The holidays are right around the corner 🙂 Add a little extra homemade love into the holidays this year with this DIY fabric gift bags tutorial and free pattern! While you’re here, be sure to check out the rest of our Christmas Sewing Projects.
DIY Fabric Gift Bags | Reusable Fabric Gift Bag
Sure you can buy gift bags at the store but these DIY fabric gift bags are just so much more fun 🙂 They are made from one cut of fabric so they’re super quick which is definitely a bonus! Now I want to dig through all my fabric and make more for birthdays too!
They are a great way to make a gift to anyone extra special! Or if you’re selfish like me you can use them for family gifts so you can re-use them each year 🙂
And the DIY fabric gift bags fold up nice and flat just like a regular gift bag so they’re easy to store
Gift Bag Materials
Let’s get started! For each bag you need 2 pieces of fabric. 1/2 yard cuts is plenty for the bags we’re making. You also need 1″ ribbon (I used grosgrain) and Decor Weight Fusible Interfacing (I used Pellon 809)
Download your FREE Fabric Gift Bags Pattern
***Pattern is free when you subscribe to our newsletter or join our facebook group ***
Fabric Gift Bags Instructions
Fabric Gift Bags Step 1: Iron on the main interfacing to the wrong side of the outer layer of your bag 1/2″ down from the top edge and 1/2″ in from each side seam. Using the interfacing placement number from the chart position the bottom pieces that far in from the side seams (so 2.25″ for an XS bag). It should have 1/2″ of fabric left below and you’ll have a gap in the middle.
To get nice crisp lines press along the dotted lines. This will be the 4 corners and bottom edge of your bag
Fabric Gift Bags Step 2: With right sides together (RST) sew the short edges of the bag together. Press the seam allowance flat and open and then sew across the bottom edge of the bag. Use a 1/2″ seam allowance.
Gift Bags Step 3: Using your pre-pressed lines fold your bag so it has a nice rectangle bottom and 2 little tabs coming out each end
Gift Bags Step 4: Sew across each tab right at the base of your interfacing. If you want to make sure you’re sewing in the right place the length of your stitching line should match the finished depth measurement for your bag. Trim off the excess.
Repeat steps 2-4 with your lining fabric. I didn’t bother to pre-press and just used my measurement from step 4 to make sure I sewed the corners correctly. Leave a 4-6″ gap in the side seam.
Gift Bag Step 5: Sew a ribbon handle to each side. My ribbon pieces were around 6-8″ long depending on the bag size.
Gift Bag Step 6: Slide the lining over the bag and sew together around the top edge
Gift Bag Step 7:Turn the bag right side out and hand sew the gap in the lining shut. Once you have the lining inside the bag re-press your bag so it’s nicely formed and has 4 clear sides. Fold it up like you’d fold a gift bag for storage and press
There you have it – you’ve learned how to make a reusable gift bag out of fabric. You’ll be able to reuse these year after year and remember that you made them as well as save the money and hastle of using one-time use bags.
I hope you have fun making lots more diy fabric gift bags!
Make Our Other DIY Christmas Sewing Items & Patterns
I love getting my Christmas Tree Skirt out every year that I made by hand from my favorite fabrics. I’ll show you just how I did it here.
We have a number of different patterns that are perfect for sewing Christmas pajamas. Get started with the Sweet Dreams PJs and go from there.
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Before you leave, also be sure to come join our Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop Facebook Group. You’ll be able to ask questions from love 85,000 sewists and share what you make. Come join us today!
24 Responses
I’m utterly befuddled by steps 3 and 4. I did it the way I thought it looked and the bottom of the bag doesn’t open. Now I’m trying to figure it out and can’t seem to wrap my head around it.
thank you so much for this awful website me and my household admired this contentedness and perceptivity
thank you so much for this awful web site me and my sept loved this content and insight
Thanks for the pattern and tutorial. I was looking for fabric gift bags to make for Christmas, and I wanted them to have rectangular bottoms and to fold up just like the paper gift bags. These are delightful. Can’t wait to find some nice Christmas fabric and make a set for each of my neighbors. Merry Christmas.
For the bag bottom, the pattern says to place on the fold and cut two. That makes the pieces much too long. I’m I just suppose to cut two? Or put it on the fold and cut it in half?
Thanks for the pattern.
are you referring to the piece for the bottom interfacing or the actual fabric part of the bag. for the bottom interfacing you will cut 2 of the small pieces and for the main body interfacing you cut 1 on the fold. for the main body of the bag you need to cut 2 on the fold (its the side fold, not the bottom) and this will become your inner and outer fabric for the bag.
The pictures that are in the directions are not showing up. There’s an icon there and if you copy and paste, a link shows up, but it doesn’t take you to a picture. Can you fix this please? It will help tremendously for those of us who need a picture to go along with the directions. Some of us aren’t advanced as others.
Thanks!! Loving these bags!!
Thanks for this tutorial!! I’ve made a few of these now and they’re easy and really cute! I’ve discovered a few helpful tips that I thought I’d pass along:
-Instead of just ironing the bag along the folds after it’s fully constructed, I iron the outer piece once it’s sewn, before it’s attached to the liner. It comes out a little crisper that way.
-Instead of measuring the corners to sew in the liner, I use one of the “tabs” cut from the corner of the outer piece as a guide. I pin it on and sew a little in from it. It works great!
Thanks again, and Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much! I just made the small bag, it was so easy and quick to make. This will make the perfect way to package my mom’s Christmas gift. I may have to make the large bag to package the gifts for a baby shower next month!
downloaded without a problem. Can’t wait to make them!
Very cute but impossible to get instructions etc.
thanks anyway
All of the dimensions are available as a free download through Craftsy: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/sewing/other/fabric-gift-bags/88922?SSAID=923899
I copied and pasted it in an email to myself.
Worked for me.
cute pattern tried to print instructions but it has advertisement on page with steps 1 and 2 so couldn’t read them. thanks!!
I’m having the same problem. I can’t figure out how to print it. Any suggestions?
You can download the pattern portion here: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/sewing/other/fabric-gift-bags/88922?SSAID=923899
To print the instructions I recommend highlighting the portion that you’d like to print, copying (right click and hit copy or hit ctrl+c” and then pasting into Word and printing from there
very fun! I love that they are reusable too! Pinning!! EMily
Cute! Thanks for the tutorial.
Thanks for the great tutorial.
Fun! I’ve thought about making these for a long time, perhaps now I will! Thanks for sharing Amy!