Make Your Own Gift Bag from recycled clothing

I am a big fan of recycling, re-using, and re-purposing clothes. It bugs me to throw out a shirt that has a small damaged or stained area, while it still contains good material. So, one of the ways I re-use shirts is to cut them up and make Gift Bags. Depending on how much "good" material you get from the shirt, you can make small, medium, or large Gift Bags.

Making a Gift Bag can be as simple as sewing three sides of a square (or rectangle), hemming the top, and using a ribbon to tie the bag closed.




Or, as elaborate as making mitered corners, a casing to hold the ribbon that will tie the bag, and a buttonhole opening for the ribbon.

You can even line the bags if you want to be fancy.



If you have a large flat-bottomed gift to wrap, you can add a bottom to the bag. If you want to add a bottom you will need four sides for the gift bag, rather than two.

• Measure the bottom of the gift
• Add 1/2" all around for the seams, and cut out your fabric bottom
• Cut and sew together the four sides of the bag, leaving 1/2" unsewn (seam allowance)
• Sew bottom piece to the (sewn) sides, using the 1/2" seam allowance