Farmhouse Christmas Muslin Gift Bags

Friends, here we are in November and I’m just starting to plan for Christmas. Just starting, not decking any halls or watching Hallmark Christmas movies non-stop yet. Our culture can get carried away with this precious holiday much too prematurely. You won’t catch me decorating our house full-force for Christmas until Advent. I’m bucking the blogging trends! 🙂

That being said, I do like to spend time in November planning gifts and decorations ahead of time, especially handmade pieces. There’s something so personal and unique about spending the time to make gifts and decorations for your family, friends and home. Do you agree? I hope so! I’m planning a month of November posts with a ‘Handmade Christmas’ theme. Join me as I put on my creative cap and think up some fun ideas to share with you this month.

First idea – Farmhouse Christmas muslin gift bags! You’ve probably seen ideas for varieties of stamped muslin gift bags on Pinterest, but I’ve got a new twist on them for you today. Take a look below for sweet sacks to stuff little gifts inside:

These muslin bags have been hand-stamped with Christmas images and then embellished with scraps of flannel fabric. I think the cute little Christmas fabric gives the bags a textured and festive look. Read more to see how I made them…

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Supplies

To make your own farmhouse Christmas muslin gift bags, you’ll need the following supplies. You may already have these on hand at home.

• muslin gift bags. I used white bags I had found at Michael’s that were approximately 6″ x 4″ in size. You can find similar unbleached bags here or make your own.
• Christmas stamps
• stamp ink in your desired color
• scraps of Christmas-colored fabric. I used a red plaid flannel.
• sewing needle, scissors, and thread in a complimentary color
• cardboard or thick paper, cut to fit inside a bag

Steps

Stamp the Bags

First you’ll need to stamp the muslin bags with your chosen stamps. Before you do this, be sure to tuck a piece of cardboard or thick paper inside the bag to prevent the ink from running through the thin fabric to the other layer.

Stamp the front of the muslin bag toward the bottom center. You don’t want to place the stamp too high, since the top will be gathered by the drawstrings. (You may notice that my stamped images appear a little light. I made a blogger faux-pas by not checking my supplies ahead of time. Apparently I’ve owned this black stamp ink for years and it dried out a bit. Oops!)

Add Fabric Embellishment

Next, you’ll want to embellish your stamped image with some fabric.

For instance, I added a scarf to my stamped reindeer here:

You just need to gently sew the fabric scrap in place, making sure not to sew through the 2nd layer! I put my hand inside the bag to avoid this. Also, I cut my flannel fabric scrap using pinking shears to avoid fraying.

My stamped wreath got a ‘bow’:

I don’t own a Christmas tree stamp, but wouldn’t it be cute to see a stamped tree with a fabric garland on one of these bags?

Stuff Bags with Goodies

The last step is especially fun – gather the goodies you want to include in your gift bag. I think greenery and cinnamon sticks add a special decorative touch to the bag.

Here I’ve gathered caramels, cinnamon sticks, juniper and lavender sprigs:

Surprise someone with the Farmhouse Christmas gift bag!

Finally, surprise someone you love with one (or more) of these sweet bags tucked under the tree this year.

They would make a lovely way to deliver a hostess or teacher’s gift. And they are the perfect size for gift cards. Everyone loves those!

Blue Flannel

The fabric embellishment doesn’t have to be in traditional Christmas colors, either. Here I tied up these reindeer gift bags with scraps of blue plaid flannel (I may have a slight addiction to plaids). Easy peasy!

Back in the spring I embellished muslin bags with fabric patches, which you can see here. In addition, I added similar patches to rustic lavender sachets here. Those would also be fun to make for Christmas gifts.

I bet you can gather up your stamps and fabric scraps and come up with some really creative bags, too. Send me a photo if you do – I’d love to see!