Little Bags Toward Holidays

I am well aware that the holiday season is still months away - but yes, I  am joining the diy-ers who are getting a little jump on the holiday projects.

This little stack of fat quarters is joining the pile of 'wrapping' bags.

Not exactly traditional Christmas colors, but - that's kind of the thing around here. Our stockings are green/blue/brown (yes, the cat gets one), and most of our other between Thanksgiving and Valentine's decoration items are on a similar 'winter-ish' color scheme.

The collection of wrapping bags - in a variety of qualities as I get better at sewing - has been growing since I started sewing. I can't say it's been an inexpensive collection, or particularly cost saving yet - though that was the long term goal. At this point, I do it because it makes me happy, and because I hate seeing the waste of wrapping paper after presents are done...

I don't always take the time to line my wrapping bags, though I think that makes them look nicer and last longer. I expect that adding a line of zig-zag stitch or a trip through the overlock machine could lengthen the life of the unlined ones - and I probably should give that a try before the unlined ones start wearing too much... But so far my all time favorite way to make bags is to generally follow the In Color Order Lined Drawstring Bag tutorial.

I managed to pull together the majority of six bags in a little over an hour:

The bags themselves are completely lined and stitched, but I haven't yet made the drawstrings for any of them. I'm still toying between fabric drawstrings or going with ribbon instead.

I did go for a little bit of embellishment with the largest of this set. Initially I rejected the idea but the other two-fabric bag just felt like it needed a little something extra - and with a huge pile of laces and embellishments waiting to be used, there was really no reason not to give it a try! So far it's probably my favorite one, but the drawstrings might change that yet, depending what I do.

I used three different kinds of grey fabrics for the lining, simply because those were the other fat quarters and scraps I had lying around waiting for a use. The solid is a little darker than ideal - and now I'm wishing I'd saved it for other things - but I love the other two. I can't decide if I like the honeycombs better or the textured-look. I do have exterior fabric for at least one more (hopefully two more), but I ran out of easy choices for lining and turned my attention to practical matters (patching two pairs of jeans, one of which I need for work tomorrow) instead of searching through the stash for another appropriate lining.