Drawstring fabric gift bag

As long as I'm on the subject of making gifts look nice, why not sew up some quick and easy gift bags?

For this striped bag, I used:
Two pieces of fabric 7" x 14". (2.5" of this will be folded over for the cuff.)
Two pieces (each about 24") of seam binding, ribbon, or sewn-together bias tape
Small scraps of cloth or fabric flowers

To start, sew on small pieces of scrap fabric for decoration. Use a zig zag stitch or even leave some of the raw edges to create a "fringe." (See the orange bag below.)

On the wrong side of the fabric, on one side edge, place a mark 4.5"" from the top of the bag. Place another mark 3.75" from the top of the bag. Mark the other side edge in the same places.

Using 1/4" seam allowance, sew the two pieces of fabric together along the sides and bottom edges, leaving the spaces between the marks open.

Press the seams open at least as far down as the holes.

Fold the top edge down 1/4' and press. Fold the top down again another 2.25".

Stitch along the bottom of the cuff, close to the pressed edge.
Create the channel for your drawstrings by stitching again 1" away from the first stitching line. To keep your stitching line straight, you can first mark it with a disappearing pen. (Or you can just eyeball it!)

Turn the bag right side out.

Pin a safety pin to one end of one piece of the seam binding or ribbon. Work the seam binding into the channel, entering the hole on one side of the bag, going all the way around the bag, and coming out the same hole. Take the pin off, even up the ends of the binding and tie a knot.
With the other piece of binding, start in the opposite hole and do the same thing. (This creates two opposing cords, which making cinching the bag, well, a cinch!)

It's fun to alter the dimensions of the bag, or how big the cuff is, or even how long the drawstrings are.

Here are some more I did in different sizes:

This one started with fabric 10.5" x 6" and the cuff was folded over 3". (The marks are at 5.5" and 4.75")

This one started with fabric 8.5" x 16" and the cuff was folded over 5". (The marks are at 9.5" and 8.75")

I used an old dress shirt of Jay's for this one! Its measurements are the same as the polka dotted one.

So that's it. Easy, huh?

By they way, are you a follower of Smalltropolis yet?

Comments

Present-ation!

I've finished making a whole pile of frayed ruffle hearts . They're cute the way they are, but to make them extra special, I'm putting them in pretty cellophane bags, with curly ribbons and hand-made tags. Sometimes I get lazy and don't spend the extra effort on great gift wrap, but it's so worth it, isn't it? The other exciting part of this is I'm not just sending these hearts to family and friends. I've got 3 set aside for Aunt Peaches Valentine Swap ! Yea!!!

Lessons from BlogHer '13

BlogHer '13—my first blogging convention—was last weekend. And I learned a lot! For example: #1 No Russians are reading my blog. When I look at the statistics for who's looking at Smalltropolis, it's very impressive. For example, today I have 43 pageviews from Latvia. Switzerland is represented, as is France, Denmark, China. Just a world-wide appeal I have goin' on. (Gloat.) Thing is, as I learned at BlogHer, that's almost certainly because the analytics I'm looking at aren't very accurate. Lots of spam is included. To get the real numbers, I need to sign up for Google Analytics. Блин! #2. Great photography doesn't come from the womb. The kick-off keynote speaker was Ree Drummond. I'd certainly admired the beautiful photography on her blog, The Pioneer Woman multiple times, so it was pretty enlightening when she showed some of her early photos. They were, quite simply, dreadful. It really drove home how good writing and good photography a

Perfect pickle weights

Making pickles requires keeping the vegetables submerged in the brine so they don't get yucky. But what to use as weights? Stones? Hmm. This may be traditional but I have a hard time believing I could get them clean enough. Plastic baggies filled with pickling juice? This is what is usually recommended but it just doesn't appeal to me. (Does the plastic leach anything out during the fermenting period?) Hand-made ceramic discs? They're lovely but they're $22 (plus shipping) for three, and each jar needs a couple so that would get pretty expensive to do the multiple jars of pickles I've got going on. No, the perfect solution are these little glass candle holders from IKEA. They're called Glimma and at $1.99 for a six-pack, they're safe, sanitary, and cheap. And they fit perfectly inside wide-mouthed Ball jars. So, fill the jar with vegetables (leaving a bit of headspace) and top off with brine, allowing the liquid to flow into the glass dish,

Smalltropolis

Search This Blog