Christmas wine bags and other gifts

My husband has to give some coworkers a little something for Christmas, and I couldn't just let him buy a simple bottle of wine for each of them.  OH NO.  I needed to pipe up and volunteer to make some cute wine bags to make that present a little cooler.  (What I really needed to do was keep my mouth shut and focus on sewing presents for people I actually know and love.  But I did have fun making these, I promise.)

The first couple I made based on a fun little tutorial for "Wine Jackets" from the awesomely named blog Clever Charlotte.  When I made the black one I strayed from the tutorial a bit (because I was too lazy to reopen it and I tried to wing it) and that's why that zipper is a little wonky.  I doubt anyone but me would have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out though.  (I think they might need some charms dangling from the zipper pulls if the recipients of these wine jackets will be women.  I'll have to check with Corey to see who is getting which ones.)

For the next two, I used the Quilted Wine Tote tutorial from Needle and Spatula.  I strayed from the tutorial in only one way -- I used only one layer of fusible fleece instead of two layers of traditional batting.  I took her recommendation to cut the pieces slightly narrower to get a tighter fit on the wine bottle, and they turned out great.  I think these are my two favorites of the bunch.  Binding that tight opening at the top of the bag was a bit challenging though!  If I made one of these for myself (which I would like to do once the Christmas present sewing madness if over) I would make it a little bigger (to the original specifications in the tutorial) so it would fit any type of wine or champagne bottle.

For the next three, I used a simpler tutorial from Ellison Lane for a Wine Bottle Bag.  I originally thought that there was binding around the top, but it turned out that it was just the lining showing where you folded it over to finish off the raws edges at the top.  I love it -- the binding effect without the headache of actually binding!  So perfect.  The green and black ones in the background were sewn exactly to the specs of the tutorial.  For the green striped one in the foreground, I added a layer of fusible fleece to the exterior (minus a bit at the top where it was going to be folded over at the end) and I love that one the best.  The others are nice, but the padded one feels a bit more substantial and looks fancier.  I also put the ribbon for that one a tad lower and I like that look better.

For some of the various teachers in my children's lives, I sewed some matching tissue pack covers and Chapstick holder keychains.  (I also made one more of the Chapstick holders for my friend, Ivette, to give to her daughter's teacher, but I forgot to photograph that one before I gave it to her.)

I completely neglected to post about the original Chapstick holder I sewed for myself last month.  In this dry midwest winter, I am completely addicted to lip balm.  It looks rather adorable alongside my Michigan State Police bottle opener gun that my sweet friend, Kym, gave me when she worked there.  Nothing says class like a gun bottle opener on your keychain, right?  Hee hee.  The Chapstick stays in that little pocket surprisingly well, so this may become one of my go-to quick gifts to make for other women on my list this Christmas.