Halloween Hostess Gift

It’s that time of year again – haunted houses, black cats, bats, and trick or treat fun! It’s also a time for Halloween parties and my latest project is a perfect hostess (or host) gift. A bottle of wine packaged in a unique gift bag covered with ribbons, decorative cords, rickrack, and other trims – all in a mixture of Halloween colors! Finished Size: 6 ½” x 14”

Supplies

• Outer fabric, 14” x 15” – I used an upholstery weight linen ticking but almost any firmly woven fabric, light to medium weight will work.
• Lining fabric, 14” x 15” – quilting cotton in a Halloween color and/or works well for this
• Light to medium weight fusible interfacing, 14” x 15”
• Optional: Tearaway embroidery stabilizer
• Assorted trims: ribbons, narrow cords, and trims in Halloween colors – each one up to ¼” wide. I used the stripes of my fabric for spacing and needed 28 pieces (15” long) to cover the fabric. The spacing was approximately the same as using the side of the presser foot as a guide. The number of trim pieces you need may vary depending on the spacing you use.
• Narrow ribbon, 1/4” wide x 22″-26″ long, for closure
• One 8 ½” x 11” sheet decorative cardstock to print the Halloween tag
• Narrow cord for attaching the tag
• Optional: Distress ink for the tag – I used brown and orange

Presser Feet

I used three presser feet to stitch the trims in place on the outer fabric:

• Open Embroidery Foot – The opening in the front makes it easy to see the trim as you stitch.
• Braiding Foot #21 – The hole on top of the foot holds a decorative cord as the needle stitches over it.
• Clear Embroidery Foot – The tiny hole in the center of the foot holds heavy decorative thread and narrow threads such as perle cotton and embroidery floss.

Outer Fabric

Fuse the interfacing to the back of the outer fabric. Do a test with a sample of your interfaced fabric to see if stitching trims causes the fabric to pucker. If it does, place stabilizer behind the interfacing. Using the chart below, stitch the trims vertically on the fabric, starting 1” in the side edge and ending 1” from the opposite side edge. You will be covering 13” of the fabric with the trims.

Lining

Place the outer fabric and the lining right sides together. Using an all-purpose presser foot or the Open Embroidery Foot, stitch the upper edge using a ½” seam allowance. Press the seam allowances toward the lining.

Understitch the seam by aligning it with the inside edge of the toe. Adjust the needle to stitch on the lining and then stitch the length of the seam. This keeps the lining down in the bag once it is finished.

Stitching the Bag

Fold the closure ribbon in half and place it about 3” down from the upper seam. Clip it in place, making sure the ribbon is away from the edges so it does not get caught in the side seam. Fold the bag/lining right sides together and stitch along the long side, leaving the ends open, forming a tube.

Refold the tube so the seam is in the center back. Stitch the lower edge of the bag closed. Trim the corners at a diagonal to reduce the bulk at the bottom of the bag.

Finishing

With the lining seam to the back, fold the seam allowances in at the bottom of the lining and edgestitch to close the opening.

Edgestitch the upper edge of the bag, using the freearm of your machine if you have that feature.

Tuck the lining into the wine bag and put a bottle of wine into it. Print the Halloween tag onto cardstock and cut it out.

Punch the hole at the top and add ink to the edges to give a worn look to the tag if desired. Using a narrow cord, tie the tag to the wine bag, tying the ends of the cord on the back of the back. Pull the the ribbon to the front and tie it to close the wine bag.

Happy Halloween and as always,