Making your own reusable cloth gift bags is super easy. With a sewing machine and fabric scraps or ends bought on-sale at a fabric store gives you all the material you need to have a fun variety of patterns and sizes for your bags. Once the bags are made, wrapping takes mere seconds: simply drop the gift into the bag and tie with a ribbon. This eliminates all expense and waste from paper and tape. You can even make the bag part of the gift!
To make your own cloth bag, cut two pieces of fabric ½ larger all around than the desired final size. Hem the top edge of both pieces. Line up the two pieces of fabric with right sides facing each other. Sew around the three unhemmed edges and turn right-side out. To include a tie, cut another piece of fabric or a strip of ribbon about 2 feet long. Before sewing the sides of the bag, fold the tie in half and place the folded edge between the two halves of the bag along one edge and about 1 inch down from the hemmed edge. Sew the three sides of the bag as before.
Wrapping gifts in attractive, reusable pieces of cloth, known as furoshiki, is a centuries-old tradition in Japan. Furoshiki are versatile, because they can be used to wrap gifts of varying shapes and sizes. Bandanas, scarves or cloth napkins can serve as ready-made furoshiki, but you can also make your own wrapping cloths out of your favorite fabrics – even larger scraps. Learn more about this technique here.
Photo by Susan O'Donnell
To make your own cloth bag, cut two pieces of fabric ½ larger all around than the desired final size. Hem the top edge of both pieces. Line up the two pieces of fabric with right sides facing each other. Sew around the three unhemmed edges and turn right-side out. To include a tie, cut another piece of fabric or a strip of ribbon about 2 feet long. Before sewing the sides of the bag, fold the tie in half and place the folded edge between the two halves of the bag along one edge and about 1 inch down from the hemmed edge. Sew the three sides of the bag as before.
Wrapping gifts in attractive, reusable pieces of cloth, known as furoshiki, is a centuries-old tradition in Japan. Furoshiki are versatile, because they can be used to wrap gifts of varying shapes and sizes. Bandanas, scarves or cloth napkins can serve as ready-made furoshiki, but you can also make your own wrapping cloths out of your favorite fabrics – even larger scraps. Learn more about this technique here.
Photo by Susan O'Donnell
RSS Feed