Thrifting Textiles

Lately I have been finding so many really nice textiles at the thrift stores. Fabric napkins, valances, remnants, and embroidered table cloths and runners. They are often so reasonable and beautiful I cannot pass them up. What to do with them though? One idea is to make gift bags out of them. These are pretty and practical. They can be reused over and over.

I made two bags out of one long lacy white valance. I just cut it in half, folded one half of it right sides together with the lace at the top and sewed the open side and bottom seams leaving the lace edge open. Turn it right side out and thread a pretty ribbon through the lace and pull it closed.

This bag was a bit of vintage tablecloth or curtain textile that had all finished edges, so I just sewed it around three sides without even turning it inside out.  This was a bigger piece, and we just folded the top edge over and tied it around the center with coordinating ribbon to keep it closed.

This little embroidered tea towel was $1. I had the edges sewn up in less than 5 minutes. With the top left open and a ribbon tacked at the top edge, it is ready to wrap up a pretty gift. This method will not hurt the original piece. There are lots of dresser scarves and pretties out there waiting to be used!