Fabric Gift Bags

Holiday themed fabric is on sale now and I like to buy a few yard to make reusable gift bags.  They are easy to make and you can adjust the difficulty to fit your sewing skills.  It is a good projects for children just learning to sew.

Cut your fabric to double the length that you want your finished bag to be, adding two inches to each end if you want to make a hemmed top.  Your width should be cut the same width you want for your bag plus an inch to account for 1/2 inch seam allowances.

Fold your fabric in half lengthwise (the fold is the bottom of the bag) with right sides facing each other.  Sew your side seams with a straight stitch, then zig zag stitch or pink (with pinking shears) your raw seam edges.  Turn right side out.  If you are not going to hem the top, finish it with a zig zag stitch or pink to prevent raveling.

To hem the top, iron 1/4 inch of the top edge under towards the wrong side.  Now iron another 1 3/4 inch under also towards the inside/ wrong side of the bag.  If you wish to add a button hole for the drawstring do it at this time on the right side of the fabric within the area of the hem.  With a straight stitch sew the hem in place.

You can gather the top of your bag and tie it off with decorative ribbon or, if you made the button hole, string the ribbon through the hem (you can see it in the picture).

I use these bags year after year.  The save on wrapping paper and make wrapping easy.  Just insert gift and tie.  I would not use these for inquisitive children that are too young to not peek.

God bless,
Pam