Last Wedding Post!

Bridal Party Gifts

Oh my! It has been such a long time since I've last posted! Over a month!! So many good things have happened but it's made life VERY busy!!!

Jeremy and I got married...

We went on our honeymoon...

My beautiful niece, Sofia, was born...

And Mosby and I headed to Michigan for about a week.

More on ALL of that later! I have big plans for wedding/honeymoon projects!

So, back to the wedding. It was just what we wanted and everything turned out so well. Jeremy and I were so happy to spend our wedding day with the ones we love best. Some of the most important people in our lives and at our wedding were in our bridal party. I wanted to make sure they "felt the love" and the way I know how to do that best is by heading into the "sweatshop of love".

I knew I wanted to make some of my gifts to my bridesmaids, but Jeremy and I struggled with what we wanted to give the groomsmen and ushers. We wanted to give them something they would use and something that was a little different for each of them. My crafty friend, Cathryn, has an awesome pattern that I've used before to make fleece pants. 

So, Jer and I decided that fleece pants would be our gift to the guys. Not so practical in June, but they'll come in handy in the midwest winters. Each of our guys has a different favorite team, so we used the team prints to make each pair unique. Here's the final product.

Jeremy also made some awesome onion jam for the guys. It's great on burgers, pork, or just about anything!!

Now, for the ladies, I knew that I wanted to make them bags to use on our wedding day. I filled them with their jewelry, flip flops for the reception, and a handkerchief. 

I had a design in mind for the bags. They didn't turn out exactly as planned, but I was pretty pleased with the end result, especially as they are one of the first patterns I created.

So, I started with 3 yards of a canvas-y material.

Next, I used a magic marker to mark off the length of the bag. I marked off 22 inches, so that my bags turned out 18 inches deep.

Then, I repeated it a second time and cut. As you can see in the pictures, I had two strips of fabric that were each 22 inches wide.

Next, I cut each strip into three pieces. This gave me 6 pieces of fabric that were each 36 inches long and 22 inches wide.

Then, I cut the remaining fabric into 12 strips. Each strip was about 22 inches long and 2.5 inches wide.

Then, I made all of the straps for the bags. I took each small piece of fabric and used the iron smooth and to crease in each of the sides about a quarter inch.

Then, I folded the fabric so you cannot see the creases and ironed it flat.

I sewed it as close to the open edge as possible to create a solid strap. I repeated until all 12 are done.

Then, I moved onto the body of the bag. Fold the top over twice (about an inch each time) so that there is clean line on top.

I gathered the body of the bag and two straps.

I folded over the bag, so you see the "right" side.The bag was 22 inches long and 18 inches wide.


I slipped the straps in so they look like they were in the center of the bag. They were about 1/2 closer to the folded side, to make up for when you sew the bag closed. Pin them in place.

I opened the bag and sewed them securely to the "wrong" side (or inside of the bag).

Next, I sewed along the top and bottom of the fold to make a secure top to the bag.

Then, using a 5/8 sew, I sewed the bag closed.

The complete bag.

I finished the bag by embroidering each of the girls' names on the top of the bag. This part didn't turn out as cute as I had hoped, but it came in handy on the wedding day with 6 identical bags. 

Hmm...somehow I forgot to take a finished product picture of all 6, so that's it for today!

I'm off to hang out with my sister and the baby!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB