I must confess that I LOVE giving gifts! Sewing is such a fun way to make amazing gifts and today I have a fun project I think you’ll love! I’m going to show you How To Make A Reusable Fabric Gift Bag! These gift bags are super nice and fancy. They will take your homemade gift to the next level! I also use these for baked goods in the summer and they are always a big hit. You can make them with holiday-themed fabric like I did here or just with a color or print that you like. These bags feel extra luxurious and they are always a hit. If you can sew a simple straight stitch, you can make these bags. Great for anyone starting out on their sewing journey. I made these all the same size, making 4 bags from a yard of fabric. You can scale up or down as you need or desire. Just take your time and follow the steps below and your bags will turn out great. These are the nicest gift bags I have made and I think they are worth it. If you have been wanting to level up your gift-giving, these little gift bags are a great place to start!
To make the steps easy, assume each two total yard sets of fabric will be evenly split to make four similarly sized bags. For fabric, I used this adorable print I found and just used some vintage fabric for the lining. In addition to the fabric, you’ll need a few basic sewing supplies. Gather up what you need from the list below and let’s get started!
What You’ll Need:
- 1 Yard Of Outer Fabric – I love this nutcracker print
- 1 yard liner fabric, we used a vintage cloth for this.
- Matching Thread
- About 2 yards of ribbon, ideally 1 or 2 inch wide ribbon.
- One large safety pin
- Sewing Clips
- Fabric Marker
- Turning tool
- Sewing Machine
- Iron or heat press
- Thread Clippers
- Scissors
- Rotary Cutter, Cutting Mat, & Ruler
How To Make A Reusable Fabric Gift Bag
Start this how to make reusable fabric gift bags sewing tutorial by washing, drying, and ironing your fabrics. This makes them nice and soft and pressing makes it easy to get nice clean cuts. All steps will start with two total yards of fabric, cut to the same size. One yard will be the primary outside fabric and one yard will be the liner fabric that is folded over to the outside. Double or triple your fabric as needed to create the amount of bags desired. You may also adjust the amount of bags made from larger or smaller pieces of fabric to make different-sized bags. Measure and cut fabrics to the same size. Turn fabrics right sides together Align the factory edges of your fabrics, right sides together, and pin if desired.
Head over to your sewing machine and straight stitch along two of the edges, then follow with a zigzag stitch. When you lay the fabric out, you will now see the fabric rectangle with two of the four sides sewn. This will help secure the two pieces evenly together and help with evenly dividing and cutting the fabric into the four separate pieces needed for the four bags.
Now on this how to make reusable fabric gift bags sewing tutorial, we will measure and cut the fabric into 4 sections for the 4 bags. We made these all the same size, but you may adjust and make them different sizes if you prefer.
All four bags will have at least 1 of the sides sewn together after cutting. Pin the other sides together, leaving about a 3-inch opening on one of the long sides so you will be able to flip the bag right side out. It does not matter where this opening is, as all four sides will be sewn over again. Simply choose the same spot each time so that you know where the opening is and can be sure to close it when going over that section in future steps. Straight stitch and then follow with a zigzag stitch on the remaining sides, except for the section to flip right side out. Double-check that all of the edges are securely sewn, go back over anything that is sewn too close to the edge, and sew a wider margin.
Next on this how to make reusable fabric gift bags sewing tutorial, flip the bag right side out, and use the tip of a chopstick to push out the corners.
Iron the fabric edges to be completely even and flat. Fold in the edges of the 3-inch opening so they are even with the rest of the edging and iron flat. Sew this closed when you get the step that is going over this section.
You should have a long rectangle that is almost completely sewn close and right sides out.
Place the fabric in front of you the long way and then fold about 1.5 inches lengthwise and pin if needed (think evenly folding down the top sheet on a bed). This is the channel that the ribbon will go through, adjust the size of this fold as needed for your ribbon. Making the fold larger will give you more flexibility in getting larger ribbons through and give the bags a more luxurious feel, but will also make the cargo space inside the bags a little smaller. Make the best choice for your needs and materials.
With the primary outer fabric facing up and the liner fabric folded over, sew two straight lines to secure the fold in place. Try to sew close to the edge of the fold to allow plenty of room for the ribbon to go through. Fold the cloth in half, with the primary fabric sides touching and the liner on the outside. Align the edges from the folded top down. You need to leave a ⅓ of an inch below the folded and sewn ribbon channel free so the bag will lay correctly. Pin if desired and then do another double straight stitch down the long side and bottom.
Double-check all sides are fully secured and then flip right side out. Push out corners with the pointed chopstick again.
Now on this how to make reusable fabric gift bags sewing tutorial, we will work on the ribbon. Measure your ribbon, you want it to be twice the length needed to go through the bag to ensure it stays in place and won’t easily slip back into the bag. *The texture of the velvet ribbon helps to hold it in place.
Attach the safety pin to one end of the ribbon and feed it through the ribbon channel. Remove the safety pin and cut a clean edge on both ends of the ribbon.
Optional but helpful: you can very carefully singe the edges of any synthetic ribbon so the edges will not fray. There are heated scissors for this or you can do it with a tiny tealight candle. Look for instructions online and be careful. This is for adults only.
Repeat all steps to make the remaining bags. Once you have the hang of making the bags it can be faster to do each of the different phases or steps on each bag before moving onto the next step. But to start it is helpful to confidently complete at least one bag first. And that’s it! Now you know how to make reusable fabric gift bags! You can fit quite a bit in each of these bags and I think they turned out amazing. Pick out some fun fabric and sew some for yourself!
If you liked learning how to make a reusable fabric gift bag, make sure to pin it to your favorite Pinterest board or share it with friends on social media. If you decide to make this simple project on your own, be certain that you take a picture afterward and tag us on social media as we love seeing the fabrics and color choices that people use!
How To Make A Reusable Fabric Gift Bag
Sew your own incredible gift bags with this simple tutorial. They are so nice and much better than shopping in the store.
Materials
Tools
Instructions
- Iron fabrics first if needed. Measure and cut fabrics to the same size.
- Turn fabrics right sides together
- Align the factory edges of your fabrics, right sides together, and pin if desired.
- Straight stitch along two of the edges, then follow with a zigzag stitch. When you lay the fabric out, you will now see the fabric rectangle with two of the four sides sewn. *This will help secure the two pieces evenly together and help with evenly dividing and cutting the fabric into the four separate pieces needed for the four bags.
- Measure and cut the fabric into 4 sections for the 4 bags. We made these all the same size, you may adjust and make them different sizes if you prefer.
- All four bags will have at least 1 of the sides sewn together after cutting. Pin the other sides together, leaving about a 3 inch opening on one of the long sides so you will be able to flip the bag right side out. **It does not matter where this opening is, as all four sides will be sewn over again. Simply choose the same spot each time so that you know where the opening is and can be sure to close it when going over that section in future steps.
- Straight stitch and then follow with a zigzag stitch on the remaining sides, except for the section to flip right side out.
- Double check that all of the edges are securely sewn, go back over anything that is sewn too close to the edge and sew a wider margin.
- Flip the bag right side out, use the tip of a chop stick to push out the corners.
- Iron the fabric edges to be completely even and flat.
- Fold in the edges of the 3 inch opening so they are even with the rest of the edging and iron flat. Sew this closed when you get the the step that is going over this section.
- You should have a long rectangle that is almost completely sewn close and right sides out.
- Place the fabric in front of you the long way and then fold about 1.5 inches lengthwise and pin if needed (think evenly folding down the top sheet on a bed). This is the channel that the ribbon will go through, adjust the size of this fold as needed for your ribbon. Making the fold larger will give you more flexibility in getting larger ribbons through and give the bags a more luxurious feel, but will also make the cargo space inside the bags a little smaller. Make the best choice for your needs and materials.
- With the primary outer fabric facing up and the liner fabric folded over, sew two straight lines to secure the fold in place. Try to sew close to the edge of the fold to allow plenty of room for the ribbon to go through.
- Fold the cloth in half, with the primary fabric sides touching and the liner on the outside.
- Align the edges from the folded top down. You need to leave a ⅓ of an inch below the folded and sewn ribbon channel free so the bag will lay correctly.
- Pin if desired and then do another double straight stitch down the long side and bottom.
- Double check all sides are fully secured and then flip right side out. Push out corners with the pointed chop stick again.
- Measure your ribbon, you want it to be twice the length needed to go through the bag to ensure it stays in place and won't easily slip back into the bag. *The texture of the velvet ribbon helps to hold it in place.
- Attach the safety pin to one end of the ribbon and feed it through the ribbon channel.
- Remove the safety pin and cut a clean edge on both ends of the ribbon.
- *Optional but helpful: you can very carefully singe the edges of any synthetic ribbon so the edges will not fray. There are heated scissors for this or you can do it with a tiny tealight candle. Look for instructions online and be careful. This is for adults only.