By Ann
Well, you could sign up for your mom’s gift bag making workshop at the historic site where she volunteers, but since it was scheduled for the day after tomorrow and no one else has signed up, that would be a bit silly.
So, instead, I suggest you go to www.crackpot quilters.net and use the handy search box at the top of the home page to search for “gift bags.” You will find 6 posts, of which “Gift Bag Instructions” is the most useful and “Green for the Holidays” is the most hilarious. Two entries, both entitled “Gift Bags Galore,” showcase my past efforts.
To add a bit to Marty’s excellent instructions, it is not necessary to use two pieces of fabric each for the lining and the outside of the bag. You can use one rectangular piece for each, and fold it in half, producing the same result. Then you only have to sew one side seam and the bottom seam.
As for size, the gift bag pictured in Marty’s post, which is now in my possession, is approx. 12″x12″. To fit a bag to a particular gift, I like to get the actual gift or gifts that will be put into the bag and measure the distance around it/them. Then I measure the “height” of the gift as if it were placed in the bag and the bag were being held upright. I then make the bag about 2″ bigger than the circumference of the gift. You will want to make the height of the bag substantially greater that the height of the gift to allow for the bag to be gathered up when it is tied and possibly also for the top of the bag to be folded down so that the lining shows. If you don’t make the height big enough, do not despair. Try for an alternative closure, such as folding it over like an envelope flap, as seen in the butterfly fabric bag in one of the Gift Bag Galore posts, or use velcro inside the top edges to stick it shut. Or, if you are more confident of your button-hole ability than I am, try buttons.
There are lots of other variations on the general bag theme as described by Marty: lined or not lined, with or without a bottom gusset, and ribbon tie or drawstring, to name a few.
And of course, the bag itself can be pieced or appliqued, as in the bags pictured below, or embellished in numerous ways as described by Marty.
And don’t forget your own brilliant idea to skip the bag step completely and just wrap the gift in a length of fabric, giving the recipient all manner of options for recycling the gift wrap!
