Today’s contributor is Crystal from Stitched By Crystal. All posts written by Crystal for Make It and Love It can be found HERE.
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Hello, hello! It is Crystal here, from Stitched by Crystal! Do you give handmade gifts for Christmas? As much as I love to sew, I always end up giving mostly store bought gifts every year for the holidays. But this year, I am adding a handmade touch to my gifts with some gift bags that are both adorable and eco-friendly! Today I am sharing with you a tutorial to sew a reusable Rudolph gift bag!
These little, lined, drawstring bags are pretty quick to make and can be used year after year. I sketched out a cute reindeer silhouette for the applique that I will share with you and added a red pom-pom Rudolph nose for a fun Christmas touch!
This bag would be great for gifts for family, friends, or neighbors. I will be filling some with chocolate and classroom supplies to give to my kid’s teachers this year!
Stuff your gifts inside, tie some cute bows on the side, and your gift is ready for giving!
AND…you could use this same simple applique technique to add Rudolph to your Christmas pillows, shirts, or other Christmas crafts!
Want to make a reusable Rudolph gift bag? Great, let me show you how!
Start by cutting the fabric for your bag, you will need 2 pieces of your main fabric and 2 pieces of your lining fabric all cut to 15″ tall by 11″ wide (you can adjust the size of these for a bigger or smaller bag, this size will make a bag that is approximately 10″x14″)
Print your reindeer template and use it to trace the deer head onto the paper side of your Heat n’ Bond. Iron the Heat ‘n Bond to the back of your accent fabric and cut around the silhouette.
Peel off the paper backing and iron the deer to one of the main fabric pieces. Center the deer side to side and place the bottom of his head about 2.5″ from the bottom of the fabric. Once the deer is ironed in place, you can sew around the edge of the applique (you can skip this step if you use the ultra hold Heat n’ Bond). Sew or glue your pompom nose on now (if you are gluing the nose, you can wait until the end to do this if you prefer)
Place your 2 main bag pieces right sides together and your 2 lining pieces right sides together. On your main pieces measure 2.5″ down from the top of the bag and make a small mark on both sides, then measure .5″ down from that mark and add a second mark. Sew the sides and bottom of the main bag with a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving the small space between the 2 marks unsewn on both sides. Sew around the sides and bottom of your bag lining with a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving a 3″ opening at the bottom of the bag.
Press your seams open.
Box the bottom corners of the bag by lining up the side and bottom seams of the bag and pulling the sides of the bag apart to form a triangle at the corner, sew across the triangle 1″ from the point as shown below. Repeat for both of your main bag corners and your lining corners.
Turn your lining right side out and put your lining inside your main bag so the right sides of both are touching.
Line up the top edges of the main bag and lining, matching the side seams. Sew around the top of the bag with a 1/2″ seam allowance, attaching the main bag and the lining.
Turn the bag right side out through the hole in the bottom of the lining. Sew the hole closed either by machine or hand.
Tuck the lining down inside the bag and iron the top seam. Draw a line around the bag just above the holes you left in the sides and a second line just below the holes. Stitch along the lines you drew to form a casing for your drawstring.
Cut two 30″ lengths of ribbon for your drawstrings (if you use bias tape for the string, you will want to sew the open side closed). Using a safety pin, feed one ribbon into the casing. Pull the ribbon out the other side of the bag and then feed it back through the casing on the other side.
Starting from the other side of the bag this time, feed the second ribbon through the casing the same way. Tie off the ends of the ribbon to prevent fraying.
Your Rudolph bag is ready for giving!
Merry Christmas and happy sewing!
-Crystal
Check out Crystal’s blog here. Her darling shop here. Follow her on Instagram here. And her Pinterest page here.
***ALL contributor posts by Crystal, can be found HERE.
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For more great DIY gift giving ideas, check out some of these great ideas:
Simple HOSTESS GIFT IDEAS: (flavored butters, engraved coasters and spoons)
60 Handmade GIFT IDEAS…you’ll be PROUD to give!
Quick Gift: SNOWMAN CANDY JAR…plus FREE printable!