'Tis the Season to Make & Give..

A special treat today... not only are they cute, but these Gift Bags are easy to make (if your a scrap collector like myself you will already have the supplies needed), and the best part... they are re-useable!  Don't you just love that?  I do!

Click below for full tutorial!

Happy Crafting!

~Lady M.

MATERIALS:

• fabric scraps (preferably Christmas colored), also no shame in buying fabric for this project either, I'd say about 1yd for 3 bags.
• spare buttons

TIME: A couple hours, depending on how many you want to make, I'd say it took me about 30              min. a bag.

DIFFICULTY: S0-so, knowing how to use your button hole feature on your machine will come in handy.. other than that its just straight lines!

COST: Nada.. had all these supplies lying around.

Gather supplies 

 Take a small rectangle of fabric folded in half, draw a line diagonally across the rectangle

Open to see your Christmas Tree!

Cut a piece of scrap to the desired size of bag, I chose to do fairly smaller bags, but this would work on a larger scale too (this one will be folded on one side), place tree on fabric in desired spot.  

Edge stitch tree onto fabric around each side.

I also did some criss cross stitches for a garland affect, just like on some of my Christmas Cards!  

Fold fabric in half, right sides facing.  Sew along open edges leaving about a 1/2'' seam allowance and one end (as desired) open.

Measure and cut a piece of scrap for the closing flap... I did mine on the bias for contrasting stripes.  Sew this to the top of the bag opening, right sides facing, on the "back side" of the bag, with 1/2" seam allowance. 

Once flap is sewn on, press seam allowances to the inside and fold front edge of bag toward the inside as well.  Edge stitch all the way around the bag opening, catching the seam allowance of the flap.

It will look like this.  I added some edge stitching on the flap as well.

Mark size and desired placement of your button.

Use the button hole stitch setting on your machine.  If you've never done this, there is a pretty decent tutorial here.

When finished, cut open button hole.  I also like to add some fray block to ensure its strength.

Mark desired placement of button and sew.

Ta-da!  Now stuff with goodies and place under tree!  These can be used for anything from baked goods to clothing, although I wouldn't put anything with a definitive shape in there to keep away the present snoops in the house!

Use this basic technique for all variations.. get creative!
If you want to get real fancy, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to add lining as well - keep in mind if you choose to do lining you will need more fabric, I considered it but couldn't wrangle up enough scraps.  Also, it would be super easy to throw a handle on there using ribbon or more scraps!

What are your handmade gift wrap ideas??