The Witch's Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018

Create a Treasure Bag for Self-Care
Mental and Emotional Self-Care

Some of the spells in this book will suggest that you carry stones, small pouches, written things, and so forth with you. It might get a bit unwieldy having all those things lurking at the bottom of your briefcase or backpack. Why not make a treasure bag for them, a pouch that serves as a master container for all the magical self-care odds and ends?

Self-Care Treasure Bag

You can use any kind of fabric you like for this treasure bag, but avoid really light fabrics like chiffon or gauze. You can scale the size up or down too. This version makes a pouch roughly 7" × 4".

What You Need:

♦ 2 rectangles of fabric, approximately 8" × 10" each

♦ Sewing straight pins

♦ Scissors

♦ Sewing needle and thread (color of your choice)

♦ Iron and ironing board

♦ Strip of ribbon, about 8" long (approximately ¹/₄" wide)

What to Do:

1. Place the two rectangles of fabric right sides together, lining up the edges. Pin the layers of fabric together along the two longer sides. Cut one of the short ends of the rectangles into a shallow point, about 1" deep; this will be the flap of the pouch. Pin the edges of this closed as well.

2. Sew the two long sides and the point closed with a running stitch, leaving about a ¹/₄" seam allowance.

3. Turn the pouch inside out.

4. Iron the seams. Fold about ¹/₂" of the open end to the inside all around and iron that as well. Pin the opening together. Sew the open end closed with a running stitch.

5. Fold the bottom up, lining up the corners just under where the angle of the flap begins. Pin in place, and sew up the sides.

6. Cut the ribbon into two equal pieces. On the inside of the point, sew one end of a piece of ribbon. Fold the flap down and make note of where the point rests against the front of the pouch. About an inch below that, sew the end of the second piece of ribbon.

7. To use, slip your magical self-care objects inside. Tie closed with the ribbons.

Tips:

♦ If you have a sewing machine, you can use it instead of hand-sewing the seams.

♦ You can use fabric paint to decorate your pouch, or add iron-on or sew-on patches, or sew pretty buttons on it. A decorative button on the point of the flap will cover any stitches that show through from sewing on the ribbon.

♦ You can draw magical symbols on it, too, to reinforce health, protection, or other areas. Check out my book Protection Spells for ideas!