Easy Decorative Wine Bags

Simple bags the size of a wine bottle have many purposes. Maybe you wish to keep the sun out of your wine, or maybe you intend to hide your cheap wine from fancy guests. Maybe you're having a blind tasting. You can buy kits online or you can make a few for yourself with all the colors and designs you could ever wish for.

Lets get started!

Pick a Fabric

For this application I picked a Merlot colored linen. Our wine tasting parties generally include some red wines, so it was important to pick a color that could be dripped on and not show stains. This particular fabric was purchased from a discount retailer online, but you could use remnants or any fabric you find in a store that you like.

Pick a Tie Ribbon

I used 1/4 inch satin ribbons for this occasion in a variety of colors. These ribbons were a multi-pack from amazon, but you should pick ribbons that match your purpose. The key is to enjoy the end result.

Measure Materials

The fabric should be a 13 inch square. The picture shows 14-1 for clarity. Don't worry if the edges are not perfect, clearly mine weren't.

The ribbon needs to be approximately 22 inches long. Longer is fine, but shorter will leave you wanting.

Fold and Pin

Decide which edge will be the top of your bag. Fold the first inch or so over and pin it in place. Remember at this point you want the inside of the bag to be facing up and the outside, nice side, of the bag to be folded over. This seam allowance and cut edge will be inside the finished bag.

Sew It Into Place

Run this edge through your sewing machine or stitch by hand. Use whatever stitch makes you happy. I used a basic strait stitch for ease and speed. I put my stitch line approximately half an inch in from the edge, giving me ample room on either side of the line and some wiggle room while sewing.

Choose the Tie

Pick the ribbon you wish to use for your tie. I used a different color ribbon for each bag.

Stage and Tack

Flip the bag so that the outside is facing up. Fold your ribbon in half and place it approximately two inches down from the top edge of your bag. Use a pin to secure it so it doesn't move while you are sewing. Make sure to place the pin far enough in that it won't get stuck in your machine. This pin is around two inches in from the edge and 1.5 inches from the stitch line.

Gently place the ends of the ribbon down onto the body of the bag to avoid accidentally stitching it into your side seams.

Fold and Pin

Fold your bag over on itself. Make sure your top seam is still on top and line all of the edges up as close as you can. Make sure your ribbon shows where it will be tacked but is not in any other part of the stitch line. Pin the bag to keep it in place for sewing.

Final Stitches

Sew the long side and bottom down with the same stitch you used for the top seam. This will not be very visible so it is advisable to use a flat stitch if you used something decorative on top. The seam allowance here is just around a half inch, so try to get it strait but don't stress. This is the inside of your bag and will hide small crimes. Be sure to remove the pins as you sew and do a few reverse stitches on each end of the seam to anchor the line.

Turn Your Bag Inside In

All of the seams should be on the inside now and your bag should be nearly completed.

Pull the anchor pin from the tie ribbon.

Repeat As Many Times As Desired

After the fabric is cut these bags took me five minutes or less to assemble. Make a bunch and have a party!

Have some friends over. Enjoy some wine in cute bags. Relish the new clothing for your liquor.

Note*

One of those bottles in the picture is a bottle of rum. Most bottles in the 750ml range with a shape similar to a standard wine bottle will fit in these bags. If you should need a bag for a taller bottle, make the fabric taller (ex. 15"x13"). If you wish to put a fatter bottle in the bag cut the fabric wider (ex. 13"x15"). These are endlessly customizable!