I can remember my mother saving wrapping paper to reuse. However, I can also remember that when she went to reuse the paper, it was wrinkled and torn. Recently a friend of ours gave us a gift that she put in a cloth gift bag that she had made. The cloth gift bag is great; we can recycle it over and over again. If it gets dirty or wrinkled, we can wash it, and it is like new again. After talking with my friend, I decided to make one of these cloth bags. It was so simple, and easy to make.

· You can use any material that you have (we found cotton material works great). You can use scrap material, or recycled material.

· Depending on the size of bag that you need, take your material and cut it in one long strip. Fold the material over once, and that will be the size of your bag. If you want a smaller bag, then just reduce the amount of material.

· With the material folded, sew a seam about 1 inch where the top of the bag will be. This seam will be where you will use yarn, ribbon, or string to put in a tie to close the bag.

· Then, turning the material inside out, iron the seams (about ½ inch) on the sides. Then sew up the seams on both sides to just below where your bag will tie.

· Using a safety pin, pin your yarn, ribbon or string, and pull it through the top of the bag.

The bag is now complete. Those people that we have given the bags to think they are just great. It is a wonderful way to recycle and reuse. Plus, if you use old material rather than buying wrapping paper, you will end up saving money!

These cloth gift bags are so simple to make, yet so practical to use!

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