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Holiday Gift Bag

A Simple, Easy To Make Holiday Gift Bag

Gift bags, especially wine gift bags, have been big sellers for me. I make them in festive cotton prints with ribbon ties; or in jute with handles crocheted from natural fiber twine (like sisal or hemp) or from strips of leather attached with grommets.

I always sew some doo-dad next to the handle to make the jute bags unique. For Christmas, I use artificial holly, poinsettias and gilded berries or grapes. For the rest of the year, miniature flowers are nice. I’ve also used little plastic cat charms painted gold to coordinate with gold and brown tiger stripe ribbon.

Metallic sheer organza also makes beautiful gift bags. I make these in various sizes and use wired ribbon sewn into a side seam to be artfully arranged by the gift giver when used. I square off the bottoms of all my bags to give a more finished look, except for the organza ones. With such beautiful fabric, I like the show it off with a more billowy look.

Here is my craft pattern for cotton wine gift bags.

2. With right sides facing, pin folded ribbon between the two layers 4” (10 cm) from the top. Sew ¼” seams on both sides, enclosing the ribbon into one seam and taking care to keep the ribbon’s tails out of the way.

3. If you’re making several bags this size, make a template to speed up squaring the bottoms. Cut a right triangle from a piece of cardboard with these dimensions: 2” x 1 ½” x 1 ½” (5cm x 4 cm x 4 cm). Mark the center of the long side with an arrow.

To square the bottoms, position the template with the arrow pointing at the seam as shown.

4. Hold the template in place while you sew a 2” seam as shown in the photo. Repeat for the other side.

5. Fold the top down ½” (1 cm), then another ½” to make a rolled hem. Topstitch the hem.

6. Turn the finished bag right side out.

Varying this basic pattern, you can make any size gift bag you like.

Here are more wine gift bag ideas.

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