Bags of love... and plastic!

My mum gave me her Christmas wish list this month, and she'd like a new carrier bag holder for her kitchen. I have one of these, and they are exceedingly useful, but can look a little dull. I went online and found this rather brilliant tutorial on how to make your own. Find it here from Make It Love It, it's really simple. Plus, it can be made in an afternoon too... good if you're looking for a last minute hand-made gift for someone.

What you will need:

• 9 x 20 inch by 3.5 inch strips of material in whatever colours/patterns you choose.
• If you want, you can make a template to use to cut out your strips. I made mine out of a cereal box.
• 12 inches of thin elastic
• Scissors
• Needle and thread
• Sewing machine
• Pins
• Ribbon to hang it on
• Iron

Cut your strips and iron them so they sit straight when you pin them together. Make sure you cut on the fabric to make the most of the pattern on it.

Pin each strip together in the order you desire. Make sure you have them pinned pattern side to pattern side.

Sew along all the seams and it should end up as one large stripey piece of fabric. Looks lush already, I think!! Iron all the seams open so it lies flat. 

Then using your iron to define the edge, turn each end up by 1/4 inch and then again by 1/3 inch. This is where you'll thread your elastic through. Sew along this as close to the edge as possible so there's room for the elastic.

Thread your elastic through; the easiest way of doing is is put the end of it through a safety pin, then thread it through bit by bit. Secure with a few quick stitches with your needle and thread at either end. Then making sure that it's inside out, sew both sides of the whole thing together, making sure you sew securely at either end with the elastic.

Add a ribbon to one end whilst still turned inside out. I plaited several colours together and knotted each end, then looped it and used the machine to secure it to the top of the bag.

Turn the whole thing inside out, and you're basically done! Then chose a place to hang it - and make sure it isn't hidden away in a cupboard! Let everyone see!!

I think it's beautiful. This is going away for Christmas, but I must say I'm quite tempted to keep it myself. It makes mine look really boring!!

What have you guys been doing on this fine Saturday afternoon? I'm super excited to be seeing my old flatmate tomorrow and her new doggy! We are heading up to the Ashridge Estate which is a National Trust site in Hertfordshire. Should be perfect for wearing big jumpers, boots and having hot chocolate and cake in the cafe there. No doubt I will add some pictures tomorrow :)

Take care for now!

BBxx