Wrapping paper is torn open and thrown away in four seconds. A crochet gift bag is part of the present, gets reused every December after that, and costs a skein. These 33 free patterns cover the whole job — bags and sacks to put the gift in, bows, tags and toppers to finish it, and jar and bottle covers for the edible gifts. Every one is written out in full on the designer's own page.
Work the bags in cotton if they need to hold a shape and acrylic if they need to be cheap; both wash. Sizes and skill levels are noted throughout. New to any of the stitches? The crochet abbreviations list has them, and the hook size guide converts letters to millimetres.
Drawstring gift bags
The default. Make a batch in one weekend and you will not buy gift bags again.
Star Stitch Drawstring Pouch — B.Hooked Crochet. A 4 by 6.5 inch pouch in decorative star stitch, 16 rounds, medium weight yarn on a 5.5mm hook. Intermediate.
Gracie Gift Bag — Crafting Each Day. A lacy thistle stitch of shells and v-stitches, about 13 inches around and 6.5 inches tall, in 60 yards of worsted. Intermediate.
V-Stitch Gift Bag — Pine Tree Crochet. Seven inches tall, worsted on an H/5mm hook, and the designer clocks it at about 30 minutes. Beginner.
Noel Gift Bag — The Crochet Village. A small drawstring pouch with a double-layered top and picot edging, in sport weight. Easy.
Basic Drawstring Pouch — Viv Crochets. Plain double crochet, medium weight, no shaping to speak of. The one to teach a beginner on. Beginner.
Striped Round-Base Gift Bag — Simply Melanie Jane. A 3.5 inch round base rising to 4 or 5 inches, in worsted cotton with treble-crochet texture and colour-block stripes. Advanced beginner.
Santa sacks and Christmas bags
Santa Gift Bag — Maria's Blue Crayon. A 4 by 6 inch drawstring bag in colour-blocked rounds with an embroidered belt buckle. Worsted. Beginner.
Santa Sack Gift Bags in 3 Sizes — Sunflower Cottage Crochet. Small, medium and large, from 2.5 inches up to a proper 11 inch sack, with a textured granule-stitch cuff. DK on a 4mm hook. Confident beginner.
Mini Santa Sack — Hooked On Patterns. Worked in the round from a magic ring with simple increases and a chain-space edging, sized as a stocking filler in its own right. Beginner.
Snowflake Gift Bag — The Crochet Village. Tapestry crochet puts a snowflake on the front of a sport weight drawstring pouch, with an optional silver thread accent. Beginner.
Wine bottle bags and bottle toppers
The host gift, solved. A bottle wrapped like this needs nothing else.
Merry Berry Wine Bottle Holder — The Crochet Village. A textured cluster stitch in worsted cotton, and about two hours start to finish. Beginner.
Wine Bottle Bag — Lovable Loops. Twelve inches tall, sized for a standard 750ml bottle, basic stitches throughout. Beginner.
Brighton Wine Bottle Gift Bag — Pretty Darn Adorable. Chunky yarn with a faux-fur trim, 6 by 12 inches flat, full stitch counts through the finishing. Easy.
Popcorn Stitch Wine Bottle Bag — Goddess Crochet. Two colours and popcorn bobbles, written out over 42 rounds with a drawstring closure. Easy.
Christmas Tree Wine Topper — Spotted Horse Design Co. A bobble-stitch tree in super bulky yarn that sits over the neck of the bottle. Nineteen rounds, stitch definitions included. Intermediate.
Corkscrew Gnome Bottle Topper — Hooked by Kati, hosted by Oombawka Design Crochet. A gnome with a loop-stitch beard that caps the bottle. Worsted acrylic. Easy to intermediate.
Jar covers and cozies for edible gifts
Jam, cocoa mix, cookies in a jar — this is the wrapping.
Drawstring Mason Jar Cozy — Underground Crafter. Fits a quart jar, about 12.5 inches around and 6.25 inches tall, in medium weight cotton or denim yarn. Easy.
Mason Jar Cover in 3 Sizes — Oombawka Design Crochet. Joined rounds in worsted on a 3.5mm hook, given for 3, 3.75 and 4.5 inch jar diameters with full stitch counts. Easy.
Heart Jar Cozy — Hooked On Patterns. A heart motif on a single and half double crochet cozy, with the increase notation explained inline. The dressier option.
Mason Jar Lid Cover — Jo to the World Creations. A pint-jar lid topper in single and double crochet, worked in the round in about 30 minutes. Easy.
Mason Jar Cover — Dreamee Crochet. About 59 yards of DK cotton for a small 8.5oz jar, with notes on resizing for other jars. Beginner to intermediate.
Basket-style containers
For the gifts that will not go in a bag — a bundle of soaps, a set of ornaments, a small hamper.
Christmas Basket — Jo to the World Creations. Five inches wide by 3.5 tall, in worsted with a bulky trim and a belt-buckle accent. Easy.
Christmas Basket — Carroway Crochet. A firm holiday basket sized for small wrapped gifts, candy or ornaments, written out in full on the designer's site.
Bows and ribbons
Happy Bow — Sandra Stitches. A 4 inch bow in nothing but single crochet and chains, fingering or light weight on a 3.5mm hook. Under 30 minutes. Easy.
Crochet Gift Bow — Julie Measures. Seven strips of different lengths, blocked and stitched into a stacked bow. Photo-guided assembly. Beginner to intermediate.
Easy Crochet Bow — Ambassador Crochet. A 3 inch bow in worsted cotton, mixing basic stitches for texture. The free version is single-size. Beginner.
Toppers, tags and ties
The details that make a plain bag look finished.
Mini Christmas Wreath — MJ's Off the Hook Designs. A curly-Q wreath in worsted with a twine bow and wooden beads. Ties to a parcel or hangs on the tree. Beginner.
Crochet Holly Leaf — Hookok. A leaf and three berries in chain, single crochet and slip stitch only, on a 2mm hook. About 20 minutes each. Beginner.
Crochet Poinsettia — Desert Blossom Crafts. A 2.5 inch poinsettia in worsted, sized specifically as a package topper, with photo and video support. Beginner to intermediate.
Christmas Gift Tag and Star Ornament — LillaBjörn's Crochet World. A paper-backed crochet tag plus a matching puff-stitch star, in sport or fingering scraps on a 2.5mm hook. Under 2g of yarn per tag. Beginner to intermediate.
Crochet Gift Tags — Sweet Bee Crochet. A three-round tag about 2.5 inches across, in worsted cotton on a 4mm hook, in about 15 minutes. Includes a flower accent and personalising tips. Beginner.
Stitchy Gift Tags — Fiber Flux. A 3 by 3.5 inch rectangle tag on an H hook, embellished with stripes, embroidery or appliqués. Doubles as an ornament. Beginner.
Leaf Cable Tie — Supergurumi. An 11.5cm leaf on an adjustable stem, in sport weight cotton on a 2.5mm hook. A plastic-free ribbon tie that the recipient keeps. Intermediate.
How much yarn, and how far ahead to start
A small drawstring pouch takes 40 to 60 yards, a wine bottle bag 80 to 120, and a large Santa sack 150 to 200. One 200-yard worsted skein is roughly four small bags, or one sack, or a dozen bows and tags. Buy the bag yarn in one dye lot if the set should match.
Bags are the slow part of this list and toppers are the fast part, so plan them differently. Start the sacks and bottle bags in early November — a large sack is an evening each — and leave the bows, tags and holly leaves for the week you actually wrap, when they take 20 minutes apiece in front of the television.
Cotton keeps its shape and takes a crease, which matters for tags, envelopes and anything flat. Acrylic is softer and cheaper for sacks and pouches, and it survives being stuffed in a box for eleven months. The yarn weights guide has the substitution chart.
Frequently asked questions
Is a crochet gift bag actually cheaper than wrapping paper? Not the first year. It is cheaper by the third, because the bag comes back out every December while paper is binned in seconds. Made in acrylic from a multipack, a small bag costs about a dollar in yarn.
What size bag do I need? Measure the gift and add an inch in each direction. A 4 by 6 inch pouch suits jewellery, candles and small toys; a 6 inch base by 11 inch tall sack takes a jumper or a boxed gift. Most of these patterns resize by adding rounds to the base and rows to the sides.
Can I put a crochet bag through the wash? Yes, if it is acrylic or cotton — wash cool and lay flat to dry. Reshape a cotton bag while it is damp so the base stays flat.
What do I use for the drawstring? A crocheted chain, an i-cord, ribbon or plain twine all work. Twine looks best on the Santa sacks; a chain in the bag's own yarn is the tidiest.
More holiday making: the stocking stuffer patterns under $5 to fill these bags, the gift card holder patterns for the flat gifts, the gifts you can crochet in one weekend, and the wine cork trivets and cork crafts if the bottle bags gave you ideas.
