Share
Orly Shani is acting as Santa’s little helper and showing us how to create the perfect bag to hold all of our presents.
DIY Santa Letter Bags
Level:
Intermediate
How-To:
Christmas Decor

MATERIALS:

  • 2 yards of red velvet fabric
  • Gold cording or rope for drawstring
  • Marabou feather boa in white
  • Iron-on printable fabric paper
  • Provided postage graphic
  • Markers or metallic letter stickers
  • Fabric scissors
  • Quilting square or ruler
  • Fabri-tac
  • Safety pin
  • Masking tape
  • Optional:
    • Ribbon
    • Needle and white thread
    • Sewing machine
    • Straight pins
    • Fray-check

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Create the bag shape. Fold the fabric right sides together. To make the bag more rectangular than square, you may need to trim a little off of the sides depending on the width of your fabric. Pin the sides and sew down the side seams. PRO TIP: If you don’t sew, just skip the pins and use fabric glue instead!
  2. Now, create the casing for the drawstring. With the bag still inside out, fold the top down about 2 ½ inches and stitch all the way around, but leave a tiny opening to get your rope through. PRO TIP: If you don’t sew, just cut slits every couple of inches along the top edged of the bag to weave the cording through instead of making a casing, make sure to hem the top edge with fabric glue first. Seal the edges of each slit with fray check or fabric glue.
  3. Weave the cording through the casing. Wrap a small piece of masking tape around then end, put a safety pin through the tape then scrunch and pull the fabric of the casing as you grip the safety pin to pull the cording through. It is the same process for the no-sew version, just weave in and out of the slits.
  4. Next, hand sew the marabou boa trim on by hand with a basting stitch. Flip the bag right side out if you haven’t already and place the boa just below the cording, fold the fabric over the boa and grip the center of the boa which feels like a cord or thin rope. Thread your needle through the fabric, around the boa and back through the fabric in loops all along the circumference of the bag. Knot to secure at the end. PRO TIP: If you don’t want to sew, you can use fabric glue for this, but make sure to spread the feathers so you’re gluing the center rope onto the fabric, not the loose feathers.
  5. If you’d like you can cover the white thread on the inside of the bag with ribbon using fabric glue.
  6. Print the Santa letter graphic onto the fabric iron-on paper.
  7. Add a dab of fabric glue to the back of the fabric paper letter in each corner then place on the bag. This will keep it in place while you iron.
  8. Iron the fabric paper onto the bag according to the product’s instructions.
  9. Add the addresses and names to the bag, you can use markers to handwrite or stickers, whatever you feel comfortable with!
  10. Fill with gifts from Santa and enjoy!

Get more from the episode

How to Start a Garden
How to Start a Garden
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT