It's in the bag

Last year, before I knew how to sew or owned a sewing machine, I decided I was going to wrap my Christmas gifts in fabric. I used different fabric wrapping techniques I found online, and it worked well enough. I was happy to save the wrapping paper, and it was something fun and different.

But this year, I own a sewing machine, and I know how to sew, so just tying some fabric around my gifts wasn’t going to do. For all of the gifts I gave in person, I made little drawstring bags:

I was partially inspired by Sew, Mama, Sew’s Green Grocery Bag Challenge and partially just wanted to step it up from last year. Next year, I’m hoping to expand to create bags for all of my gifts, including the ones I mail (sorry if you missed out this year!).

I used the simple drawstring bag tutorial from Happy Things, and it was SO easy. I found that with the darker fabric, I didn’t need to line the bag to avoid it being see-through, and I figured it was better not to waste time and money lining it if it wasn’t needed. (If you’re interested, Happy Things has several tutorials for various lined drawstring bags, too: here, here, and here). Matt even cut most of the fabric for me (these were completed in the final crazy days before we left for Texas, and I was happy to accept all the help I could get), and he did a great job.

I love the way they all turned out, and they were a big hit at the final Christmas Day unveiling. Bonus — since we flew to Texas for Christmas, these were also way easier to pack in a suitcase than lots of stiff boxes would have been. Oh, and I love the fabrics I got from Hawthorne Threads. They're from Riley Blake's Doohikey Designs Hooty Hoot collection (Argyle in Blue and Starburst in Blue), and I love that they have a modern Christmas-y vibe without being too Christmas-y.