Every Christmas I am compelled to pull felt out of the fabric stash and come up with a new way to use it. In addition to a variety of ornaments, this year, I created these little felt gift bags that are decorated with festive buttons. This project is part of the Holiday Sewing Blog Tour hosted by Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. There are 18 blogs participating, and there have been some amazing projects thus far. The tour wraps up with a terrific giveaway for a Brother Serger (details below). Be sure to hop around and check it all out!
Materials for one gift bag:
Piece of felt cut to 14 x 16"
Large button (the ones pictured are 1 3/8" diameter)
Piece of thin cardboard
Pellon® 805 Wonder-Under or craft glue
Needle and thread
Step 1: Lay the piece of 14 x 16" felt down vertically on your cutting mat and cut a 5" square out of each bottom corner.
Step 2: Flip the felt around and cut a 5 x 8" rectangle out of the other two corners as pictured. You will be left with a cross shape.
Step 3: With a 1/8" seam allowance and insides facing, stitch two of the short sides together. Repeat for other short sides. I used red thread in the sewing machine for all the bags. I love how it looks on the white felt!
Step 4: Starting on the bottom of the bag, with insides facing, stitch around the perimeter of the flap of the bag as shown, leaving the needle in but lifting the presser foot to turn the two corners. After you've stitched the short side to the long side, you will be continuing around the flap until you reach the opposite short side. Now all four corners of the bag are sewn!
Step 5: Trim a piece of felt to 2 3/4 x 3 3/4" to match the cardboard. I cut a piece of Wonder-Under as well.
Step 6: Fuse or glue the felt to the cardboard. The Wonder-Under requires a damp pressing cloth.
Step 7: Allow the rectangle to cool (or dry, if you're using glue) and place in it in the bottom of the bag, felt side up. It should be a snug fit. Trim as necessary.
Step 8: Center the button on the top front flap and sew it on. You're all done!
These don't take long to make, so they're great if you need to whip up a bunch at a time for teacher's gifts or party favors. Gift cards fit nicely!
If you missed the last stop on the tour, go here to see these Christmas Cuddiles from Nap-Time Creations.
Tomorrow CailaMade is sharing a tutorial on how to make these hand printed Christmas stockings.
To enter the giveaway for the Brother 1034D serger, click here! The giveaway will be open through December 20th and a winner will be chosen on the 21st. Thanks so much to Jamie of Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom for organizing this holiday sewing blog tour. Here's a list of the amazing blogs who are participating:
Happy Holidays! How did it get to be the middle of December??! Here in New Hampshire we got pelted with 14" of snow this past weekend. We weren't exactly prepared, but we managed to dig out.
xo Karin
