Last night as I was trying to go to sleep, this gift bag idea dropped into my head. I tried to dismiss it thinking I would make one really quick before church but to no avail. I had to get up and make one and I literally had it done in 5 minutes (minus the little flower which took another two to hand sew on). So the 5 minute gift bag was born.
Although I made this entire bag with my serger, I am not comfortable at all with sergers. And just as a heads up so you aren't getting wary of using your serger to try this little project out, I only used two different settings on my serger to make this bag. AND, it did not require me to change needle positions or re-thread my serger in any way. I just had to change the tension, yay!! I am a very beginner with this, so I figure if I can do it, so can you!!!
This is what you will need:
- a serger (or sewing machine will do, you could just use a straight stitch)
- material for a bag ( I used this embroidered gauzy material I found on clearance at Joann's a while back. I'm not sure what the material type is but I think it can be found in the bridal section.)
- ribbon for the handle (I used the kind with a wire edge so it wont flop down)
- silk flowers or whatever you like for embellishing
This is what you do:
- cut two pieces of material the same size (mine measures about 10X6 inches)
- using the 2 thread wrapped overlock on your serger (knife disengaged) and with the right sides of material together, serge the sides and bottoms of the materials together
- now box the bottom of the bag by pulling the front and back of the bag away from each other near the bottom corner, pin, and serge (knife engaged) the corner about 1-1.5 inches in which will create a seam about 2-3 inches long. Repeat with other corner. (as a side note, I ALWAYS remove the pins once I put the presser foot down on the project. I have cut through a couple of pins and I'm just thinkin' that has to be bad for the serger)
- this is what your bag should look like on the bottom at this point
turn your bag right side out and roll down the top to the desired height into the inside of the bag
now turn the inside of the fold out so the outside of the bag is folded down on itself and the raw edge is even with the new fold (think blind hem fold only the edges are all even).
now change your serger setting to a two thread flatlock (knife disengaged) and serge all around the top fold and raw edge (Make sure in this step that you are not stitching through the fold and raw edge on the opposite side of the bag)
now turn the top of the bag up and pull on it so a ladder of stitching is revealed on the outside of the bag like so
cut your ribbon handle to the desired length, fold under the edges of the ribbon and place raw edge of ribbon even with the top of the bag and evenly over the seam on on one side of the bag. (ok, so the raw ribbon edge in this photo is not even with the top of the bag, but I adjusted it afterwards so just pretend it is. I just forgot to take another photo)
fold the ribbon down, creating a fold in the ribbon even with the top edge of the bag and the raw edge of ribbon
with the serger set up the same the last time used, serge across the ribbon fold, raw ribbon edge and the top of the bag (sorry no photo for this step). Repeat to attach ribbon to other side.
Now lift handle up into place, pulling stitches in serged seam so the ladder stitching is obvious on outside of bag on ribbon handle.
Now you can embellish the bag or leave it as is, it's all up to you!!
