6 Cute DIY Knitted Makeup Brush Holders You Need to Make Right Now

If you’ve ever rummaged through a cluttered makeup drawer trying to find the right blending brush, you already know the struggle. Keeping your makeup brushes organized isn’t just about aesthetics — it actually helps preserve the shape of the bristles, makes your morning routine faster, and honestly, it just feels good to have a beautiful vanity setup. But here’s the thing: store-bought brush holders can be expensive, generic, and frankly a little boring. That’s exactly why the knitting community has fallen in love with DIY knitted makeup brush holders.

Knitted brush holders are soft, customizable, and surprisingly functional. You can make them in any color to match your room, give them as gifts, sell them on Etsy, or simply enjoy the satisfying process of making something practical with your own two hands. Whether you’re a beginner who just learned to cast on or a seasoned knitter looking for a quick, satisfying project, there’s something on this list for you.

Below, you’ll find six of the most creative and adorable knitted makeup brush holder ideas, complete with style details, yarn suggestions, skill level notes, and tips to help you get started. Let’s dive in.

1. The Classic Rolled Pouch with Button Closure

This is the one that started it all. If you search “knitted makeup brush holder” on Pinterest, you’ll find hundreds of variations on this rolled pouch design, and for good reason — it’s clean, compact, and genuinely useful.

The concept is simple: you knit a flat rectangle, fold it in thirds, and add a few loops or a single button closure so it stays rolled up when you’re on the go. When you unroll it, you have a flat surface with individual pockets for each brush. It’s essentially the same layout as those leather brush rolls you see at professional makeup counters, except knitted in whatever color makes your heart happy.

For this style, a medium-weight worsted yarn in cotton or a cotton blend works beautifully. Cotton gives you structure without making the fabric too stiff, and it has a lovely finished look that feels polished rather than rustic. A nice dusty rose, sage green, or creamy off-white will look especially gorgeous.

When you knit the pockets, work them horizontally by picking up stitches along the bottom edge of your flat panel and knitting upward. You can vary the pocket widths to accommodate everything from tiny lip liner brushes to wider powder brushes — just count your stitches carefully and mark the pocket divisions with stitch markers before you start.

Skill level: Beginner to intermediate. If you can knit, purl, and pick up stitches, you can absolutely make this.

The button closure is a lovely detail. Choose a big, beautiful vintage button in a contrasting color, or go tonal for a more minimalist look. A loop of yarn at the opposite end makes the button closure simple and secure.

This holder typically fits eight to twelve brushes depending on your sizing. If you make it a little longer and add more pockets, you can even store your eyeliner pencils and lip liners alongside your brushes.

2. The Boho Macramé-Inspired Knitted Stand

Wait — macramé? Yes, but knitted. The boho aesthetic has had an enormous comeback in home décor and beauty spaces, and this style of brush holder captures that look with a beautiful knitted twist.

Instead of a pouch or a flat roll, this holder is designed to stand upright on your vanity, similar to a small vase or cup shape. The body is worked in the round using a combination of knit and purl stitches that create a textured, almost woven-looking surface. Fringe at the top or bottom (or both) gives it that unmistakable boho macramé feel without requiring any knotting at all.

Bulky or chunky yarn is your best friend here because it gives the holder enough body to stand on its own without needing a stiffener. However, many knitters do insert a small glass or plastic cup inside the knitted holder to give it structure and make it easy to clean. This is a great idea since makeup residue can collect at the bottom over time, and being able to remove the lining for washing is a huge practical advantage.

For colors, natural fiber tones shine in this design. Think undyed ecru, warm caramel, terracotta, or deep rust. If you want a slightly more dramatic look, a dark forest green or charcoal gray with cream fringe looks absolutely stunning on a white or marble vanity.

The texture on this holder comes from alternating between panels of seed stitch and reverse stockinette. It creates that basket-weave illusion that reads very artisan and handmade in the best possible way.

Skill level: Intermediate. Working in the round is required, and managing the fringe details takes a little patience, but nothing here is technically difficult.

This style makes an incredible gift — it photographs beautifully, it has a strong aesthetic personality, and it’s genuinely different from anything you’d find in a store.

3. The Chevron-Pattern Flat Pouch

If you’re the kind of person who loves a bold geometric pattern, this is your holder. The chevron design — those iconic zigzag stripes — looks incredibly satisfying in a flat knitted pouch format, and the good news is that basic chevron is actually one of the simpler colorwork techniques to learn if you’ve never tried stranded knitting before.

This holder takes the shape of a simple zippered or button-top pouch. It’s not a roll and it doesn’t have individual pockets. Instead, you pop all your brushes inside loose, which is great for travel or for people who prefer a more casual, throw-it-in approach to brush organization.

The magic is entirely in the chevron pattern. Using two or three complementary colors, you work the stripes in a classic up-and-down zigzag. Teal and white is always a winner. Mustard yellow and navy feels very on-trend. Black and blush pink is chic and feminine. Really, any two colors that you love together will work here.

For yarn, choose something slightly thinner — a DK weight or a light worsted — because the double layer of stranded fabric that colorwork creates already gives you a fairly thick, sturdy fabric. You want the pouch to close easily without being bulky.

If you don’t want to deal with a zipper, a simple envelope closure (the pouch flap folds over and tucks in) or a tie closure (two long yarn tails tied in a bow) both look adorable and keep the project completely hardware-free.

Skill level: Intermediate. Stranded colorwork requires you to carry two yarns at once and manage your tension carefully. It’s not as hard as it looks, but there’s a small learning curve.

The finished pouch feels heirloom-quality. It’s the kind of thing you keep for years, and the chevron pattern is timeless enough that it will never feel dated.

4. The Mini Cactus Brush Caddy

Okay, let’s have some fun. Not every makeup brush holder needs to be a pouch or a roll. This one is a sculpted design that turns your brush holder into a tiny knitted cactus, and it is every bit as adorable as it sounds.

The cactus body is worked in the round in a light green yarn, increasing and decreasing at strategic points to create that rounded barrel cactus shape. The brush slots are built in as you go — essentially, a series of vertical pockets around the outer edge of the cactus that each hold one brush. The bristle ends of your brushes poke out of the top, and the handles sit down inside the pockets, making for a surprisingly secure hold.

You can add tiny knitted arms to give it a classic saguaro cactus silhouette, and a terracotta-colored base (either knitted or repurposed from an actual small terra cotta pot) completes the look. Some knitters also add tiny French knot flowers in pink or yellow for extra charm.

This holder looks absolutely magical on a plant-shelved bathroom vanity or a boho-style bedroom dresser. It’s whimsical without being juvenile, and it photographs incredibly well for social media.

Yarn-wise, a cotton or cotton-acrylic blend in cactus green is the obvious choice. Use a firmer, tighter gauge than you might normally to ensure the pockets are structured enough to hold your brushes upright. Stuffing the body lightly with polyfill stuffing will also help it maintain its shape.

Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Shaping a three-dimensional object requires comfort with increases, decreases, and working in the round. The individual pockets add another layer of complexity. But if you enjoy amigurumi-style projects, you’ll find this very familiar and enjoyable.

This one is a real conversation-starter. If you put it on your vanity, prepare for every visitor to immediately say “wait, is that your makeup brush holder?”

5. The Drawstring Bucket Bag Style

Sometimes the most elegant solution is the simplest one. The drawstring bucket bag style holder is exactly what it sounds like: a knitted bag in a classic bucket or cylinder shape with a drawstring top that cinches closed. All your brushes live inside, handles down, bristles up, neat and tidy.

What makes this design special is the opportunity for beautiful texture work on the body of the bag. A simple cable running up the front, a band of seed stitch around the middle, or a full-body brioche fabric all turn this humble cylinder into something genuinely beautiful. Brioche knitting in particular creates a thick, pillowy fabric with a wonderfully luxurious feel that makes the bag look almost like velvet from a distance.

The drawstring itself can be a simple twisted cord made from the same yarn, a length of satin ribbon threaded through eyelets at the top, or even a thin leather cord for a more polished look. The contrast between the soft knitted fabric and a leather cord is particularly lovely if you’re going for that elevated, artisan aesthetic.

For size, aim for a circumference of about ten to twelve inches and a height of about six inches. This gives you enough room for twelve to fifteen brushes without the bag becoming so wide that everything flops over. If you use a slightly stiffer yarn like linen or a linen blend, the bag will hold its shape better without any lining.

Color-wise, this design suits sophisticated, single-color palettes beautifully. Deep teal, burgundy, charcoal, blush, lavender — any one of these in a single tone with beautiful stitch texture will look absolutely polished on your vanity.

Skill level: Beginner to intermediate. The basic bucket bag shape is beginner-friendly. Adding cable work pushes it toward intermediate, but even basic cables are approachable once you invest in a cable needle and spend thirty minutes learning the technique.

This is also one of the most gift-able designs on the list. It looks luxurious, it’s useful, and most people would never in a million years guess you made it yourself.

6. The Pastel Rainbow Striped Roll-Up

We’re ending on something colorful and joyful, because life is too short for boring vanities. The pastel rainbow striped roll-up is a variation on the classic rolled pouch from number one on our list, but this version is worked in thin horizontal stripes of soft pastel colors — think lavender, baby pink, mint, butter yellow, peach, and sky blue — creating a look that is genuinely cheerful and a little bit magical.

Each stripe is only a few rows wide, which means you’re constantly switching colors. This sounds tedious, but it’s actually one of the most meditative and satisfying knitting experiences you can have. There’s something deeply pleasing about watching those thin stripes accumulate row by row into something so pretty.

The construction is the same as the classic roll-up: a flat rectangle with individual pockets sewn or knitted in, finished with a button or tie closure. But the stripes transform the whole thing. Even the most basic knitter can achieve this look because stripes require absolutely no colorwork technique — you simply cut the yarn at the end of each stripe (or carry it loosely up the side if the stripes are very narrow) and join the next color.

Use a light DK weight or sport weight yarn for this design. The thinner yarn allows the individual stripes to read clearly without bleeding into each other. Pastel variegated yarns can also work beautifully here — if you find a self-striping yarn in pastel tones, you can practically make the whole thing without any color changes at all and still get a gorgeous rainbow effect.

The finished holder looks like it belongs in an aesthetic flat lay on Instagram. It’s the kind of thing that makes your morning routine feel a little more magical, and it’s a fantastic project for using up small leftover amounts of yarn from other projects.

Skill level: Beginner. Truly, if you’ve been knitting for a month, you can make this. The stripes cover a multitude of tension inconsistencies, and the rolled-up format means even small imperfections are hidden inside.

Tips for Making Your Knitted Brush Holder Last

Whichever design you fall in love with, a few practical tips will help your finished holder stay beautiful for years. First, always use a yarn that can be hand-washed or machine-washed on a gentle cycle. Makeup residue will inevitably find its way onto your holder, and being able to clean it without destroying the fabric is essential. Cotton, cotton blends, and superwash wool are all great choices.

Second, consider adding a fabric lining to any holder that will have brushes sitting directly on the knitted fabric for extended periods. A simple rectangle of cotton fabric hand-stitched inside the pockets prevents the bristles from snagging on yarn fibers and helps the holder maintain its shape.

Third, block your finished piece. Blocking — the process of wetting your knitted fabric and laying it flat to dry in the correct shape — makes an enormous difference in the final appearance. It evens out your stitches, opens up any textured patterns so they’re more visible, and gives your finished piece a professional, polished look.

Finally, enjoy the process. One of the best things about making your own beauty accessories is that you get to customize absolutely everything — the colors, the size, the closure, the texture. There’s no wrong answer. The holder that makes you happy every morning when you reach for your brushes is the perfect one, full stop.

Now grab your needles, pick your favorite design from this list, and get knitting. Your vanity is about to get a serious upgrade.