Getting Ready for the Holidays

 Reusable Gift Bags 

Two different options for the drawstring on a holiday gift bag

The challenge was to pack up a skateboard that was on the wish list of someone special. It's a heavy object, and an awkward shape. A paper gift bag would not work and I didn't trust an extra large holiday plastic bag. I knew this package would change hands several times before it reached the recipient. Hmmm, . . . What did I have in my fabric stash? 

As it turns out, lots of holiday fabric! So I made a festive fabric gift bag.

And I couldn't stop! Especially when I found a box of scraps and small pieced strips from old projects.

That pile transformed itself into these...

This is a great way to get rid of all those left overs that you can't bring yourself to toss out. It's called foundation piecing and is the technique used in crazy quilts. 

It starts with a length of fabric which will be the "foundation" to build on. I used a light weight cotton muslin, so the interior of the bag would be white. Some of my remnants were already pieced from old projects, so I began by placing one of them in a corner. Then, placing right sides together on top of the foundation, I started sewing down bits of fabric around it. I even constructing whole strips with odd shapes and rectangles before sewing the new strip in place. 

Building around the growing shape is like putting a puzzle together, but in this case you can cut your pieces to fit the area and there is no wrong way to do it. Each addition is ironed open before adding more. A few vertical lines of quilting helped secure the front to the foundation and then the bag could be constructed. 

My length of crazy quilt pattern was cut into four 13x18 inch rectangles for the front of the bags and a solid color was used for the back. Like making a pillow case, three sides were sewn up and it was turned inside out. A 4 inch strip of the backing fabric was hemmed at both ends then, starting at one side seam, sewn around the top until getting back where it started; the ends match up but do not connect. When the strip was turned into the bag and tacked down, it created a tube for the drawstring.  

I haven't purchased Christmas wrap in years. Gradually we had transitioned to Christmas gift bags and decorative boxes so they could be reused from year to year. But they are beginning to show wear and tear. Fabric is more durable so these new gift bags should serve us well for many years to come.