The funniest thing happened at one of those endless birthday parties. All of the birthday presents were heaped in a pile. The sister of the birthday girl grabbed Girlie's gift and said "open Girlie's present next." I was stunned. How did she know that this particular gift was Girlie's? So I of course asked. The girl looked at me like I had two heads and replied that "the present is wrapped in a cloth bag. Of course it was from Girlie."
Duh.
Cloth gift bags can be used again and again. I give a bag to Sally. She wraps up another gift in the SAME bag for Tim. He wraps up another gift in the SAME bag for Amy. Amy wraps up another gift and puts it in the SAME bag for Bill. That bag can live on and on....No trash, no trees cut down, no harmful dyes and no extra money spent.
Over the years I have purchased various cloth bags online and from little old ladies at craft fairs. This year I was going to dust off Grandma Dot's old sewing machine and clear away the cobwebs from my memories of seventh grade home economics. I was going to sew my own bags.
I took a field trip to the local fabric store for their huge sale. Found cute fabric that wasn't too Chrismasy. Some thread, ribbon and jingle bells. It sure looked easy enough to make my own bags.
Here is the carnage;
In my desperation I called over my soon-to-be 90 year old neighbor who has been sewing for 80+ years to help. No luck. That stupid bobbin thing just wouldn't cooperate.
Off to dig the Sunday comics out of the paper recycling. Maybe next year the kids won't have newsprint on their hands on Christnas morning....A girl can dream!
Merry Christmas to all!
4 comments:
I planned on making reusable lavendar sachets for my aunt to use in her dryer. Hand stitched, of course, because we have no sewing machine.
Unfortunately, I appear to have run out of time! Of course, I could whip up a couple of them today, but getting the lavendar involves a trip downtown to the Co-op. On Christmas eve? No, thank you! Oh, well... maybe next time!
PLUS, I hear tell we're getting a (second-hand) sewing machine for Christmas! So excited!
Have a very Merry Christmas!
I was having problems with my kenmore for a while. One day, Jason (my man) asked me if I was threading it right and I was all in a huff like, YES! But he still printed off directions for threading my exact machine and when I looked, I was WRONG!!! I fixed it and it worked so much better. I hope your problem is as simple to fix.
Good luck!
Bobbin! My problem exactly - it took hours to get it sorted out. My sewing machine is a hand-me-down from my Mom and even she had difficulty remembering how that darned bobbin worked. It turned out that I wasn't holding the top thread taut enough while trying to pull the bottom thread through. Ahh...I almost gave up.
Keep at it - you'll enjoy the finished product.
I highly recommend the thrift shops for fabrics and the like - mine not only had a variety of second-hand pre-made bags (Christmas) but a HUGE selection of fabrics...and I do mean HUGE. I bought some lightweight denim, some faux ostrich "pleather" for reuseable shopping bags, Christmas fabric and some cotton flannel for the pj's that I SWEAR will make for the kids at some point in my life.
PS - I really like the creativity you put into your blog name - cute!
I found your blog through MDC, and I'm enjoying it.
This gift wrapping idea is FABULOUS! One of my goals this year is to get a sewing machine and learn to sew . . . this is a wonderful project.
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