Valentine’s gift bag with embroidery

02 February 2026
7 Minutes to read

Posted by

02 February 2026
7 Minutes to read

Surprise someone special this Valentine’s day with a self-made gift bag.

This project employs all three of your Brother crafting machines: use your embroidery machine to embroider the images, your ScanNCut to cut the pieces for the cute little bag and your Brother sewing machine to sew the bag together.

Don’t have a Brother embroidery machine? Cut out the Valentine’s gift bag pieces with your ScanNCut and sew together with your Brother sewing machine.

Don’t have a Brother ScanNCut? Embroider the felt bag pieces and cut by hand using the PDF files, then sew together using your sewing machine.

We’ve provided three free Valentine’s embroidery designs, so choose the one that illustrates your feelings the most – or why not make all three?

Download embroidery patterns here

Download cutting files for bag here

Download PDF file for bag pattern here

Materials needed

Felt: for each bag you will need three sheets of A4 size each. Have fun mixing and matching colours!
Machine embroidery thread and bobbin thread
Fabric scraps for appliqué: approximately 20 x 20cm each or two shades or patterns
Tearaway stabiliser
Top stitching thread: use any machine thread that is a little thicker than normal sewing thread. I used variegated thread for a fun effect.
Quilting weight cotton fabric: equivalent of three A4-size sheets for each bag
Brother Iron-On Fabric Appliqué Contact Sheet: one roll is sufficient for two bags

Equipment needed

Brother embroidery machine
Brother sewing machine
Brother ScanNCut machine – any DX model - with rotary blade attachment
Low tack cutting mat
Iron and ironing surface
Curved appliqué scissors
Pins and fabric clips
Hand sewing needle

Notes

Finished size of bag: 19cm high, 15cm wide and 6cm deep.
Embroideries will all fit in a 10 x 10cm frame.

3 pink embroidery and appliqué Valentine’s envelopes

How to

Step 1

Download the Valentine’s envelope embroidery patterns and transfer them to your Brother embroidery machine.

Step 2

Stabilise a sheet of felt with tearaway stabiliser and hoop. Load the embroidery frame into your Brother embroidery machine and follow the prompts for the appliqué and for the embroidery. Place the embroidery in the bottom one third of the felt sheet.

Tip: if you need a refresher on how to appliqué on your embroidery machine, click here to read our guide on how to use a digitised appliqué pattern.

Embroidery frame with Valentine's embroidery on peach felt

Step 3

Remove the embroidered felt from the frame, tear off the stabiliser and press the felt and embroidery.

Step 4

Cut three A4-sized pieces of cotton fabric and Brother Fabric Appliqué Contact Sheet.

Fuse each piece of contact sheet to the wrong side of a piece of cotton fabric.

Peel the backing off and then fuse one piece to the wrong side of the embroidered piece of felt. Fuse the other two pieces to a sheet of blank felt each.

peach felt with contact sheet, white cotton and iron

Step 5

If you’ll use your Brother ScanNCut to cut your felt pieces, follow steps 5 – 7.

If you’ll cut the felt pieces by hand, download the PDF, cut the relevant pieces and skip to Step 8.

Download the Valentine’s gift bag cutting file and transfer it to your ScanNCut. Save the file to your machine and then delete the three rectangular pieces, leaving just the gift bag cutting data.

Adhere the embroidered piece of felt to the cutting mat with the embroidery facing upwards.

embroidered peach felt on Brother ScanNCut cutting mat

Step 6

Load the Low Tack Mat into the ScanNCut machine. Scan the mat and position the bag piece over the embroidery.

Brother ScanNCut screen showing bag cutting line potion

Step 7

Set the cut pressure to 8 and proceed to cut the bag piece.

Cut another gift bag piece from the blank fused felt and fabric piece.

Call up the original design you saved on your machine and delete the bag cutting pattern (leaving just the rectangles).

Cut the three rectangle gusset pieces from the remaining piece of blank felt and fabric that has been fused.

Heart embroidered peach felt bag sewing pattern pieces

Step 8

On your sewing machine, change the bobbin and needle thread to a top stitching thread.

Increase the stitch length to 3.

On both Valentine’s gift bag pieces, top stitch around the top edge of the bag and around the inner and outer edges of the handle.

Blue and peach felt gift bag handles with top stitching

Step 9

Sew the gusset pieces together: lay the first two pieces with cotton fabric sides facing and all sides aligned. Sew across one short side, 5mm from the edge. Start and stop 5mm from the sides and tie off securely at the start and end.

Join the third gusset piece to this piece to form a long piece consisting of three gusset pieces, joined with two seams.

Three cream rectangle felt pieces sewn together in line

Step 10

Assemble the bag: lay the gusset piece flat on the table with the cotton fabric facing up. At the first join, fold the middle piece at 45° and pin it.

Printed fabric strip on grey and peach background

Step 11

Match the Valentine’s gift bag side to this piece, cotton fabric sides facing and the unsewn end of the gusset at the top of the bag.

Pin and sew from the top to 5mm from the end of the first gusset piece. (The end of this seam will meet exactly with the point where the seam joining the two gusset pieces ends.) Tie off securely, leaving long tails of bobbin and needle thread at the start and end.

Printed and felt strips on grey background

Step 12

Match the edge of the second (middle) gusset piece to the bottom edge of the bag. Fold the ends at 45° and sew across – starting and ending 5mm from the corners. Tie off securely at the start and end.

Rectangle cream felt bag gusset piece held with clips

Step 13

Match the last side of the bag to the last gusset piece, fold the corner of the gusset and sew as before.

Felt gift bag gusset pieces with sewing clips and lines

Step 14

Attach the second bag piece to the open sides of the gusset in the same way as above. Tie all loose threads and carefully bury the ends between the layers of the fabric and felt.

Add a little gift and you’re ready to send this to the one you love – will you send it anonymously?

We can’t wait to see what you make! Remember to tag in Brother on Instagram and Facebook so we can share your makes and inspire others. Want more inspiration? You can follow Brother on Pinterest and YouTube too.