Hi again! I’ve been getting some big projects ready to show you – but until that happens (might be next week!) I thought I would share a little gift wrap idea I came up with this summer.
I’ve been waiting to use this again and Christmas gifts are the perfect place. I don’t know about you, but I hate using clear gift wrap. It’s tricky finding the right size, and it always ends up looking messy. So I decided to try sewing a bag and it worked – with no messy ending involved!
Grab some clear gift wrap from your local Dollar Store – here’s how to make one.
(Step 1) You will need to take a few measurements from your item/s. Measure and write the Gift Width, Gift Height and Gift Length down on a sheet of paper.
(Step 2) Figure out the cut size of your clear wrap (very easy math!):
- Width (A) of the clear wrap = Gift Width + Gift Length + 1″ for seam allowance
- Height (B) of clear wrap = Gift Height + Gift Length + 5″ to provide extra to tie the top of the gift
(Step 3) Now that you have your measurements:
- Place a piece of clear wrap approximately twice the Height (B) on a lint free cutting surface. (Static held my wrap to my cutting mat – which helped a lot.)
- Fold the wrap in half, crease well, and line the fold up at the bottom of your mat.
- Cut the Width (A) and Height (B) – do not cut off the fold. Use an old rotary blade or paper cutting scissors!
(Step 4) Sewing the sides.
- Grab a school glue stick. Fold both long edges under by 1/2″ and glue. Make sure your glue is the type that dries clear before you start!
- Fold the bag back in half along the bottom crease.
- Stitch along the sides with a 1/4″ seam.
(Step 5) Creating the bottom of the bag (Boxing the corners).
- Fold the bag so the side seam lines up with the bottom crease.
- Make a line perpendicular to the side seam that is the length of your “Gift Length” (from Step 2)
- Fold along the line to crease well, then fold in the opposite direction and crease well.
- Pull apart the bag and push the creased portion into the inside of the bag. Be sure to tidy the corner by pushing it out with a dull object. Basically you are turning the newly creased section inside out to hide it inside the bag.
- Line up the creased lines on the outside of the bag and stitch with a 1/8″ seam allowance.
All done!
Now, straighten your boxed corners on the inside of the bag, arrange your gift – throw in a few sparkly pompoms for good measure – tie and you’re done!
