homemade goody bags

To go with our safari birthday party,

we needed special goody bags.

After seeing our invitation,

I am sure you can imagine that I made them!

Here you can see them all together waiting for the girls to take them home.

There are 2 different versions: one with ribbon handles
and one with fabric handles.
I have been making these little bags for many years (about 10 years),
I made smaller version for Halloween when my kids were in day care!

These ones were quite large, about 8 1/2" by 5".
To keep with the safari style, I used drop cloth for the body of the bag,
it has great texture and is sturdy enough to hold its shape,
a piece of animal print cotton (this one was twill)
and some unbleached muslin for the inside

For each bag, we need:
6 1/2" X 19" drop cloth and muslin
2 1/2" X 19" print

I folded under the long raw edges of the print, about 1/4"

and pressed it with an iron.

Then I appliqued it onto the body of the bag, about 1 1/2 inch from the top,

stitching 1/8" from the edges.

With the ribbon handles, I just cut two 10" pieces of ribbon.

With the fabric handles, I cut a 2 1/4" X 20 piece of print, folded in half right side together,

stitched 1/4" from the edge, turned it right side out and cut it in half.

In either cases, I pinned the handles to the top of the bag, about 1 3/4" from the edges,

and 1 1/2" from the middle (1/4" because of the seam).

I pinned the lining to the top of the bag,

and stitched all the layers together,

I used a 3/8" seam, the rest of the seams are 1/4".

I then pressed the lining and seam away from the drop cloth part of the bag.

I folded the bag in half right side together, muslin on top of muslin,
drop cloth on top of drop cloth,
and stitched all around it, leaving an opening on the muslin part of the bag.
I like to leave the side opened instead of the bottom.

While the bag is still wrong side out,
I stitched the corners to make the base wider.
I did on all 4 corners, the seam is about 1.5" wide (blue line),
and cut the excess fabric.

I finally turned the bag right side out,
and slip-stitched the side of the bag.
Then the lining was placed inside the bag,
and both layers were top-stitched together.

So what kind of goody did I place in it?
Well not so much, I figure the bag is already a goody!
Girls always love to play with bags, and put lot of things inside...

The girls found inside 2 different kinds of chocolate,
a cheetah pencil and a safari style bandanna that they were during the party.
They seemed happy!
One of the girls could not make it, so Miss C. has one,
she is definitively happy!


Happy sewing!