Duck Tape® Reversible Gift Bag

This post brought to you by Duck Brand®. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love gettin' crafty with different kinds of products, and I have a fun share for you today from Duck® Brand Duck Tape®!  This little gift bag is made entirely of Holiday Duck Tape® (with the addition of my ribbon closure).  It's reversible and reusable, too!

If you sew – you will find the pattern to be fairly self-explanatory, and you can make up this little bag in about 15-20 minutes.  If you haven't ever made a bag, budget a little more time to familiarize yourself with the corner-making process.  It's not hard at all, but it can be a little confusing your first time.  

What you will need: 

• Holiday Duck Tape®
• Scissors
• Hole Punch and Ribbon (to close it)
• Bag Pattern (and optional marker to trace it out)

First – create your pattern.  Take a 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, and cut 2" off the top, and 2" squares off the bottom corners.  You can do some adjusting to your dimensions, but just make sure the square corners that you cut away are indeed square.  (If they are off by a little – that's okay, because Duck Tape® is really forgiving… you can always add more for gaps in your seams, or tape together anything that overlaps a little!)

Now, make your Duck Tape® sheets.  You can actually make anything with Duck Tape® that you would normally sew with a stiff fabric – yes, really!  You just need to stick enough of it together to make a sheet, and instead of sewing, you just Duck Tape® your seams together!

First, tear off strips wide enough to accommodate your pattern.  Stick them together, edge to edge, overlapping slightly.  When your sheet is big enough to trace your pattern, then do the same thing on the other side.  Face the sticky sides of the tape together.  I used 2 different colors so my bag would be reversible.  

You will need to make 2 of these – they will join together to make your bag.  Now, trace out your pattern with a permanent marker on each.  (The line won't matter because you will be taping over it.)  Cut out your 2 pieces.

Join the pieces together at the bottoms (the side with the notches cut out) with tape.  

Now, you are going to form your corners.  Make a diagonal fold so that the notch edges line up, like so.

Tape it.  Do the same with the other side.  If you find your sides don't quite join or they overlap – that's okay!  

You can fix the side seam with tape, if necessary.  You can see I ended up with a bit of a gap.  

Once you've taped up one of the sides, form the corners and sides on the other side of the bag, and tape the other side as well.

You should now have something that resembles a square-shaped bag!  So now, we just need to fix up the inside of the bag.  So turn it inside out, and tape along the seams with your coordinating tape.  

I just trimmed the overlap with scissors.  You could also add some coordinating trim along the top, if you like!  Anytime a seam looks a little rough, you can just patch it with more Duck Tape®.

Next, you'll need a closure (or handle, if you prefer).  You can get elaborate and cut away a pair of holes, but I opted to go the easy route and just used a hole punch to create my ribbon holes.  It doesn't really matter exactly where you position them as long as they are equally-spaced from the top and from your edges. 

Now, add your gift inside, and thread your ribbon through the holes.  

Tie it in front, and you are ready to gift!  If you want more traditional gift bag handles instead, cut two equal lengths of ribbon, and thread them through the holes, double- or triple- knotting the ends so that they are secure.  

This season, you can have something uniquely packaged and totally reusable that will get people talking!  

For more ideas – be sure to check out the Duck® Brand Facebook page and become a fan!  What kinds of crafts have you made with Duck® Brand tapes?  I'd love to hear about them!