This year for Valentine’s Day I’ve been leaving little treats for my kids each day – stickers, princess valentine’s, chocolate, and glitter glue pens. I wanted to put them in something they could open. We have been doing decorated paper bags that we taped to their bedroom doors the last few years. But the tape peeled off the paint and the bags ripped.
So I decided to sew a cute Valentine’s bag for each kid. I still wanted them to be involved in the decorating.
I grabbed some white fabric, paint, heart shaped cookie cutters, and little stamps and we went to work. I let the girls decorate it however the wanted. And did it get messy? You bet it did! But those are the best projects right? (Did you notice that Clo has paint on her lips???)
After it dried, I asked the girls which section they wanted for their bags. I also pulled out some fabric and let them choose which fabric they wanted to go with it.
Then I made the bags.
I cut out the fabric I needed:
1 – 18×14 piece of painted fabric
1 – 12×14 piece of painted fabric
1 – 7×14 piece of colored fabric
I also needed some yarn, pink fabric, and wonder under.
I then sewed the 12×14 to the 7×14 piece right sides together. So now I have two pieces of 18×14 fabric. I cut off any extra so they were the same size.
I made a little heart to glue on the front by ironing on wonder under to a square of pink fabric, Then cut out a heart (I just googled a heart shape and printed it from my computer to use as a template). Iron on the heart to the fabric. You can check out my Applique Fall Pillow and Applique Baby Burp Cloths for more tips and projects using applique.
Then right sides together, sew along the bottom and two sides of the 2 large pieces of fabric. Then flip over the top about an inch and sew all the way around for the yarn to make a drawstring.
At one of the seams, use a seam ripper to undo the stitching for the yarn to go through. Sew above and below the hole to keep it in place.
Then tie the yarn in a knot and put a safety pin through it. Feed the safety pin around the drawstring hole until it comes out on the side you started. Then tie the two ends of the yarn together. Now you have your drawstring! And you’re done!
My girls loved playing with their bags before February and now they love getting a little prize in them each day. It’s a super easy project that you can get them involved in!
Happy Valentine’s Day!