- You can easily and quickly create a reusable gift bag with leftover fabric and ribbon. You only need to know how to sew a straight stitch by hand or on your machine to make these simple gift bags. Fold a length of fabric in half, face to face, and stitch a ½-inch seam along both sides, beginning at the fold and ending 1 inch from the top. To hem the top of your bag, fold each side down 1 inch over the outside of your fabric, iron the seam flat and stitch it into place. If you iron the side seams open before turning the gift bag inside out, your bag will look neater. Stitch the center of a length of ribbon to the back edge of your gift bag and use it to tie the bag closed.
- Embellish a plain brown paper bag with cutouts, paint pens, flat-backed rhinestones or bits of ribbon for a personalized gift bag made from items you may have lying around the house. This gift bag craft is perfect for young children; they can explore their creativity with simple materials that are easy to attach. Glue sticks or double-sided tape work great to adhere any lightweight craft item to the paper. This is also an eco-friendly way to use bits and pieces of card stock, ribbon, fabric and other supplies that you might ordinarily throw away. You can punch holes around the top of the bag and thread a small ribbon to tie your gift bag closed.
- Transform your leftover wallpaper into simple gift bags that can be reused many times. Wallpaper is strong and easy to work with; you can assemble a wallpaper gift bag with duct tape. You'll need a strip of wallpaper long enough to fit around your gift. Place the paper face down and fold it up 3-inches lengthwise along the bottom edge. Make a crease in the fold. You'll also need a length of duct tape equal to the width of your wallpaper to join the ends. Attach the duct tape to one of the side edges of your wallpaper, leaving half of the width of the tape exposed. Fold your paper around so that the pattern is facing out and join the two ends with the duct tape. Unfold the crease at the bottom of your bag and secure it with a section of wallpaper cut to fit on the outside. You can attach the bottom support with double-sided tape. Fold the top edge down inside the bag and line it with tissue paper to hide the duct tape. The inside of your bag will also be lined if you cut two sections of wallpaper and place them back to back before making your gift bag.
