DIY Shaving Kit/Travel Bag

Search Pinterest or the list of blogs that I follow, and one can find a myriad of cute and practical gifts to make for a baby, child, or woman. But, finding a DIY gift to make for a MAN is a whole different ballgame! Many of the searches lead to “Dad-themed” gifts and that wasn’t going to work for my boyfriend’s birthday.

I already knew that I’d be making a stamped keychain….a project I’ve done before…only this time I ordered a blank with bat cutout from Etsy (BroBlanks) and stamped it.



But, I wanted to make him something else too…something uniquely his and useful. The Cottage Momma to the rescue! She posted the awesome idea of sewing a Dopp Kit! This was perfect since we are doing the long-distance relationship thing and he is always traveling back-and-forth to see me…..and most men use a shaving kit of some kind anyway.

When I am doing a new project, I like a lot of photos in a tutorial. Momtastic has a tutorial for basically the same bag, but it is a little bit bigger and she used two different fabrics…easier to see the steps. Between the two tutorials, you should be set!

Having never put in a zipper before and being a little unsure of the measurements, I decided to do a practice run. For the practice bag, I chose a pretty fabric from Hobby Lobby and used it for both the outside and the inner lining. It turned out to be quite simple and really cute. (So cute, that my friend nabbed it for herself after I showed it to her!)





















I’m glad I did the practice run. While the original bag is great, it is a little smaller than what I wanted for M’s gift. I simply added a couple of inches and it was just right. I also decided that I might prefer the inside to have French Seams. I played with the plam and then finally found that Lou Anne over at Lizze Tish had the same idea! She offers another easy to follow tutorial on how to make the French Seams. I will warn you….this took longer and definitely required a bit more fiddling with the fabric layers. Worth it though if you like that super finished look on the inside!

I wanted the bag for M to be masculine, yet personalized and fun! Since my boyfriend is a big Batman fan, I found a fun Batman flannel for the inner lining (to make him smile when he opens it) and a black & white pinstripe suit fabric for the outside (reminded me of a gangster movie!).

Using my embroidery machine, I put his initials on one outside piece of the bag (opposite the handle) prior to attaching the zipper. Now it was definitely personalized!























When it was completed, I sewed one of my little labels inside (thought he’d get a kick out of that).

I added a small tube of shaving cream from Bath & Body Works and put it in a fun gift bag with mustaches on it….couldn’t resist when I saw the gift bag! It’s far from perfect, but it turned out nicely and he seemed to really like it!

 
This is a great bag to make for yourself or as a gift.

Hope you have fun making one…or more since the holidays are coming!


This post is linked to:
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2014/10/show-tell-saturday-102514.html
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2014/10/link-party-palooza-and-made-by-dawn-renee-jewelry-giveaway.html
http://www.craftyimaginings.blogspot.com/2014/10/diy-shaving-kittravel-bag_24.html
http://igottacreate.blogspot.com/2014/10/wildly-original-link-party-127.html
http://www.niftythriftythings.com/nifty-thrifty-sunday-178/
http://www.creativelylivingblog.com/2014/10/monday-funday-76.html
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2014/10/wow-me-wednesday-178.html