Making bags seems to have taken over at bit here at the moment and following on from mylast minute quick make drawstring bag I focussed on making this quick and easy drawstring bag using some amazing Harry Potter fabric which was gifted to me by The Craft Cotton Company.
I wanted to add a little detail to the bag and knew I had to add a little golden snitch to the front of the bag. Luckily I had some golden and white felt in my stash and some matching embroidery threads – isn’t often I manage to have the right shades and normally have to rush out and by some to match!.
I love how this bag has turned out – I will definitely be making some more for gifting this Christmas.
These tote bags are perfect for gifting in this Halloween.
Fabric was gifted by The Craft Cotton Company.
Spider bag
Materials
Thread
Paper to make letter templates (10×30 cm)
Pins
Scissors
Fabric:
Bag
2 pieces orange fabric – 30 x 40 cm
2 pieces spider netting – 30 x 40 cm
Handles
2 pieces orange fabric – 8 x 60 cm
2 pieces spider netting – 8 x 60 cm
1- Hemming the front and back piece –
Place a piece of netting (30×40 cm) right side down, then a piece of orange fabric (30×40 cm) right side down on top. Fold the top edge (the shortest edge) over by 1 cm twice to create a hem. Sew along this edge. Repeat for the other netting and orange piece.
3- Make the handles –
Place a piece of the orange fabric (8×60 cm) right side up, then a piece of netting (8×60 cm) right side up, followed by another piece of netting right side down, and finally a piece of orange right side down. Fold in half to make a long skinny handle, pin and sew down the side, along the bottom, up the other side leaving the top edge unsewn. Turn the right way out and tuck in the raw edges by 1 cm and sew song to seal. Repeat for other handle.
4- Sewing the handles on to the bag – with the handle 7 cm from each edge, machine along the same line as the hem stitch, then you won’t see the line of stitching.
Monster bag
Materials
Thread
Pins
Scissors
Fabric:
Bag
2 pieces monster fabric – 30 x 40 cm
Handles
2 pieces monster fabric – 6 x 50 cm
Letters
Orange fabric 10×30 cm
1- make the letter templates – Draw letters on paper, cut out and use them to cut out the fabric
2- Sewing on the letters – Place the fabric letters onto the front bag piece where you want them. Pin and sew in place with either blanket stitch or a zigzag stitch.
3- hemming the front and back piece – Take the front piece. Fold the top edge over by 1 cm twice to make a hem and machine along. Repeat for back.
4- Sewing the bag together -Place front and back right sides together and sew down the side, along bottom, up other side
5- making the handles – Take a piece of handle fabric. Fold in half to make a long skinny handle with right sides together, pin and sew down the side along bottom and up the other side. Turn out the right way. Fold in the open end by 1 cm and sew to seal.
6- Sewing the handles to the bag – Take the handles and sew in place on the front and back of the bag, with each handle end 7cm from the edge. Machine along the same line of stitching as the hem.
Perfect for making your Christmas presents stand out from all the other gift bags this year
Instead of putting my gifts into paper gift bags this year I have decided to do something a bit different, and make some fabric gift bags, what I like about these is the recipient can also use them after Christmas so they act as a little extra part to the gift too!
I use some lovely fabric gifted from the Craft Cotton Company for this, a fat quarter bundle in North Star.
Time for me to get cracking on a few more of these, really happy with how it has turned out – you can make these as big or as small as you like. They would be great for awkwardly shaped items that are a nightmare to try and wrap with paper too!
Christmas drawstring gift bag with patchwork star detail tutorial
Materials:
The Craft Cotton Company fat quarter bundle in North Star.
Pins
Scissors
Thread
Paper for the patchwork pattern
Buttons
Needle
Ribbon (tip – you can use the one that came with the fat quarter bundle!)
Making the bag:
Take the fat quarter that you would like to use for the main bag, fold it in half and cut off the bottom part making it 35 cm long. Place the fabric right sides together, and starting 6cm down from the top of the bag sew down the side seam then along the bottom. Turn the right way around.
Next, with the side seam to the left, and starting on the back piece of the bag, fold in the top edge by 1cm, and then fold over the side edge seam fabric so no raw edges are left at the sides (repeat this process on the front piece).
Now fold over the top edge again, this time folding it in half so it touches where you have already started to sew down the side of the bag.
Fold the rest of the top edge in this same way, folding it over 1cm then in half. Pin as you go, then sew along the bottom edge of this folded section to fix in place.
Thread your ribbon through the top of the bag – I used the ribbon that came with the fat quarters. Fold over the raw edge at the end of the ribbon a few times and sew to hide the raw edge. Repeat for other end.
Making the patchwork Dresden pattern pieces:
Draw a circle with a diameter approx. 6cm in size – I drew around the bottom of a round tub. Split the circle into 8 Sections and draw a point 0.5cm out from the edge of the circle in the centre of each section.
Draw a line from each of these points to each section line to create the pointed edges around the circle.
Cut out two of these whole templates and split them both into sections, this will give you two sets of template pieces one set for the front and the other for the back.
Cutting out the fabric for the patchwork Dresden:
Choosing different colours from the fat quarter set, cut out fabric for each of the pattern pieces, ensuring you leave 0.5 cm of fabric around the template.
Now tack the fabric around the template, folding the fabric back over the edge of the paper template. Make sure you put a number on the templates so you know where each piece goes for sewing together.
Sew the templates together by placing the pieces right sides together and slip stitching down the seam.
Now, to make the backing piece for the Dresden, take your second set of template pieces and repeat the above process but instead of using different coloured fabric for each price, us the same fabric for each piece.
Place both completed sides right sides together and slip stitch around the edges, leaving a gap – I left one point section unsewn.
Remove the paper temple pieces, turn the right way, and sew closed the gap with a slip stitch.
Attaching the button detail:
Take your button, and sew into the centre of the Dresden.
Attach the Dresden and more button detail:
Place your Dresden on the bag and sew into place, now take some buttons and randomly place and sew onto the bag.
Hook Stitch Sew 
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