That's one frugal makeup bag (crochet projects)

This started out as an example of "crocheting a rectangle," something coming up soon in our girls' crochet class. The class project that week will be to make a small purse for a doll (since this is a class of tweenage girls, there are several doll projects--and doll projects work up quickly), but I wanted to show how the same idea--folding a square or rectangle in half--could be used to make a bigger purse, glasses case, Barbie sleeping bag, whatever.

Ingredients: one 50 cent ball of thrift-store yarn (of which I used about half), one red zipper taken from a one-dollar thrift store skirt (most of the skirt had already been sacrificed for another purpose), two red buttons, two daisy motifs from a thrifted bag of trims, and a bit of red thread. Total cost--maybe seventy-five cents?

Method: Crochet a rectangle as long as the zipper and as deep as you like. I used half-double crochet which is a good solid stitch and is easy to do, but which has one little catch if you're crocheting in rows: make sure you don't miss the last stitch before the chain, because it tends to hide. I noticed that I was losing a stitch as I went along, and wondered what I was doing wrong--so I quickly checked a video tutorial and found someone pointing out that exact problem. Oops. So I tried again and got it right.

Turn it inside out, sew up the sides, thread a sewing needle with thread to match, and sew each side of the zipper to one side of the case. Keeping the zipper partly unzipped while you sew it is a good idea, because otherwise, when you get it all sewed together, you'll have to poke at the zipper tab and open it upside down and backwards to turn it right side out, if you know what I mean.

Decorate as you feel inspired.  I happened to have the daisies and a box of buttons nearby, so that's what I used.