Tuck a bottle of their favorite beverage inside a festive wrap - no wrapping paper required. Trisch Rosema's embroidered gifts of wine got rave reviews even though they were quick and easy. What a lovely hostess gift one of these custom wine bags would make! Or you could do as Trisch did and make a special beverage wrap for everyone on your list.

Trisch’s Description
Easy to make wine bottle bags. These will fit a standard 750ml wine bottle but you can adjust the measurements to fit any size. Make it extra special by embellishing with beads, hot-fix crystals, craft shapes, holly, bells etc – let your imagination run riot!

Step-By-Step Instructions
Below is how to make them out of felt or any other fabric that does not require overlocking. If this doesn't fit what you are doing, leave me a comment here on Ann's Blog and I'll see if I can help.


Measure your wine bottle and determine the size of the red fabric by taking 75 % of the length of the bottle. Do the same for the white, using 25%. Remember to allow for seams and keep the width of the fabric a little looser around the bottle to allow for easy insertion.


Hoop up the red fabric, centered on a large hoop with the bottle length of the fabric running vertically. Embroider the holiday design of your choice. Stitch white fabric to red fabric at top. (Tip: use pinking shears or decorative scissors to finish off the top edge of the white).


Stitch up sides of combined fabrics. Stitch bottom closed (Tip: to remove bulk, stitch a 45degree seam on both sides to make an ‘envelope’ effect and trim away bulk).


Insert bottle of wine. Loop green ribbon around the neck and thread beads to end of green ribbon. Tie securely.


Embellish with additional sparkly stars or include a cute festive cork and personalise with a gift tag.


What makes this project special
Because Christmas is in the heat of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, gifts such as fresh fruit, nuts and wines are top of the list when we’re invited to friends for dinners during the Festive Season. We are so lucky to have some of the finest vineyards in the world here in South Africa, so making a special gift bag is a way of making sure we show our appreciation for the hard work our winemakers have put into their product!


Skill level
No need to be a skilled seamstress. As long as you can stitch straight lines, you can make this bag!


Products
1 piece red fabric 13.2" x 12"

1 piece white fabric 6.2" x 12"

4 pieces green ribbon 15"

2 gold or silver beads

Design of your choice

Cottons colours of your choice

Stabilizer


I used my own embroidery designs. On some of the embroidery I used metallic threads – slowed my machine down a bit and used the right needle to make sure my project sewed out beautifully. I also added a few seed beads here and there. The fabric I chose to use is Fasco, a pure 100% cotton, because of the heat here in South Africa. I would, however, make these out of felt if I lived in the snow because it would give a ‘warmer’ feel to this project.


Time Investment
Rather than making one bag at a time, I spent a weekend embroidering about 30 and then made them up sausage-factory style… stitch all sides, add all tops, insert all ribbons and so on. But if you had to make a single one, I’d say you’re looking at about an hour’s work, depending on the complexity of the embroidery design you’ve used.


Why I love this project
Because every person who received one of these was so overwhelmed at the effort made to give them a simple bottle of wine!

Send Us Your Creations
Do you have any creations that go with a great story? If so, we'd love to hear about them, and see them! If we choose to post your project, you'll get a free $25 gift certificate to use in the AnnTheGran.com online store. Click here for details on how to submit your creation.

What Would You Do?
Trisch added sparkling stars to some of her bags to give them extra holiday shine. Do you have a special way to make your holiday embroidery projects sparkle or shine? Click on the Comments link to share your ideas.