straight.  Leave enough room at the top to be able to sew your two pieces together.  I would recommend at least a half inch.

It is really hard to pin down Velcro so I used washable glue stick to hold it in place until I sewed it down.

When you sew down the Velcro, I would recommend using white thread, the black looks awful!!  Here it is almost finished.

If you are going to add any outside decorations, sew them on now before sewing the inside and outside fabrics together.  I added a ribbon.   Leave enough room for the sewing, I would say about 1/2 an inch from the edge. 

I then put the right sides of the two main pieces together, make sure your Velcro is on the right ends!   I started sewing around the edges, starting and stopping at the middle sections since I did not want to sew down the middle flaps.  I then turned it wrong side out and ironed down the edges folded under.  Cara did mention it would be nice to have a ribbon so she could fold the bag one more time to put in her purse.  I would add those now to the middle of the backside of the black middle section.   Now sew around the entire bag. 

Here is the back of the folded bag, with oils in the bag.

And here is your finished bag, filled with oils and ready to go with you!  Ready for any emergency you might have!
Happy sewing!
Missy