How will you be wrapping your Christmas gifts this year? Will you be on ‘bin bag duty’ again collecting all of the used wrapping paper & throwing a glitter & foil mountain out to landfill? Or will you be getting your Christmas All Wrapped Up with our Sew Your Own Reusable Gift Bag tutorial?
Making beautiful reusable fabric gift bags and tags means you can keep them for years to come!
All the effort you put in making these will come back to you – we promise! Make these and be your future friend next year when your gift wrapping will be complete in a fraction of the time – whoop! No more last-minute wrapping struggling with the sticky tape on Christmas Eve – winning!
Read on for our beginner-friendly Reusable Gift Bag tutorial!
In this free tutorial we have provided 3 different-sized gift bags which you can make out of the huge variety of fabrics we have over on our Christmas shop! All of the supplies to make this are sold on our online sewing superstore!
An absolute beginner can do this, so why not get the kids stuck in too? They will be super proud, gifting family and friends with something they made!
Why not check out the companion project – A Reusable Gift Tag tutorial? It’s available here
A sewing project suitable for: Beginner
Important Notes:
- 1cm seam allowance throughout, unless directed.
- For steps using machine sewing, straight stitch, backstitching at the start & end using stitch length 2.5 unless otherwise stated.
- Prepare your fabrics as per the manufacturer’s care advice
If you would like a more polished finish to the inside of your bag you could french seam. Check out our tutorial How To Sew French Seams
Reusable Gift Bag Tutorial
You Will Need:
- The Instructions
- Some paper to draw the pattern
Small – Finished Dimensions (Approx):
H20cm x W23cm x D6cm // H8” x W9” x D2½ ”
| Amount | We used | |
| Fabric A:For Main Bag | 1 FQ Christmas Fabric | Fabrics from the Makower Santa Express collection |
| Fabric B:For Drawstring Channel | 10cm x 50cm/4” x 20” | Fabrics from the Makower Santa Express collection |
| Ribbon or Cord | 80cm | 4mm Braided Cord White |
Medium – Finished Dimensions (Approx):
H31cm x W33cm x D11cm // H12” x W13” x D4 ½ ”
| Amount | We used | |
| Fabric A:For Main Bag | 40cm Christmas Fabric | Fabrics from the Makower Santa Express collection |
| Fabric B:For Drawstring Channel | 10cm x 70cm4” x 27.5” | Fabrics from the Makower Santa Express collection |
| Ribbon or Cord | 1m | 4mm Braided Cord Forest Green |
Large – Finished Dimensions (Approx):
H44cm x W38cm x D15cm // H17” x W15” x D6”
| Amount | We used | |
| Fabric A:For Main Bag | 50cm Christmas Fabric | Fabrics from the Makower Santa Express collection |
| Fabric B:For Drawstring Channel | 10cm x 94cm4” x 37” | Fabrics from the Makower Santa Express collection |
| Ribbon or Cord | 1.3m | 4mm Braided Cord Red |
Sewing Kit You Will Need:
- Sewing machine
- Co-ordinating Thread
- A bodkin or safety pin
- Fabric Scissors or a rotary cutter, mat & ruler
- Tape Measure
- Pins or Clips
Reusable Gift Bag Tutorial
- Decide which size bag you wish to make. The finished dimensions are listed in the table in the printable.
- Draw your pattern using the measurements supplied in the printable
- Cut 2 of the main bag pattern out of your Main Fabric A and 1 x drawstring channel out of Accent Fabric B
- With right sides together pin your main fabric bag pieces & sew down both sides of and the bottom seam only, leaving the corners unsewn
- Finish the raw edges of each seam with a zig zag stitch (stitch length 1, width 4mm), taking care that the right hand stitches fall just off the edge of the fabric. Watch the video here
- Sew the corners : On the bottom corners match the two side seams in the centre. Pin sew together with 1 cm seam allowance. Trim any stray threads and finish the seams as in step 5
- Repeat for the other corner
Prepare the drawstring channel
- On the drawstring channel fold one of the short ends in 5mm then another 5mm and press. Repeat for the other short end. Stitch both double fold hems in place
- Press the drawstring channel in half wrong sides together along the longest edge
- Starting at a side seam of the main bag match one of the hemmed edges of your drawstring channel to a side seam on the main bag and pin all the way around, matching the raw edges
- Sew all the way around attaching the drawstring channel to the main bag
- Trim any stray threads and finish the seams as in step 5
- Press your finish seam towards the bag and top stitch the seam to the bag body
- Using a bodkin or safety pin thread the cord/ ribbon through the drawstring channel
And you’re finished, well done!
If you’d love to make the matching gift tag, we have a video tutorial for you right here.
