DIY Craft: Personalized Santa Bag

I saw a really cute customized "Santa Bag" on Pinterest a while back and looked into buying one. The one I found ran between $50 - $100, which was a little too pricey for me. So I looked into Etsy, and there are some cute ones on there as well for around $30 - $50. Which now, after completing this project, doesn't seem so unreasonable. The ones you can buy are normally screen-printed, but I completed this project with the new Sharpie Stained fabric markers. They have a fine tip which was perfect for the small details.

Here's what I used:
• 1 large canvas drawstring laundry bag I got on Amazon for $11
• 3 Sharpie Stained Markers (about $2 each - 2 red and 1 black)
• Artist's graphite transfer paper (I already had this, but a pack of 20 sheets is around $9)

Steps:
1. Print out your design you would like to use. I designed mine in Adobe Illustrator and printed it out on several sheets of paper (since the overall bag is 24" x 36") and taped them together to recreate my large design. If you're feeling bold, you can freehand your design or use stencils.

2. Use your transfer paper underneath your design (the graphite side goes down onto your fabric - practice if you've never used this before), and trace your design using a ball point pen so the design will transfer onto the fabric. When you're done, you will have a pencil outline on your fabric. You can find out more information about using transfer paper HERE.

3. Simply fill in the outline with the sharpie fabric markers. It's just like a coloring book :).

Tips:
* You may want to wash and iron your laundry bag before use - just in case it shrinks. There were also several wrinkles in my fabric I didn't think about before I started and had to work around them when I was using my fabric pens. Next time I will iron first!
* When using the fabric markers, use a piece of cardboard inside the laundry bag to make sure your ink doesn't bleed through to the other side.

I'd love to see finished products if you do this project!