Twelve Days of Christmas 2014: Day 2 - Make a Santa Sack

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Our twelve days of Christmas ideas continues today with something for the small people. If you're looking for another small tradition to add to your Christmas, how about a handmade santa sack for your kids to put out in anticipation every Christmas Eve?

Our sack, pictured, measures 80cm tall, and 73cm wide - big enough to accommodate a large box of Lego! It's basically a pimped-up big rectangle, so you can easily change the size of your santa sack if you prefer.

You will need: 
40cm Natural Linen (150cm wide)
75cm mid-weight cotton/linen with gold sparkly dots (110cm wide) (in store only, but similar to this)
1.5m cotton twill tape
Sewing machine, thread, large safety pin, general sewing supplies.
 
 Notes:
All seam allowances are 1cm. Unless stated otherwise, finish all seams with an overlocker or zig zag stitch for extra strength.


 1. Right-o. Start by cutting the dotted fabric in half parallel to the selvedge. You will end up with two pieces of dotty fabric measuring 55 x 75cm each. Sew these together along the 55cm edge.


2. Now sew the linen to the dotty fabric. The linen should be very slightly longer than the dotty fabric piece: pin then sew them right sides together so the linen overhangs the dotty fabric by the same amount on each end. Press your seam toward the linen.
 

3. Now fold the little overhanging piece of linen in toward the wrong side so the folded edge lines up with the raw edge of the dotty fabric like in the photo below. Sew a hem here. This is so there won't be any raw edges where you will later insert the drawstring. Repeat on the other side.



 4. Sew the casing for the drawstring. Make a double fold in the linen - the finished flap should be roughly an inch wide. It's a long fold - all the way down the entire width of the linen parallel to where the two different fabrics join. It helps to press as you fold.



5. Sew the flap down with a straight stitch.



6. Then turn the whole thing over and stitch the flap down on the other side. Voila! Casing. :)



 
8. Fold your loooong piece of fabric in half, as below. Pin the raw edges together along the base (dotty fabric) and non-folded side. (Leave the top raw for hemming later). Sew then zig zag along the pinned edges. Snip off the little triangle corner seam allowance at the bottom corners.



 9. Almost done! Double fold the top (raw) edge of the linen and hem. Give the whole thing a light press. Now pop the safety pin in one end of the twill tape and feed it through the casing. It might be easier to do the feeding from the inside of the sack because of the hemmed edge. Once it's all fed through, knot each end of the twill tape.



 Pull the twill tape ends together to gather. All that's left to do is wait for the big red man to come and fill it up with goodies. Yay!

- Fiona & Jane xx

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