If this is your first stop on my 12 Days of Christmas blog extravaganza make sure you go back and see all of these days with FREE patterns for Christmas – stockings, trees, gnomes, decorations and more:
All of these post have a different pattern and fun information. I am working hard to make a new blog post with a new pattern each day for all 12 days. Unless something drastic happens, check back here each day and see all the fun, holiday goodness. This is Day 9 and part of me is sad because I only have 3 days left, but part of me is like “rest day!” ha! but, now I have to decide what will be my last 3 patterns! I already have my last day in progress – it will be big! Once I am all finished I will be offering a downloadable PDF with everything for one low price – just $4.99 will get you everything from my 12 Days of Christmas blog event – Merry Christmas!
UPDATE: Get the ridiculously low priced 12 Days of Christmas Pattern in a Downloadable PDF right here. You can ALL 12 Days of Christmas for one super low price. Merry Christmas! (Etsy only right now – I will try to get this over on Ravelry soon)
These patterns are intended for personal use only. This pattern -and all my patterns- are offered for free or a small fee to help support my family so please do not redistribute, sell, copy or use them in any way not in accordance with fairness.
You may sell products made from this pattern, but please give me credit as the designer. Please do not use my photos as your own work, but you may use my photos to reference back to my blog, Etsy, Pinterest, IG or FB, but please link back to me.
If you find any problems with this pattern please let me know and if you have any problems with any of it feel free to message me and ask for support.
Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to me, Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
“As the shoppers rush home with their treasures” – Gift Bag #2
Gift Bag #2 is more of a “formula” than an exact pattern. It is a photo heavy tutorial on how to make your own custom-sized reusable gift bag in ANY size. This bag is so fabulous it makes any gift even better! It can also be used as a tote bag or purse.
Materials: any yarn you want (I used two strands of 4-ply worsted weight yarn). With this “formula” you can pretty much use any yarn, but for a nice, sturdy gift bag I encourage at least two strands of 4-ply yarn. I used my J/6mm hook to keep the fabric stiff. You will also need some type of sturdy material for the bottom of the bag. I used plastic canvas, but you can also use a thick piece of cardboard or other similar sturdy material.
This post does contain affiliate links. I will get a small percentage from any purchase made through my page here, but your price remains the same. I appreciate any purchase made through my page as I can continue to offer free patterns here on my blog.
I want to say thank you for all who stop by to support my patterns and my blog. I have chosen to NOT do ads on my blog (with the exception of my affiliate links) and offer FREE patterns, but please – if you love my patterns and want to say a little thank you- or just have some good small business karma support points- a purchase now and then or a visit to any of my affiliate links really helps. It keeps this blog going so I can continue to offer free patterns for all to enjoy. I also purchase a pattern now and then or visit an affiliate link from my favorite blogs and designers. Thank you
In addition to blogging, I have an Etsy and a rent a space in an Artisan Boutique in my area and use Amazon frequently! I live far from most stores – I’m a country gal – so use Amazon so much of what I need for my business delivered to me since I work from home. Here are some of my favorite things that I use in my business :
To start you need to decide what measurements you want your bag to have. You’ll need to know the width (from left to right with the bag facing you), the depth (from front to back with bag facing you) and the height you want. Once you decide the measurements you want, you will start with the piece that will make up the front, back and bottom.
Chain the desired width *note: your chain is going to grow by as much as ½ an inch after you start crocheting your stitches into it. So, if you want your bag to be 10” wide you should start with a 9.5” chain and see how that goes. I chose to work in half double crochet, two strands held together and did a chain 1 and turn after each row. Single crochet would also make a very nice bag.
You will crochet in rows working back and forth to make a long piece of fabric that will be the height of your bag x 2 + the depth of the bottom. So, if you want to make a 12” high bag that is 6” in depth you will add 12+12+6+30. You first piece of fabric needs to be 30” high. Just lay flat and measure as you go. You don’t want to pull or stretch your work. Just work mindlessly back and forth until you have the measurement that you need. My bag in the photos was going to be 14” wide and have a 6” front and back with 4” of depth – so, 16”
For the second piece of fabric you will be also working in rows – but, your width of the fabric is going to be the depth of your bag. So, in your example of a 6” depth, the second piece of fabric is going to be worked in 6” rows. *so, your starting chain should be around 5.5”. In my example for my shorter, wider bag I had a side piece of 4”
The length of this piece is going to be the width of your bag (in my example I needed 14” plus 6” on each side so 30”. *you want all your “height” pieces to be the same so measure all the parts that don’t overlap in the photo below and make sure your height is the same all the way around.
This part involves measuring and cutting your canvas or cardboard. This piece gets inserted between the two overlapping bottom layers to provide support for you gift. It needs to be just a bit smaller than your side/gusset piece because you are going to stitch it in between those layers and don’t want it to poke through – SO, if you are using plastic canvas like in my example and trim it make sure to get all those little jagged edges off and have smooth sides. See my photo here on where it goes and how you need to position it.
Now, make sure you have the same amount of fabric on each side of the piece you are using (in my example, I made sure to have 6” on each side of the plastic canvas)
Now, to keep this piece secure add a few running stitches to hold it in place. If you are using cardboard you might need a few streams of hot glue between the layers. You don’t want this piece to shift while you are sewing the layers together. I used some matching yarn and just stitched along the sides. I didn’t bother securing the stitches at all until the final part of sewing all the layers together.
Now, flip your side piece with plastic canvas attached under your main piece. The canvas/cardboard goes in between the two layers and should not be visible. Measure again before you stitch the pieces up – you can’t measure enough! Make sure all of your “height” pieces are exactly the same or at least as close as you can possibly get.
Now, using whatever yarn/thread you are going to use to sew your pieces together, start stitching the bottom pieces together as I have in these next photos:
You will first want to stitch all along the bottom – all four sides. This is easiest to do before you sew up the sides.
Now, pin up all 4 sides evenly and start stitching. I used a contrasting color and made my stitches visible and fun, but you can choose how to do this part.
I started in one upper corner and worked down to the bottom section and then tied that leftover tail from the bottom with and working thread and then weaved in the ends. I chose to go back over the bottom in my colored yarn and up the next side to stitch together and across and back down the bottom and repeat- it made a fun, colorful border of “sewing” in my 4 corners and on the bottom.
The next part is just making some fun handles. I chose to make 6 strips – three for each side and pull them through – one strand per three stitches next to each other- knot – braid – pull through three stitches on opposite side, and knot.
Now, with this “formula” you can make any size bag. And this is a great stash buster!
*My little gift bag is for this “Put your feet up and Chill” gift bag with cozy wool socks and a bottle of wine. Add a gift tag or whatnot and it becomes part of your gift. <3
And don’t forget to gift yourself with something fun this year! I get my monthly box each and every month from Darn Good Yarn – just for me.
Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you enjoyed this pattern and checked out my other patterns as well. I’d love to see your work so tag me over on IG @theburgundybasket
I think you are my new favorite designer. Love these patterns. Thank you
You are so kind! Thank you so much ❤️