Today I have managed to make 6 of these little bags. It is such a simple pattern, which closes at the top with snap rods, made from carpenters tape, so no fixings required. They are so easy to make and the possibilities are endless with all the lovely Christmas fabrics available now.
At first I wanted to stick to a theme and do them so that they all fit into the theme, but then I thought 'Maybe not, if we are going to use them every year, it might be more exciting if you don't know which bag you are going to get next'
The idea is that I will make lots of these gift bags in different sizes and we can re-use them every year.
With 4 kids and them all buying something for each other, we do use a LOT of wrapping paper, so this will be good for the environment! Then it would of course be nice to have a few bags ready to give to friends and family too.
The first few were made from a pattern by Stitchin' Sisters called Snap Happy 2.
It was fine when I was making just one bag at a time, but when I decided to make a few, I modified the pattern so that I could have a 'production line' and this also meant I did not have to keep changing the colour of the thread on my machine.
On one of the bags, I had just enough fabric to cut out the outside piece, but not enough for the triangle tag, so I thought it might be nice to use ribbon in stead. I had some red ribbon and as I played with it, it occurred to me that if I folded the ribbon into a loop, I would be able to attach a gift tag to this loop. So, I abandoned the triangle tags and started attaching ribbons in stead.
On another bag, I used a directional print, and oh no, disaster, it looked lovely on the front, but the pictures on the back of the bag were upside down! So, I decided to cut directional prints differently. In stead of using one piece of fabric, I needed 2 identical pieces, which then get stitched back together so that the prints face opposite directions (this seam will not show up as it will be on the base of the bag). Just remember to sew them together on what is to be the 'bottom' of the bag.
Of course, if it is a directional print, you have to be careful how you cut it as you might end up with vertical stripes on your bag, when you wanted horizontal stripes, like I did in the picture below (LOL).
I am planning on doing some bags with a small thin ribbon loop next to the triangle tags, and will post a picture of these when I am done.
Today is my first ever blog, so it has taken hours of reading up on how to set up and then start the blogging process, I will learn as I go along. Hopefully, in the process I will learn a lot more about my computer and doing the 'blog' will encourage me to start more new projects and complete more of the famous UFOs. I will also build up a record of what I do all day, so should anyone be so cheeky as to ask, I can point them in the direction of this blog.
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