Last Minute Trick or Treat Bag (with grommets!)

Can you believe Halloween is this week??  If you’re a last-minute person, it’s time to start getting ready 🙂  I’ve got you covered with this fun Last Minute Trick or Treat Bag – and the fun grommet handles.  If you’ve never used grommets, you should try it – SO easy, way easier than you probably think.

Fun, and super easy – you can make one in less than 30 minutes.  And you can customize it – with an initial (like I did) or to match a costume.  And you get to choose how big or small to make it (my daughter requested “big, to hold ALL the candy from trick-or-treating).

Let’s get started -you’ll need the following supplies (I grabbed mine at JoAnn and they provided supplies for this project – all opinions are my own)

—  main fabric – about a half a yard, but it depends on the size of your bag

–accent fabric – I grabbed a 1/4 yard of both the green and the white, and had lots left over

–cording for the handles (I found this silver in the trimmings section)

–grommet kit (they’re over by the curtain stuff)

First prep for the personalized part – you can for sure skip this detail if you want.  I used a bowl to trace and then cut out a circle:

Then I freehanded an initial on the white and cut that out as well:

You have a couple of options when you sew the appliques on – – for a more true applique, you can zig zag around the edge.  I used a straight stitch which means the very edge can fray over time, but that’s what I wanted to go for on this project.  You sew the letter on top of the circle, and then sew the circle on top of the bag piece.

So with the actual bag, you cut 2 rectangles the size you want the bag.  Then sew them together on the bottom and sides, with right sides of the fabric together.  I also sewed the bottom corners (I think it’s called a box corner) like shown below to give the bag a little bit of a bottom to it.

Now, the fun part – grommets!  Along the top edge, turn the bag under about 1/2 inch and then again about 3 inches (or wide enough that the grommet will fit in that space.  When you open your grommet pack, you’ll notice there are two types of pieces – the one with the edge is the top and the one with the spikes is the bottom.

The kit comes with a template – you place it where you want the gromment and trace and cut.  Yep, that’s it.

Then you set the top grommet over the top of the hole and the bottom on the underneath side, then just push them together.

That’s all there is to it.  The grommet encapsulates all the raw edges, and makes for a really nice, finished hole, with minimal effort.  Perfect.

 

To make the handles I just threaded the cord through the hole and tied it in a knot.  I secured the ends with some tape so they wouldn’t fray.

  

For other fun Halloween DIY last-minute projects, be sure to check out the Project Gallery hub at JoAnn and on social media via the hashtag #DIY4Halloween