Vanilla Gift Bag Pattern

A Pretty Gift Bag for Small Items

Sewing a hundred identical tote bags is profitable, but not my idea of fun. So I'm always excited when I get custom orders and the opportunity to design something new and unique.

A friend brought back some bottles of pure vanilla from her trip to Mexico. One bottle was designed as a gift and nicely decorated, but the others were just bottles of vanilla she purchased in a supermarket. She wanted something to make them all look special.

I suggested we stick with a natural theme in harmony with the pure vanilla. So we decided on jute bags with leather handles, a rough twine tie closure and real vanilla beans as accents.

The hangtag says Nature's Bounty and inside Hecho a mano en México, (Made by hand in Mexico ).

To dress up the mundane supermarket bottles I wrapped the caps with rough twine and tucked in a piece of vanilla bean. For the pretty bottle, I hooked a whole vanilla bean onto the bag's handle (center bag in photo).

These are small bags so they're quite cute.

See my basic pattern for gift bags.

Cut your jute long enough to wrap around the bottle (from top to bottom to top) allowing a little extra for a hem.

Sew the sides together; square the bottom; hem the top; and turn right side out.

I pick up scraps of leather from a local shoemaker from time to time.

I look for very thin leather which my sewing machine can handle. Leather is hard to cut straight with a scissors.

I use a cutting mat, metal ruler as a straightedge and a rotary cutting wheel.

I sewed these handles on using an X in a square design. It looks nice and adds strength. You could also use grommets.

The closure is a piece of rough twine threaded through the open weave of the jute.

Use a pencil or pen to move the jute threads apart enough to accept the twine. Tie a knot on each end to prevent the twine from slipping out of the holes.

Insert your gift and tie the twine.

Adopt this idea to whatever crafts you sell that might be dressed up by gift bags.