When Young Enterprise company ‘The Little Bag Of…’ got in touch to tell us about the project they were working on with Laura Ashley fabric we jumped at the chance to feature them on our blog.
‘The Little Bag Of…’ is a Young Enterprise company run by 17 6th Form (12th grade) students at the Lakes School in Windermere, England. Young Enterprise is a national charity, founded in 1962 and operates with the aim of empowering young people and helping them to realize their full potential.
‘The Little Bag Of…’ team saw a gap in the market and decided to use their skills and expand business by producing wedding favour bags. The students needed to pick fabrics for these bags and looked no further than the Laura Ashley range for the high quality and beautiful patterns and colours. They thought that these fabrics could be used to personalize any wedding theme. They were also hugely inspired by The Laura Ashley Belsfield Hotel, situated only 5 minutes from their school. ‘The Little Bag Of…’ has so far had an amazing response and were also lucky enough to present their product to Princess Anne on her recent visit to The Lake District!
Just follow these simple steps to start off wedding season in style. The wide range of Laura Ashley fabrics means that you can find a design that matches any wedding theme, personalized for your perfect day.
You will need:
- Scissors
- Lining Fabric
- Pencil
- Pins
- Thread
- Outside fabric (we chose ‘Tuileries Cranberry’ but choose from any of our fabrics)
- Cream ribbon
Step 1
Cut out two pieces of plain cotton for the lining and two pieces of Laura Ashley fabric for the outside of the bag.
Step 2
Repeat the same for the liners.
Step 3
Put these two pieces of fabric ‘nice sides’ together.
Mark on the edge at least 2 inches down from the top. This will leave enough space to put the ribbon through at the end. Sew around the edges, leaving a little extra material on each side of the bag.
Step 4
Now repeat the same with the liner.
Step 5
Cut diagonally across the two bottom corners, on both the liners and the Laura Ashley Fabric.
Step 6
Trim any extra material.
Step 7
Fold in the edges that were left loose at the top of the bag, as if you are hemming them down. You must do this for each half of the bag. Repeat this for the lining.
Step 8
Now turn the fabric inside out so the ‘nice’ sides are facing outwards.
Step 9
Insert the lining.
Step 10
Sew close along the top edge of the pieces just enough to hold them together.
Step 11
Now turn over the top edges of both pieces together, as though you are hemming the top edge. Keep this fold quite small as you will need to turn it over again so that the final ribbon can be pulled through.
Step 12
Now turn over again, as far as you can. Sew along this edge.
Step 13
Thread the ribbon into one side of the bag, turn and thread back down the opposite side. Repeat this process on the other side.
Step 14
Cut the ribbon to the required length and knot the ends to secure them.
Step 15
Voila! The favour bag is complete. Add your favours.
Don’t these bags looks amazing? We’re really impressed – thanks so much for sharing! Don’t forget to follow ‘The Little Bag Of…’ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see how their project carries on.
