DIY Trick-or-Treat Bags

About a month ago, Jen over at The Finer Things blog, posted some reusable Halloween totes. What a great alternative to the plastic pumpkin or shopping bag!

I thought they were so cute that I decided to make one for each of my nieces. Jen was kind enough to post my project as a follow-up to her original post. Thanks Jen! 

Supplies:

~ 4 sheets of 9" x 12" stiff felt. For one bag, I used 2 sheets of orange with 2 sheets of glittery black. For the others bag, I used 2 sheets of green and 2 sheets of glittery white.

~ Embroidery floss and a needle

~ Thick yarn 

~ Halloween shapes made out of craft foam

~ Scotch Maximum Strength Adhesive (this worked well for the felt and foam)

Directions:

For the front and back of the of the bags, I used the full sheets of felt, no cutting needed. Then for each side, I folded the 3rd sheet of felt in half, lengthwise and cut it down the middle. To make the bottom, I cut the last piece of felt to be the same thickness as the sides. You will have about 3/4 of a sheet left over. 

To sew the pieces together, I lined the sides up flat and used a simple stitch that also became the border. 

Once all of the pieces were sewn together, I cut the yarn to the length I wanted for a handle and sewed it into place on either side at the top, inside of each bag. To make sure the handle would be strong enough to hold a bag full of candy, I cut small squares of felt and sewed them right on top of where I attached the handles. Not only does this reinforce the handles, but it also covered the ugly knot at the end of the yarn. 

The last thing was to decorate! Rather than create my own shapes from scratch, I saved some time by buying pre-made foam shapes and gluing them on. Each bag got a spooky ghost and pumpkin, but on the other side, one got a haunted house while the other got a witch's hat. This glue took about a day to be fully dry, but they seem super sturdy now.

I can't wait to go trick-or treating with the girls on Sunday and see how well they hold up! 

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!!

all images via The Finer Things