DIY Bags For Craft Shows

It's time to dust off those old magazines with all those pretty pictures you've been hoarding under your bed! Creativity has just come knocking on your door.

With my first craft show coming up, I knew I
needed bags for my customers. One doesn't hand someone a bookmark and say, "Here. Carry this under your arm".
I looked at many possibilities. Brown paper bags, plain old "Thank You" grocery sacks, etc. Well they would do the trick all right, but for me, they just weren't creative enough. I wanted something snazzy. Something awesome!

That's when I started thinking about the magazines I'd been hoarding. I had lots of craft magazines and Country Women magazines, and many of them I'd had for years. They had beautiful pictures on them, and magazine paper tends to be quite durable. They would make perfect bags for smaller things like gloves, hats, bookmarks, jewelry, etc.



With lots of excitement, I pulled the staples out of the middle of a couple, and pulled out the sewing machine. Before long I had a good pile of them made.
As I had hoped, they worked out amazingly, and where hugely popular with the customers. One customer even said that she was going to leave the gloves she bought from me in the bag for a Christmas gift, because the magazine bag made the perfect wrapping paper!

To make these bags, here's what you will need.

1: Magazines with the staples taken out.
2: Sewing machine. Use either zig zag or straight stitch. If you use a straight stitch, use the longest stitch setting available to prevent the paper from tearing.
3: Thread in whatever color you want for the sewing machine.
4: Scissors.

Instructions:

Use a butter knife to straighten out the ends of the staples in the magazines, and carefully pull them free taking care not to tear the paper.

Separate the pages and fold them in half just like they where before taking out the staples (where the crease is from folding the magazine). Now you will only have to sew 2 sides...one side and the bottom.

I like to fold the tops down for a unique look. See picture.

Using a zigzag stitch or a long straight stitch, start at the top and sew down one side, pivot and sew across the bottom. Make sure you leave about a 1/4 inch seam edge to prevent the stitches from tearing through to the edge.
Snip thread with scissors.

You're done! Now you have beautiful bags to take with you to craft shows.

Enjoy the compliments you will receive from your customers!