Wool-less Wednesday: Christmas Gift Bags

Two years ago, I made these Christmas gift bags. I was getting tired of garbage bags full of non-recyclable wrapping paper being thrown out Christmas morning.

I bought colorful Christmas fabric remnants on sale. The ribbon was sitting in my sewing machine drawer waiting for a use.

These were easy to make. I cut different size rectangles and squares from the fabric. Then, I folded each in half and seamed the sides. I used the buttonholer attachment on my Mom's old Kenmore sewing machine to make the opening in the casing for the ribbon ends, before turning down the top of the bag to make a casing for the ribbon to be threaded through.

I made sure to make a variety of sizes to fit gifts from the size of a CD to a bulky knit sweater.

This is our third year using these Christmas gift bags for our family gifts. They're gr-gr-great!

Happy Christmas sewing!

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Vintage Kenmore Sewing Machine

This is a vintage 1950's Model 48 Kenmore Sewing Machine. This warhorse is a tough machine that has done everything from making Barbie doll clothes to altering kilts! It is heavy and sturdy and still sitting in its original solid wood cabinet. It's in use today. The last job it did for me was to sew the lining into one of my crochet bags.

This is the original vintage buttonholer attachment that came with the machine. The buttonhole templates fit inside the buttonholer and guide the needle around the fabric to make different sizes and shapes of buttonholes. I have used this attachment with great success!

I have never used this vintage decorative and embroidery stitch attachment which makes a variety of unique stitch patterns, as you can see if you look closely at the manual. You put the plastic discs into top of the machine. They tell the needle where to stitch. No computers here!

Finally, here is the original manual. I understand they can be hard to find. I'm very fortunate to have a such a complete package with my vintage sewing machine thanks to my Mom who gave me the machine!

I enjoyed sharing this vintage thingie with you. For more vintage thingies, visit Coloradolady for Vintage Thingies Thursday.

Happy Vintage Thingies!