*Tutorial for personal use only. Boxwood design (c) Daisy Janie 2009. Bird motif borrowed from Microsoft clip art.
Necessity is the mother of invention, right? This project definitely has roots in that philosophy. When we were invited to a last-minute party in December, I realized I didn't have any ribbons or gift bags to dress-up a bottle of wine we were taking along for the hosts. Very quickly, I printed out one of my surface designs onto cardstock & whipped out a similar winebag. It worked & looked great! I've used the idea a few times since then - it's so much fun to see the results each time! This one in particular was a gift for Alex McCarty for her grand opening of Hello Bluebird last week (hence, the birdie and turquoise/red palette). BTW, the opening was a huge success, and we are so lucky to have her risk-taking, creative chutzpah in our little town!
Supplies:
- 4 pieces of 8.5" x 11" cardstock (2 patterned, 2 plain)
- 8 large grommets & grommet press (handheld will work)
- 2.5 yds twill tape or grosgrain (for each color used); at least 1/2-5/8" width
- bottle of wine/champagne
Above:
1) Holding a piece of your cardstock in a portrait orientation, place the bottle on the top or bottom edge (in the middle) and mark on both sides of the bottle, using your pencil width as a spacer. OR simply, mark 2" from the center of your paper on each side.
2) Transfer those marks to the other 3 sheets of cardstock as shown.
3) Fold & crease at marks on all 4 sheets, patterned side out.
Above:
4) Standing pieces upright, square up the edges of the plain pieces and the patterned pieces so that each pair forms a square at the top. (Plain sheets go inside the patterned sheets.) To lessen the chance of slippage for the next step, you can use a few pieces of double-sided tape to make sure the corners stay matched-up. Just make sure the tape is not visible.
5) Bird's-eye view of matched-up edges & corners of each pair. Make sure the openings of the patterned sheets are not in sync with the openings of the interior plain sheets; rotate them a quarter-turn if they are.
Above:
6) Mark the centerpoint 1" from each edge, on all 4 sides, top and bottom. You should have 8 marks altogether. Install grommets at each mark.
Above:
7) A few different views of what your winebag should look like once all the grommets are in place.
Above:
8) Cut ribbon into two (2) 45" lengths. One at time, thread the ribbon as shown, with loose ends on top and a criss-cross of the ribbons on the bottom.
Above:
9) Gather ends of ribbon and tie in a tight knot - pulling to make sure it's not going anywhere.
10) Place bottle inside. Check to see that your criss-cross on the bottom is centered. Add a little tissue to the bottom & top if you prefer. (You could probably throw a dab of hot glue or a whipstitch in the criss-cross for more security.) Done!
While this is a super cool and downright dandy idea, I would not advise swinging it like a lasso or letting children carry it who cannot resist testing the laws of centrifugal force when holding something with a handle.
Please let me know if you try this! I'd love to see how it turns out.
