Peg Bags!

Hi, I'm Tabatha from Thread Carefully and this year I've made a few people peg bags for Christmas. They are really quick and easy to make, and they're a good thing to give to the person who seems to have everything, or to someone you have no idea what else they might like.

Here's how I made mine. You will need 1/2 metre of fabric, bias binding to match, thread and a child-size hanger (by this I mean a hanger for children's clothing, not a hanger the size of a child!).

Step One - Cut two rectangular pieces of fabric, about 18"x14" (approx. 45cm x 35cm). Place your hanger at the top and draw along its edge. Cut along the line. (Tip: I overlocked the very top edge of each piece of fabric too, because you have to leave a gap for the hanger to go through, and I wanted to finish the raw edge, even though it ends up being tucked in). At the bottom, cut the corners into a curve. You should end up with two identical pieces of fabric looking like this:

Step Two - Take one of the pieces of fabric, and about a third of the way down from the top, draw and then cut the peg bag opening. It should measure at least 7", so that you can get the hanger in at the end.

Step Three - Use the bias binding to bind the raw edges of the fabric at the peg bag opening. I used ribbon because I couldn't find bias binding in a complementary colour, and I didn't have enough fabric to make my own. I pressed my ribbon in half lengthways (as you would also do with bias binding), and stitched it over the raw edges:

Step Four - Lay your front piece and back piece right sides together, and stitch together, remembering to leave a gap at the top where the hanger will go through.

Step Five - Clip the curved edges.

Step Six - Turn inside out, through the peg bag opening. Insert your hanger, and you're done! If you like, you can now add some decorative ric-rac, buttons, embroidery, applique...whatever takes your fancy! The peg bag I've shown here is for my grandfather-in-law, so I'm leaving it plain!