Cloth shopping bags - Christmas Gifts

I got a little carried away this fall. I started out by thinking that I would make a cloth shopping bag for a Christmas present for my mom.

Then I thought that I'd make one for each woman in the family. That would be 5, plus me.

Then my husband came home from shopping with a plastic bag! Oops, I making them for the men too. That's another 5.

I visit a certain thrift store every week, so I started buying fabrics suitable for bags. After 3 visits, I had about 20 metres of fabric to work with! Each bag takes one half to one metre of fabric, depending on whether it is lined. I ended up making 19 bags, and 14 of them are "originals," plus 5 duplicates. I have fabric for more, but I'm tired!

Above are the woman's bags. I gave everyone their choice of bags. My mom took the one on the far left, with the African-like print. The red plaid was one of my favorites. SIL choose it.


Above are the men's bags. DH took the top left navy & gray (very sporty looking!), my 2 brothers both got the lower left black with plaid lining (Ala Burberry), and Eric insisted on taking the bottom right grey bag. He's 7, and he was thrilled to have one too!

Leah wanted a bag (she's 4), so I took one of the plain cream ones (I made 4 of them!), and added an iron-on cat decal that I was saving for something special (like a bag!).



The last two bags are MINE! I love the dark grey print one, and I have more of that fabric so I'll probably make more sometime. The other is a black denim with white threads showing, with a colourful butterfly trim.

I just might have to do this again next year....