Meg's Secret Santa Bag

So I put my santa hat on my head and searched the internet for a bag pattern that I liked and thought would be handy for Meg. After much searching I came across a blog that had this shopping bag tutorial. For the life of me I can't find the blog now. This is a bit frustrating because I wanted to pop the link up for you all to see.

The basic steps for this bag are:

1.) Choose two fabrics. One for the lining and one for the exterior. Wash and iron fabrics.
2.) Work out how big you would like the bag to be and cut the fabric up so that you have two pieces the same size in each print (ending up with 4 rectangles in total). Pin all four pieces of fabric together then fold it in half.
3.) Now for the handles, you want to make them double the width that you would like them to be at the end. Get your scissors and cut your handle shape out.
4.) Get one of the lining pieces and one of the exterior pieces. Pin the exterior fabric piece and the lining piece right sides together. Then sew the "U" shape together. Make sure you don't sew all the way to the top. I left about an inch. Then sew the outside parts together making sure to leave about an inch from the top. Turn right side out and iron pieces flat.
5.) Repeat step 4 with the two remaining pieces. You should end up with two pieces.
6.) Place both exterior pieces right side together. Move the lining pieces out of the way so all you can see is the wrong side of the exterior fabric. Pin these together and then sew them.
7.) Push the exterior pieces out of the way and sew the lining together. When you fold both pieces outwards you shouldn't see any visible edges. They should be all hidden on the inside.
8.) Next I had to pull the lining out flat so both the Exterior and the lining make one big rectangle (right sides facing each other for both fabrics). Sew along the side edges of both the lining and the fabric. Now all you have to do is turn the entire bag right side out. The lining will end up on the inside and you will see no seams.
9.) This is where you make the gusset by folding the handles in half. Far outside bits fold in and under. Then like a shopping bag poke the sides inwards until you get a nice straight, flat side on your bag. Pin the handle in place and the bottom to hold it all together.
10.) You now need to sew a french seam to close the bag. To do this sew across the bottom of your bag making sure you catch the gussets in your seam. I then had to trim my seam allowance as close as possible. Turn the bag inside out and sew across the bottom encasing the seam allowance.
11.) After turning the bag the right way out I sewed 2 buttons onto the handles to fix the handles. You could just sew them together though.

So that's how I made Meg's SS present and this is how it turned out.