These reusable cloth gift bags (or easy sew green gift bags) are a great idea my friend Doris uses for wrapping gifts at Christmas time.

The bags are not difficult to make, don’t take much fabric, and are reusable year after year. I thought the idea was terrific, and have been using it for gift giving any time of year. 

If all the friends and relatives were to use them, soon we wouldn’t be buying and throwing out wrapping paper and bags each year – we’d just be trading around re-usable gift bags. More cost effective and better for the environment too!

If you’re not handy with a sewing machine, you can even purchase them from Amazon.

How To Make Reusable Cloth Gift Bags 

Creating the Channel for the Drawstring

The bags are easy to make – cut two pieces of fabric the width and about 1 1/2″ taller than the desired finished bag size. Fold the top end of each piece under, and stitch two seams across the top to create a channel (see above).

Next, place the right sides of the two pieces of fabric together and sew around the sides and bottom, remembering not to sew shut the channel. The sewn bag (inside out) is shown below.

Sewing the Two Halves Together

After stitching turn the bag right side out, add the twine to the channel, and there you have it (see photo below). They can be sized to hold just about anything. Fabric for the bags can be chosen to match the reason for celebration (Christmas prints for Christmas giving, heart prints for Valentine, etc.).

For lots more methods and patterns for making a drawstring bag, check out the link HERE.

Name Tags For Reusable Cloth Gift Bags

For name tags, Doris cleverly chose to cut out small pieces of material, add the name, and use a safety pin to attach the name tag to the bag. That way, the gift bag can easily be re-used by just adding a different safety pinned name tag. 

Finished Gift Bag!

She also packed multiple small bags in one large bag for each person, making transportation and distribution of gifts a snap. I’m sure re-usable cloth gift bags are really an old idea, but they’re an idea that’s time has come again.