Personalized Trick or Treat Bag Tutorial

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We've all seen those $1 plastic pumpkin Trick or Treat buckets at Target and Wal-Mart.
I decided I needed some creative time yesterday, so I sat down while the girls were napping and made a Trick or Treat bag with some Halloween fabric I found in Wal-Mart's fabric department. I had looked in JoAnn's, but they were pretty picked over, and I fell in love with the candy corn fabric I found at Wally World.

I should make a disclaimer here that I am pretty new to sewing, my skill level could be classified as EXTREME beginner, and if you have any sewing experience at all you may just want to skip to the end to see the finished product because my methods might make blood shoot out of your eyes.

I decided I needed to cut out a squarish rectangle thingie (see how precise I am?!) about 12 x 14. I wanted the bag to be roughly 11 x 13, so I figured that would allow for 1/2 inch seams on the sides. I folded my fabric in half and trimmed the bottom so it would be even:

Then I cut out through the two layers to create two pieces that were roughly 12 x 14.

I measured a half inch seam on the top of each piece for the opening of the bag, pressing and pinning to make sewing easier.

See how much easier it is to sew when the seams are crisp and pinned down?

Then I cut a square of a contrasting fabric to go in the middle on the front of the bag as a pocket. I pinned, pressed, and sewed a straight seam across the top of the square first so the pocket would have a finished opening. This, of course, had to go on the "right side" of the fabric since it would be an outside pocket.

Leaving the top of the purple square open for the pocket, I sewed around the rest of the square, making a very small seam.

I used some of the leftover purple candy corn fabric to create some handles for the bag. I just measured and cut two long rectangles that looked like they'd make long enough handles.

I folded the purple rectangles in half with the "wrong side" of the fabric facing out, then pinned them.

After I sewed those seams, I had to turn the straps right side out.

Then I pressed the handles so the seam would be in the middle of the back.

Pinned the handles on where I thought they'd look nice. Then I sewed straight across the top, making sure the seam went through the handles and made a nice seam on the top of the bag opening.

After that, I just had to sew around the rest of the bag to pull it all together.

Then I got out my BFF, Fabri-Tac, which has stayed with me through several projects.

I used the adhesive to glue some orange rick-rack over the pocket seams on the front of the bag. Very easy to use, doesn't burn your fingers, and dries quickly.

All that was left was to hot glue a stiff, black felt "n" (for "Natalie") to the front of the new bag. Tomorrow, I'll make an "m" bag for Michaela Byrd.

This project took me some time because the girls kept interrupting me after they woke up from their naps, but once I decided what I was doing, it was really easy.

This will be so much easier to store than one of those plastic pumpkins, and I got to practice on my sewing machine again. There might even be extra room for some candy for ME on Halloween! *wink*

Visit Kimba for more crafty, DIY inspiration!

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