The Week of Sweet continues today, with cute and easy treat bags! For someone who claims to not do much for Valentine’s Day, I’m having a hard time reeling in my ideas! I figure, why fight it? I love all these sweet projects, and love spoiling my friends and family with treats. I think the little treasures are just as thoughtful and romantic as the grand gestures. (Mr. Sugarplum, that’s code for: you aren’t getting a grand gesture this year!)
Burlap is a tricky fabric material for me. I love the texture and casualness of it, but sometimes it looks a little country-vintage for my taste. You guys loved my Burlap Gold-Dot Runner, so that was obviously the perfect mix. The other down-side to working with burlap (besides the sometimes musty smell), is the mess. And the crooked cuts.
To construct the bags, cut two pieces of x by x burlap, then sew them together on three sides, leaving the top, and 2-inches of the sides open. (That’s right, I’m sewing!) You could just as easily use hot glue or hem tape for this project, but I’m trying to conquer my sewing machine, remember?
Turn them right-side out, just like you would when making a pillow. You can iron them flat, but I liked the puff. Notice the tops and part of the sides are open.
Before decorating the bags, insert something to keep the paint from bleeding through to the other side.
All those years of doodling hearts and Ricky Schroder’s name came in handy. Obviously I draw better hearts than bees.
For the drawstring effect, thread your ribbon or string on an embroidery needle, and whip-stitch it around the top, just below the open slits on the sides.
Fringe the top by pulling off the loose threads (hold it over the trash can to contain the mess).
Fill with your waist-busting treat of choice. You may want to choose something you aren’t tempted to dive face first in…unless you’re okay with eating an entire bag. Not speaking from experience, just assuming.
Then pull the ribbon tight to close the top of the bag, and tie with a gift tag.
I used white raffia, and stamped plain white office-supply tags.
I am a total sewing novice, and whipped these bags out in about 30 minutes, using scraps of inexpensive burlap. Hot-gluing them would probably be even faster!
I would love to receive a sweet gift like this, wouldn’t you? Or will there be grand gestures in your house this year?
We do sweet little gifts, too. Too much pressure otherwise. You go girl with your sewing skills. I've not tried sewing burlap – figured I'd end up with a big ol' bird's nest, but these turned out really cute. Ahh, Ricky Schroder…He and Bo Duke were the deal.
These are the cutest!
Jenny
http://www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com
Very cute! And I think you went the right route with sewing – hot glue on burlap can be a mess if you have a loose weave burlap (glue puddling and soaking through).
I love burlap, because it really is versatile with different styles. I used it to make a bunting for our pictures when we eloped – instead of paint, I used a marker (since the weave was loose, I printed out the letters, put under the burlap and traced with a black sharpie). But because we were eloping in the hill country, I thought it was appropriate to spell out the word "hitched." 😉 Made for a good wedding picture anyway! ha!
These are darling, Cassie. You and I must have been at our machines at the same time. I love the handpainted detail. And Ricky Schroder! I wanted that train that goes around the inside of their house like nobody's business!
I love all of your Valentines ideas! So cute! And I have a ton of leftover burlap from Christmas, so this is great!
These are adorable! Love the painted hearts and cute tags.
Look at you, you sewing master! And burlap no less, that sounds like a tricky sew! These turned out so sweet.
You are on a roll with these Valentine day posts! And your photographs are amazing! I bet we'll be seeing these all over Pinterest soon- I'm pinning!!
This is a good Valentine treat for everyone. It'll be very helpful for me most especially cos I love working and recycling stuff like this. My fleet management team mates likes this too!
These are adorable! I can't sew well at all…ok, ok I can't sew period but I feel like I could totally do this! Thanks for the great tutorial! 🙂