Sew a Little Gift Bag
A pretty gift in itself!
It’s the holiday season, and Sam’s and my families celebrate many birthdays in the winter, so we’ve been thinking about gifts and how to wrap them. It’s an inspiring time. One year we carved potatoes and stamped them onto brown paper wrapping paper. Red hearts and blue snowflakes!
This year I’ve been thinking about sewing little fabric bags. People might enjoy receiving a gift in a gift, and not having to throw away paper or cardboard when the surprise is over. I still have some that I made and used for children’s matching-game tiles a few years ago.
Today I found a pattern online that has the same gathered top that I remember. So I sewed a cloth bag using the instructions and drew some diagrams to share with you. I learned how to make French seams. I wish I’d known about them a long time ago, they’re so easy and neat.
For my next bag I might place the buttonhole about 4” from the top, for a deeper ruffle. I’d have to start with a longer rectangle of material. It’s a nice basic pattern to design around.
For the ribbon, I sewed a strip of similar patterned fabric. A yard was a little too much, and it could be more narrow, but you can adjust that to the size of the bag you make. This is what mine looked like when I finished it this afternoon.
For this photo, I took one of my favorite objects off the shelf, wrapped it in tissue paper, and tucked it into my new bag decorated with shooting stars.
It’s a wonderful paper maché nun created by my friend Marcia Brennan who exhibits her work at #7 Arts in Brevard. I’ll be smiling for a while now. Thank you, Marcia!
Have fun. It’s time to be making things!
cookies! fruitcake! I finally gave up my sewing machine, it was from 9th grade! Ancient!
Thanks for these instructions and reminder! What a good way to use up pieces of fabric of every size...and as they get passed from one gifted person to another they add memories...as well as save wrapping paper!