HOW TO MAKE: a petal gift bag

These petal gift bags are ridiculously quick to make and really pretty.  I can't claim the idea's orginally mine - see Instragram for the source - but here's how I made them.  The first bag was the one at the top of this photo, so choosing fabric was trial and error.  I went for two prints, though the second bag - with the peppermint green material - shows you're better off choosing a plain and a patterned.  Anyway, here goes with my first attempt,  

I picked green floral for my background and pink flowers for the petals.  These cotton squares are 7 inches.  Put the squares right sides together, sew all around 'em but leaving a gap of an inch or so unstitched.  (I used a sewing machine, but hand-sew if you'd rather.)  

Trim a notch off each corner, turn rights sides out, poke out the corners and sew the gap closed.  You might want to give it a press with the iron too.  

With the fabric you've picked for the petals facing downward, turn up each corner and pin in place.  I measured 2 inches from a corner and used those points as my fold line.  So you end up with four triangles of equal size.  

As shown in the photo above, sew these corners in place, thereby creating the channel for your cord or narrow ribbon to run through.  

Thread your cord through each corner, flip the piece over and gather up the cord to form the petals and bag.  You can add beads and knots to each cord end to pretty it up even further.  I used a pale pink satin cord from Hobbycraft and a few beads with holes large enough. 

At this stage I realised the contrast between the two fabrics wasn't enough for the flower petals to really show up.  Which led to the second attempt.  

Pink for the petals, green for the background.  An 8 inch square, so slightly bigger.  As before, put the squares face to face, sew around, leave a gap, turn right sides out.  I didn't stitch the gap closed this time, but used a few dabs of Hi-Tac fabric glue.  A chunky 10mm knitting needle helped to get my corners as pointy as possible.  

I made the petals larger by measuring 2 and a half inches from each corner and using that as my fold line.  

With the previous bag I'd sewn each corner down individually, stopping and starting, but for this second bag I sewed a continuous line all around the square. 

It looks neater this way.  

A mini safety pin helped pushed the cord through the channels.

All done!  

I hope my instructions, plus the original maker's very clear video, are enough to get you creating your own petal gift bags.  You could easily make larger bags, and the variations on colour and fabric design used are endless.  I can see these being made in Christmas themed material.  Or how about black and orange Halloween themed bags, room for lots of sweets inside.  They'd also make party bags if you don't want to buy single-used paper based bags for a children's party.  Or slow-stitch these, instead of running them up on a sewing machine if that's your thing.  Perhaps add an embroidered detail or two?  Let me know in the comments if you think of anything else to use these bags for.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.  

Have fun, and hope you enjoy your weekend.