Spooky bags for trick-or-treaters

A boo-tiful Halloween trick-or-treat bag.

It's the spookiest time of the year. And Halloween crafts are fun!

I've been making market bags, tote bags, purses and computer bags for a year now for St. Denis Sundries. Last Halloween I made a set of pillowcase bags for my niece and nephews to take trick-or-treating.

I’m working on a new set of Halloween bags for this year. Part of last year’s learning experience was finding out that burlap bags will wear through when small children drag them on the ground.

I like making pillowcase bags for Halloween, which are simpler than market or tote bags. Just like the name, they are measured and sewn like pillowcases, without a floor or flat bottom. These bags are handy and lightweight, perfect for little kids gathering up all the candy in the neighborhood. (Auntie calls dibs on the peanut butter and chocolate cups!) I’m making this year’s trick-or-treat bags out of burlap again, but I’m adding a section of denim to the bottom edge, along with making them a little bit shorter.  I’m hoping this will prevent holes if – okay, when – the bags are dragged over the gravel road.

Last year I found delightfully printed burlap with Halloween kitties, goblins and pumpkin faces. This year the bags are spooky black and I’ll use an adorable printed Halloween fabric for decoration. The handles are made out of burlap ribbon in matching black. For safety, I’ve added a strip of reflective ribbon so the bags and their trick-or-treaters can be seen by passersby.

Make your pillowcase Halloween trick-or-treat bags

Fabric:

• Printed or solid color (I’m going with black) burlap – plan a half a yard for one bag
• Colored denim or heavy canvas to match the burlap – plan one quarter yard for one bag
• A quarter yard of fabric in a color matching the burlap – you’ll use this to make fabric tape for the raw edges of the burlap
• Colorful and fun Halloween printed fabric – plan one quarter yard or one fat quarter

Notions:

• Threads in colors that match your burlap and Halloween prints
• Reflective tape (This is what I used: Dritz 652 Iron-On Reflective Ribbon Combo, Black)
• Burlap “ribbon” for the handles – 1.5 inches wide works well for small hands

Sewing Tools:

• Sewing machine
• Denim needle for your sewing machine (optional)
• 25 mm bias tape maker (This is the one I use: eKingstore Set of 4 Size Fabric Bias Tape Maker Tool)
• Scissors for cutting burlap
• Scissors for cutting fabric
• Rotary cutting tool, ruler and mat
• Paper grocery bag with a handle, pencil

Directions:

1. Find out how tall your kiddo is and how far it is from the palm of her hand to the ground. Assume about 3 inches for the handle drop. Your paper bag is a helpful tool here: Have your kiddo stand with her arm at her sides, holding the bag. If the bag touches the ground, measure up from the floor, giving your kiddo’s bag at least 4-6 inches clearance from the ground. This will give you the bag’s length. For the width of you bag, divide the length of the bag by 4. Subtract your answer from the length. That amount is your width.

For example, a bag that is 16 inches in length:
16 ÷ 4 = 4
16 – 4 = 12

This bag will be 16 inches long by 12 inches wide. This is my taller niece’s bag. Her younger brothers’ bags will be:
12 ÷ 4 = 3
12 – 3 = 9

The nephews’ bags will be 12 inches long by 9 inches wide.

Cut your burlap to be 3 inches shorter than your intended finished length. This is your bag panel. Cut your denim or canvas to be 3.5 inches high and the same width as your burlap. This will become the bottom edge of the Halloween bag, sturdy enough to withstand the occasional drag across the ground.

If you don’t have your kiddo with you, a taller child would have a bag with two panels of burlap that are 12.5 inches long and 12.5 inches wide. Cut two strips of denim or canvas 3.5 inches wide and 12.5 inches long (or one piece at a double length of 25 inches) to go at the bottom of the bag.

Burlap and denim are sold on the bolt and are about 60 inches wide. I like to measure and cut my panels on the fold of the fabric, like a book. This is one less edge that needs to be sewed and similar to the construction of most pillowcases. If you do cut two separate panels and denim strips, sew one side first to make the larger pieces before continuing.

2. Make the fabric tape

The fabric tape binds the inside raw edges of the burlap and makes the seams sturdier. For this you will cut 2 inch wide strips of your matching fabric the length of the fabric piece. You can cut the fabric straight across or on the bias; I cut my straight across for bag making.

Feed the fabric through the bias tape maker, gently coaxing it out the tip. Using a large pin, tack the end of the fabric down to your ironing board and carefully pull the tape maker down the length of the fabric for a few inches. Iron the folded fabric as it emerges, pressing the edges of the fabric towards the middle. Here’s a tutorial on making bias tape [http://m.dritz.com/sites/default/files/tutorials/dritz-tutorial-how-use-bias-tape-maker.pdf].

3. Make the edging and decorative panel

Making the top edge.

For the top edging: Cut a strip of your Halloween fabric the same length as the unsewn bag is wide plus 1 additional inch (in my case, 33 inches long) and between 2-3 inches wide. The width depends on your pattern and your preference.

Iron the strip of fabric flat and then measure a half an inch deep, folding over the fabric and pinning it in place. Measure and pin all the way down the length of the fabric. Iron the folded edge, pulling out the pins as you go. Repeat the process on the other side so you have two folded edges.

Fold the fabric in half this time so the folded edges meet and you have a fabric tape. Iron flat.

For the decorative panel: Cut a strip of your Halloween fabric the same length as the open bag, plus 1 inch (again, for me that was 33 inches). I cut my panel to be 4 inches wide; you can vary the width based on how long your bag is, making sure to have at least 1 extra inch for the hem.

Just as you did with the edge, measure and iron a half an inch from the edge of the fabric on both sides. This creates your hem. Do not fold the fabric again, since we are not making tape.

4. Assemble your bag

Yay, sewing! It seems like so much of the sewing process of just pinning. Your first step is to lay the

burlap on your work surface, best side up, and line up your denim piece, wrong side up (so the right sides of the fabric are together), with the edge of the burlap. Use your matching fabric tape to fold over the edges of the burlap and denim and pin in place. Sew together.

Layout your pieces and check placement.

Turn the bag over so you are now working on the right side of the fabric. Take your edging piece and fold it over the top of your bag, tucking the raw edge of the burlap to the fold inside. Pin in place. Using a matching thread, sew along the edge of the hem, so the stitches are next to the fold of the fabric. You should have about a half an inch of extra fabric sticking out from either side.

Lay your decorative panel, right side up, on the bag and judge where it looks best; that might be in the center of the bag or a little higher or lower to your liking. Pin the panel in place. Again, sew in matching thread at the edge of the hem. You should have a little bit of fabric running off the burlap on either side.

Lastly, take your reflective tape and lay it across the bottom of the bag, where the denim and burlap meet. I used the middle width piece, which is three-quarters of an inch. Measure the length to match the width of your bag, plus one-quarter to one-half of an inch extending past the side. In black thread, sew the reflective tape to the burlap on both sides in the black edging, not the reflective portion. (This is an iron-on reflective tape but I found sewing it down to be more effective at keeping it place than ironing.)

Once all the pieces are attached to the bag, fold it with the right sides inward and touching. Trim away the excess fabric and reflective tape. Using the matching fabric tape folded over the raw edges, pin and sew on the fabric tape to close the seam.

Turn the bag right-side-out. Looks great, doesn’t it?

5. Attach the handles

Cut two 13 inch lengths of the burlap ribbon. Don’t use your good scissors! Most burlap ribbon will have a thin metal wire running along the edges to give it shape. Find the center of your bag and then find the quarter measurement, between the center and the side of the bag. Line up the outside edge of the burlap ribbon with that point and place the bottom edge of the ribbon 2 inches down from the top edge of the bag opening. Use a pin to hold in place.

A niece with the finished trick-or-treat
bag. The reflective tape helped to make
 sure she and her friends were seen while
roaming the neighborhood this year.

I sew each end of the handles separately; however, you can pin them all in place before stitching. First sew down the part of the handle that rests of the black burlap with your black thread. Sew all four edges down, using a box with an ‘X’ pattern through the center. Then go back to your matching fabric thread and sew a seam across the top of the bag where the handle strap crosses the edging fabric to hold the handle in place.

There you have it: Your kiddo’s custom-made trick-or-treat bag!