fabric gift bag with a twist

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I can’t believe it’s been over three years since I made my gift bag resolution. Since then I’ve been reusing bags we have been given and making bags when I need them. The only bags I’ve purchased are plain kraft bags. Wow. I impress myself.

Although I like the practice, I’ve been rethinking the drawstring gift bag lately, and wondering if I could do more with it. The whole point of making a simple gift bag is that it’s simple. I don’t make a lining or finish the inside edges aside from serging. If it takes too much time to make, I won’t do it.

Most of the bags I make are for kids’ gifts, so I started to think, “What kind of bag would be most fun for both boys and girls?” The answer I came up with was the drawstring backpack.

However, while that pattern isn’t hard, it’s not simple either. I wanted to stick with my no lining, serged edges policy. The result is essentially a drawstring bag with straps: when making a regular drawstring bag, add bottom loops when seaming up the sides and make the drawstrings longer. It’s almost too easy.

I used all four threads on my serger to make the seams extra sturdy and reinforced the stitches by the loops. It’s a gift bag, not a rugged backpack, but you never know what kinds of things a child will want to carry around.

stash: Batman fabric in my stash was free. I think it came from a friend of a friend. It was an odd shape, clearly leftover from some other project. It took some creative thinking to get two nice-sized pieces out of it. White cotton twill tape originally bought to make labels for myself, but they didn’t work out.

oops! I just realized you can’t see the bottom loops in the photo. They are the same as the loops over here.

easy backpack with bias tape straps

My daughter starts preschool next week and she needed a backpack. I asked her if she’d like me to make one for her and she said YES!

I let her choose fabric from my stash and helped her with coordinating the colors. I really like how it turned out and she loves it. My only problem is getting her to wear it. Right now, she just wants to carry it by the straps.

martha stewart easy beach bag

I used Martha’s Easy Beach Bag pattern with a few modifications:
• inside is canvas instead of nylon
• inside has two pockets
• used fabric instead of cord for the straps
• serged the raw edges inside

drawstring back pack with lining

Drawstring Strap How-to:
Feed strips of denim through a 1-inch bias tape maker, fold the tape in half and stitch it together. Once threaded through the loops, sew the ends together because they’ll be too thick to knot.

drawstring back pack with lining

stash: This is one of those occasions that I love having a stash of fabric. It’s so easy to dive right into a project when the motivation strikes! Plus, using a thrifty stash is so affordable. I’m guessing this cost less than $2 to make. Sweet!