Grow Me. Grow You.

Place mat Bags.

My friend, Sam, made this as a little scripture carrier for her daughter while I took pictures so I could try it myself. These can be used for a craft bag with projects that can be taken to the doctor's waiting room or a car trip, toy bag for kids, book bag, or gift bag. I made these two bags for my nieces that had Christmas presents inside.






Materials Needed
Cloth Place mats (you can get them at the dollar store)
Ribbon for straps-as long as you like (or you can cut a belt)


Directions
1. Fold the place mat in half, putting right sides together of the place mat (not the way where it looks long and skinny, the other way:))



2. Sew the sides together -about an inch in from the side.





3. Open up the one inch flaps you just sewed and flatten them out. The right sides still facing.





4. To give support to the bag, sew a line about 1.5 inches from the corner of the bag. It doesn't have to be exact, just make sure it matches on the other bottom corner when you sew it too.








5. You can cut off the excess material. Sam cut it here, but I left it when I made my two bags (just see what looks best to you).





6. Turn the bag inside out (back to normal). You can add embellishments to the front like rickrack or a flower. Sam sewed her ribbon straps on and to cover where she sewed, she put a button. I just sewed back and forth over my ribbon to secure it (you can see it in the pink bag I made at the top of the post).









Simple, cute, and cheap. My kind of project. We did this in the nursery while the kids played with the toys and the moms chatted and crafted (the idea comes from my sister in law, Kimberly).





Just fyi, there are some cute little bags at Dollar Tree right now for...a dollar. I have a trendy friend Katie that I had made magnets for (I showed how to make the magnets in an earlier post), and I gave them to her in one of the bags for her birthday.