Repurposed Sheet into Gift/Laundry Bag

Remember that sheet we used to make a cage cover?  Well, we still had half of it left, and I needed to gift wrap my baby blanket and stuffed softies in something!

Now, I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but buying wrapping paper is no good.  Not only does it continually cost you money, but it takes 10 seconds to rip it off and throw it in the trash, and then sits in a landfill forever.  Not to mention all the energy and waste it takes to make the paper.  Reusable bags are a one-time purchase (or in our case, free from a repurposed sheet), and they are reusable.

So, onto the project:  I used the one big piece of fabric we had left, and another smaller scrap to make the pocket. Sorry for the poor quality of my photos for this post.  I promise to never photograph on a striped bedspread again!

First, I made a pocket using the smaller scrap.  I turned and topstitched one edge, then folded the scrap around on itself, overlapping the edges about an inch.

Then, I stitched up the sides and flipped it inside-out.  Voila!  A pocket!  (Which I then stitched to my ginormo sheet of fabric.)

Now it was time to assemble the bag.  I first mad a casing for the drawstring by turning under the top edges about an inch and topstitching it down.  Then I stitched up the sides and the bottom.

Last but not least, I used a bodkin (my new favorite notion) to draw the drawstring through the casing.

A quick and easy laundry bag that also makes a convenient gift sack (complete with a card holder!) for a baby blanket and softies!