Children tend to be accompanied by many small parts, be it cards, toy accessories, miniature dinosaurs or jacks. The packaging, often cardboard, gets stomped and smashed and therefore, recycled. I thought it'd be fun to make some simple drawstring bags in cute prints that I could fill with toys and put in the kids' stockings. What's great about these is that they can easily be made larger or smaller to accommodate a variety of gifts!
For the larger bag you will need:
Piece of fabric cut to 6 x 18"
2 pieces of yarn or string cut to 18" each
Safety pin
Optional: 2" tag
For the smaller bag you will need:
Piece of fabric cut to 5 x 15"
2 pieces of yarn or string cut to 18" each
Safety pin
Optional: 2" tag
Note: The fabric for the floral print bag in the photo was cut to 6 x 16"
Step 1: Wrong side up, fold the long sides 1/4". Press.
Step 2: As close to the edges as you're comfortable, sew each side.
Step 3: Fold one short edge 1/2". Fold again 1/2". Press. Sew along bottom edge of folded fabric as shown. Repeat for other short side.
Step 4: Right sides facing, fold fabric in half. Fold tag in half and place as desired, raw edge sticking out.
Step 5: Stitch along each edge making sure to sew to the inside of the seams you just sewed. If you sew to the outside of the earlier seam, the thread will show when you turn the bag right side out. STOP sewing when you reach the folded part at the top so you'll be able to thread the drawstring through.
Step 6: Turn bag right side out. Press.
Step 7: Starting on one side, thread the string through the opening on one side, then go back through the other side so both ends are on the same side. Repeat starting from the other side. You should now have two ends sticking out of each side.
Step 8: Knot the ends as shown. That's it!
The Liberty print bag holds ten of my favorite tea bags perfectly.
The Tsuru fabric by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cloud 9 is called Making Tracks. I'm filling it with small dinosaurs for Colton's stocking.
I'm not entirely sure what the fabric is that I used for Annabel's bag of jacks, but I thought it worked well. I love the little bunny on the tag.
Can you believe it's almost December??!
xo Karin
