Striped cotton draw-string gift bags for kids

A while back, i visited with Amber and Nick from Wills Casa. We had such a great time going to thrift and vintage stores and eating all the food that Nick cooked up. We had grits one night. I have never had that before and it was really good.

I wanted to bring some gifts for their kids Ramona and Beckett. They just had their rooms made over and I drew a very loose inspiration in picking colors from them. Here is Ramona's room, and here is Becket's room. These are some of the most beautiful rooms I have seen in blog land lately. So much inspiration.

I started out by buying a bunch of different solid colored fat quarters.

They are ready-cut pieces of quilting fabric and they are about 18 by 24 inches. I got mine on sale, 2 for 3$. Fabric scraps also work great of course.

I washed them in soapy warm water to shrink the fabric and get out the worst of the excess coloring. Next, I gave the fabrics a spin in the washer and then tumble dried and ironed all the pieces.

I cut five 3 x 21 inch strips of fabric for each bag shell and then a 12 x 21 inch long piece for the lining.

I sewed all the strips together length wise. The five strips came out to 12 inches in length once they were all sewed up thereby matching the length of the lining.

Next, I sewed along the three sides where you see the white line below, leaving those two gaps. The bigger one for turning the bag right side out, and the smaller one for an opening for the drawstring channel.

After I turned the bag right side out, I sewed the large gap shut as you can see where the arrow points.

I tucked the pink lining into the bag. The lining makes it look nice when you look inside the bag. I really like that. It makes it look so much more finished.

I stitched along the upper edge of the bag about an inch from the edge, so that the small hole in the hot pink strip was between the stitch line and the edge. Then I threaded through a piece of ribbon using a safety pin and tied the ends together in a knot.

I ironed the bag after it was all finished.Then I filled it with some goodies.

Here is what I put inside for Ramona (5 years) on the left and for Beckett (13 months) on the right.

Pippi Longstocking, brown horse, white horse, fire engine with non-toxic paint, Mr. Brown can moo, ABC

Aren't these the ages when it is fun to take things in and out of bags? At five, it's great to have a treasure bag and at one, it is great to explore the mystery of "now you see it, now you don't".

Also, who really doesn't love a horse for each hand? I can't think of anyone.

Here is the bag I for Ramona.

And here is the one for Beckett using different colors.

About Katja Kromann

I am a Danish American decorating life in Seattle. I love all things design and I am especially passionate about color, scale and texture.

I can’t think of anything more fun than coming up with a new project, making it, photographing it and sharing it with you on my websites.

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