my first tutorial

My blog is all grown up. It's presenting its first tutorial to you today. *sigh* seems like only yesterday I was creating it.

How to easily make a Halloween bag (or any bag, for that matter)**

**please note that I am not an expert seamstress by any stretch of the imagination. I recognize that for you seasoned and accomplished sewers, this project will seem like a piece of cake. If this looks like baby stuff to you, I am ok with you not reading it. Really. I won't be mad.

First, decide the dimensions of your bag. I am making these bags to be goody bags for our Halloween party. I want them to be about the size of a brown paper lunch bag. Thus, I cut out two pieces of 8 by 10 fabric. Also, now is the time to pick your colors. I picked black because it's a Halloween color, and, I'm going to sew a ghost onto it. Everyone knows black is the best background color for a ghost.

Second, I cut out my ghosty shape. There is not rhyme or reason to this part. I just cut some curvy shapes out of an old lace curtain. Then I cut three semi-symmetrical black circles: two smaller and one bigger.
Then I sewed the ghosty shape onto one of the 8 by 10 black squares (on the outside of the fabric, mind you) I used a zig zag stitch right along the edge of the ghost because I think it looks better.

Then sew the black circle eyeballs and mouth onto your ghost in the same way. Put your two black squares together, outside in. (Make sure your ghost is facing up.) Cut a small square out of each bottom corner. I don't measure this (measuring is for sissies.) I just eyeball it.Now stitch your sides and the bottom together. I used a straight stitch here.

Now here's the tricky part (and also the fun part) look at the small square you created when you cut the corners off the black square. take the inner corners of the small square and pull them apart so that the corners that you just stitched meet. (Don't ask me why it made my words a link. I didn't tell it to and I don't know how to turn it off. It will just take you to a larger format of the picture below.) Pulling the corner apart will make a new line that makes the outer corners meet. Stitch that shut, so it looks like this:

hem the top, then turn it inside out and sew handles on it.
viola! a halloween bag for your ghouls!
These bags are so easy and so fun! I can make 3 or 4 in an afternoon without breaking into too much of a sweat. You can use other colors and decorations to make them for different seasons. I probably will. (I'm thinking valentines bags would be cute, too).
Have fun!