Fabric Gift Bags Tutorial

CHRISTMAS 2008


One of my favorite blogs is Tommy the Material Girl. Recently Tommy was bemoaning the fact that she could not get boxes from Macy's where she had purchased 18 outfits for family. Of course, I had to tell her forget those boxes and make your own fabric gift bags.

Seven or eight years ago I decided 'no more wrapping paper'. I decided to use my fabric stash that could (and still does) rival a quilt shop .... stashbusting.

Here's a quickie tutorial ... I use that word tutorial loosely, by the way. When you're first starting out making your fabric gift bags start by making the bag to fit a specific gift.

1. I loosely estimate all around the item. The fabric is folded in half so it's really double what you see in the photo.


2. Cut the piece.


3. Open the fabric out and measure down for the fold over. I now like to use a deeper fold over of 5-6 inches
.

4. Turn under 1/2 inch to hit the raw edge, press.


5. Now open it out completely and sew the sides and bottom. If you don't have a serger use your regular sewing machine.




6. Now stitch the cuff in place.


7. Stitch across the bottom corners to make the box edge.


8. I also attach my ribbon to the bag. Measure out approximately 43 inches.


9. Stitch the ribbon to the middle of the bag.


10. You're done.


Now next year if some of your bags are too large hey just take the seam in with a basting stitch ... poof it's a smaller size instantly. AND yes the gift bags must be returned to me ... reuse for the next year you know. LOL

I do make gift bags for all occassions and holidays ... no wrapping paper, no tissue paper and no tape necessary. If you don't have enough of one fabric hey sew two together. The largest bag I've made held a Dyson (see below). Yahooooooo












MERRY CHRISTMAS

Is the stash closet still neat???

YES, as you can see my stash closet is still neat and in order.

Grocery Bag for DH

I've been reading lots about making your own Grocery Bags. Of course, I had to try it. Like everyone I have 1000's of those plastic bags which I keep a few but mostly throw them away. Yes I know that's bad but gosh I can only keep so many and where I live we don't have a recycle center (that I know of).

I have to confess that last night I threw it in the trash because I just couldn't figure out the instructions. I decided to wing it and things went alot better. Now I did start out with the grocery bag instructions from Crafter.org (love that place). If I decide to make anymore I plan to cut the handles down by half as it's just too much bulk.

I needed a photo model and roped DH when he came home for lunch. LOL

Outside and Inside

So if you're sick of plastic bags ........ get those sewing machines humming and make yourself a few. Of course, I'll need about 15-20 for my grocery shopping but even 5-6 will help. AND the best part is you'll be StashBUSTING your stash.

Oh just found this one (tutorial).

Oh my gosh just saw this on another forum. It's from Martha Stewart's website. The video is about 9 minutes (first 5 minutes is on gords) ... it's a great idea.

AND last but not least ...... here's 35 resusable ones from tipnut.com

Fabric Stashbusting .......

We all know that after Christmas we have trash, lots of trash. For the last 5years or so I've been busting part of my stash by making gift bags. Started out making the bags for Christmas ... now I make bags for every gift needed (birthday, friends, mother's and father's day and etc.). I wanted to compare my 'trash' to DD#1 'trash'.

Mine (ready for next year) ..................... hers











They love the sound of paper ripping. What can I say......

Happy CHRISTMAS Faces .........

Christmas this year was GREAT even with our water problems. We had to move the gifts upstairs due to the broken water line.
A couple of happy faces on Christmas morning.
The girls each got their own laptops. GS got a 'faux' 4 wheeler.


Oh and this photo reflects their "favorite" gift they each received from mom and dad.


Yep, it's UNDERWEAR (what everyone wants to get for Christmas).

Stashbusting

Like most quilters I have sooooooooo much fabric. I promised myself that I wouldn't buy .... yes you've guessed it I bought over the weekend. I'm a fleece lover so couldn't pass up the anti-pill sale at Joann's. On Friday the prints ($12.99) were on sale for $4.99; Saturday the solids ($7.99) were on sale for $3.99. Now see why I couldn't pass it up. All of the pieces will be New Year's gifts for my 3 GC teachers. Christmas is so busy so this year we're doing New Year's.