A homemade, cloth, gift bag is beautiful, reusable, washable, “green” and frugal—much less expensive than a store-bought, paper gift bag. Our talented sisters, Wanda Kieft-Flood and Susan Fesler-Vaughn, designed The Bow Bag. If you can sew a straight line, you can make their gift bag; we’re going to show you how.
Some tips to follow as you sew: Wash the fabric before sewing so it won’t stretch or shrink. Press the fabric. Leave the iron hot so you can press your seams as you sew. Measure twice; cut once. Snip all threads as you go.
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For an average size gift, you will probably need only about one yard of 44-inch wide fabric to make a bag. Your fabric has to be large enough to wrap around your gift box; add 2 inches for the seam allowance. Cut off any excess fabric, and save it for the Bow Belt.
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The length of the fabric needs to be 3 times the sum of the length and side of the gift box. So, if your box is 13 inches long by 3 inches high, your fabric must be 3 times (13+3) or 48 inches. Cut off excess.
Make a half-inch hem along the width ends.
Bow belt: From leftover excess fabric, cut a 6-inch by 10-inch piece, and press it. Fold in half lengthwise, with right sides together (RST). Sew together on the long side with a half-inch seam. Turn right side out, and press with seam in the center (F-4). Your piece will be 3 inches by 10 inches. Then fold in half with center seam on inside so your piece measures 3 inches by 5 inches. Set aside.
Fold large piece of fabric in half lengthwise, RST. Then fold in half the other way to find center, and mark center with pin.
Unfold the last fold; place the belt inside the folded fabric at the center with the raw edges of the belt even with the raw edges of the fabric.
Pin everything together. Sew the lengthwise seam to create a “tunnel.” When you turn it all right side out, the Bow Belt will be in the center.
Place the gift box in the center of the tunnel,
and pull the ends of the fabric through the Bow Belt (F-10, F-11, F-12)
and Voila! (F-13).
If you do not want to mess with the Bow Belt, you can do a Candy Tie (F-14) using ribbon on both ends or use ribbon to tie the ends together in a bow(F-15).
Don’t be surprised if your gift bag recipients find other uses for gift bags, such as throw pillow covers. Have a good holiday, and happy sewing!—Alice Rose Kieft
The Bow Bag design and instructions © copyright 2009 Wanda Kieft-Flood and Susan Fesler-Vaughn.
1 comments:
I am a quilter as well, but I have stopped washing my fabric before sewing. The unwashed fabric has a nice finish that gives it a crisp look, which would be especially appealing as a gift bag. It is also easier to handle than washed fabric. And in this day and age, most fabric is color-fast, so you don't have to worry about it running. Plus, how often would a gift bag be washed, anyway? One idea might be to include a pillow form as a second gift, so that when the fabric gift bag is opened and the present revealed, the pillow form can go inside and make the gift bag into a pillow! The bow style is quite popular in pillows. Thanks for the idea.
Marsha
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