Last year, Mary-Jeanine and I exchanged emails about gift bags. She had already put her Christmas ornaments away when we had the conversation, but she promised to send me one of her bags this year. I also sent her one of mine.
Mary-Jeanine’s are about the same size and proportion as mine. I am sure hers vary depending on the size of the gift, though.
She serges the inside of her bags, which, I am sure, makes the construction go a lot faster.
M-J also does a little different closure construction. She puts a grommet in on each side and makes a casing, so the wrapper can pull the top tight
I really like seeing different takes on these gift bags, especially on the closures.
Thanks for sharing Mary-Jeanine!
Hi Jaye, I’m feeling famous now! Thanks for the plug. Just wanted to say I’ve been making a few bags each year and the 12+ family members who exchange gifts every year all have a supply too, now. Its amazing how much paper we save from the landfill each year. Go green!
I am all for encouraging people to be green AND support the quilting community.
My SIL actually got me hooked on making gift bags and together we have made enough, pretty much, for the family. One family keeps all of those they get and never gives them back so we constantly need to restock. It is fine, though, because it is fun to use new fabrics and try out different techniques. One of the things I like to do is try new things on gift bags – zippers, different machine stitches, buttonhole practice, new type of thread, piping, prairie points, machine embroidery designs, new type of hand stitching stitch/design – whatever. It doesn’t require a lot of commitment to try something new on a gift bag.
I have some stitch letters on my machine, which I use to stitch my name and the year. It is fun to see the bags that pop up every Christmas and what year they were made.
The biggest bonus is how fast wrapping is. I can really get my wrapping done in a minimal amount of time and that is the best for me.
I saw this post this morning: http://highfibercontent.blogspot.com/2008/12/this-years-gift-bags.html. You might be interested.