So that’s it, you have this birthday party all planned but you are still looking for the ideal party bags. If you don’t want to go for plastic ones featuring one or another cartoon characters, why not making your own? They are quite easy to make and each bag takes approximately 45 minutes to make.

This week I show how to make a pink felt party bag featuring a lovely shooting star in girly colours. Next week we’ll see how to make a more boyish dinosaur party bag. By the way this little bags could also be used a favour bags or gift bags for any holiday involving spoiling children.

The party bag is 16×12 cm (6.3×4.7’’). Below is the step by step guide with plenty of pictures and including template. Let’s do it!

Supplies

For the shooting star felt party bag you will need:

• Pink felt – two 19.5×14 cm (7.7×5.5’’) pieces per bag,
• Matching pink sewing thread,
• Shooting star template downloadable for free here,
• Scraps of yellow, dark pink, green and orange felt for shooting star appliqué,
• Ribbon – 45 cm (17.7’’) per bag.

1 – Cut out the felt

For each bag, cut two 19.5×14 cm (7.7×5.5’’) pieces of pink felt. Using the paper template provided here, cut one star and three star tails in colours of your choice. For each bag you should have the felt pieces as shown on picture 1.

2 – Appliqué the star

Pin the three tails and the star shape so the bottom of the star is approximately 5 cm (2’’) away from the bag edge (see picture 2). You may need to trim the star tails so their ends are flush and there is no gap between the three of them.

Making a running stitch with pink sewing thread, stitch the first tail (as shown on picture 3). Once this is done you may need to re-position the other tails so there is no gap between them. Stitch the two other tails and the star on top using the same method (result of this step is shown on picture 4).

3 – Sew the bag

Right side facing each other, pin the sides and bottom of the bag. Make sure the shooting star motive is in the right direction (i.e. the top of the bag is open). Stitch the right side first, starting 5 cm (2’’) from the top edge, then stitch the bottom and the left side, stopping at 5 cm (2’’) from the top edge. Trim about 0.5 cm (0.2’’) of the sides you have not stitched, as shown on picture 5.

4 – Sew the cord casing

Fold the top of the bag sides so the top touches the end of the stitches. The overall bag should now be 17 cm (6.7’’) high (including seam allowance). Stitch at 1.5 cm (0.6’’) from bag top edge as shown on picture 6 to form the cord casing. The bag should look like picture 7 at the end of this step.

5 – Insert the cord

Thread the ribbon through the casing using a safety pin as shown on picture 8.

Gather the ribbon two ends with a knot and you’ll have a finished bag as shown on picture 9. Hurray!