How to Sew a Drawstring Bag

Got a bunch of scraps you don’t know what to do with? Then you need to know how to sew a drawstring bag. This free drawstring bag pattern will give you an easy way to turn your scrap pile into something useful.

There’s a PDF of this tutorial available for sale in my shop right here.

I’ve been trying to wrap gifts in fabric whenever we have a birthday to reduce the amount of paper we use. Once the celebration is over I fold all the fabric up and put it back in my stash again. Christmas can be a little more difficult because all 4 kids need presents at the same time and I don’t have enough red and green fabric.

I pondered my scrap pile the other day and the idea came to me to make some large-ish patchwork gift bags, to make it easier to wrap things (and reduce my dependence on disposable ribbon to hold the parcel together).

So how about we sew a drawstring bag together? Ready? Let’s go!

Choose Your Bag Fabrics

For these photos I’ll be sewing the bag from some yardage I had in my stash.

But really, you can sew these bags with any fabric you have lying around. I sewed one with some patchwork panels made from scraps:

And I sewed one with a half-used fat quarter (padded out with some side strips):

And I sewed one from left over jolly roll strips:

All you have to do is keep sewing things together until you reach the required outer bag panel size. (6 jelly roll strips will do the job for a bag outer.)

For the lining I prefer to use wholecloth, but you could absolutely piece the lining together. I actually find it a great way to use up whole fabrics that I’ve had for ages. I do have some fabric that is hard to match with others, or that I don’t really like that much (perils of internet ordering). As the lining isn’t really seen, it’s a great place to put these types of fabrics to good use.

For the top of the outer bag you will be sewing a strip for the drawstring channel. I do recommend you use a wholecloth piece here. Having too many seams inside the channel can make it harder to pull the drawstring closed. But again, it’s not a deal breaker.

Cut/Patchwork the Required Drawstring Bag Pieces

This is what you’ll need to sew one drawstring fabric gift bag:

• (2) outer panels (fabric or patchwork) 12½” x 14½”
• (2) outer bag channel strips 2½” x 12½”
• (2) lining panels 12¼” x 16¼”
• 48″ length of grosgrain ribbon* for drawstring – or a jolly roll strip (2½” x 42″). Ribbon around ¾” to 1″ in width will work nicely.

Sew the Outer Bag

Take the two outer panels and the two channel strips.

Sew a channel strip to the top of each outer bag panel. Press one seam toward the strip and the other seam toward the panel.

Place both outer bag units together, right sides together. Make sure the channel strips are matched together (the seams will nest). Pin raw edges if you like and then sew together along three sides, as shown below. Use a quarter inch seam.

Next we need to fold the raw, top edge of the bag over a half inch. The easiest way to do this is to draw a pencil line one inch from the top of the bag. (Don’t use a pen as it will run and stain your fabric once the iron hits it.)

Draw this line on both sides of the bag and then head to your ironing board. Turn the raw edge over to meet the one inch line and then press, all the way around the bag opening. It will be an exact half-inch fold.

I like to press the side seams open to reduce bulk:

Topstitch a short distance (roughly ⅛”) from the fold, all the way around the bag top, to hold it in place.

Box the Bottom of Your Fabric Bag

This is not compulsory – you don’t have to box the bottom of the bag. When I’m using the bags to gift books I definitely don’t do it. When I have, well, boxier items I tend to box the bag to make the item fit in the bag easier. It also sits nicely once the item is in there.

To box a corner you need to take the side seam next to the corner and the bag’s bottom seam and match them together.

You’ll feel the seams nesting together through the fabric, you might have to wrestle around with it a bit. Once you’re holding the seams in place you’ll be able to flatten the corner of the bag so that it will form a right angle.

I like to use the grid on my cutting board to check that it’s close to 90 degrees. The grid is also handy to then mark an equal distance from the corner on either side and draw a pencil line. I’ve used a 2 inch box here, but you could go 3 or 4 if you have a chunkier item to put in the bag. Do be aware that the more boxy the corners, the more height you lose from your bag.

Once you’ve marked your pencil line, pin the corner in place and sew along the pencil line. Clip a quarter inch seam and that’s your corner boxed.

Don’t forget to box the other bottom corner as well. This is what the bottom of the bag (wrong side) will look like once you’ve boxed both corners:

Turn the outer bag right way out and give it a press.

Looking good so far!

Sew the Bag Lining

This process mirrors what we’ve just done to sew the outer bag.

Take the two 12¼” x 16¼” fabric pieces for your lining and:

• place right sides together and sew the three edges together (leave the top open)
• draw a pencil line one inch from the top of the bag lining, on the wrong side
• fold and press the raw edge over to the pencil line to give a half-inch fold
• topstitch around the lining bag opening to hold the fold in place.
• box the bottom of the bag, exactly as you boxed the outer bag (don’t box the lining if you didn’t box the outer bag)

The only difference with this step is there’s no need to turn the lining bag out the right way. The wrong way is in fact the right way, if you know what I mean!

Sew the Lining and the Outer Bag Together

Fit the lining inside the outer bag. The wrong sides will be together.

Pin the tops of the two bags together. We’re going to sew around the top of the bags to join them together, but we also need to leave a 1½” gap so we can thread in our drawstring. I won’t sew between the two pins seen below:

Sew around the top of the bag – making sure you leave that 1½” section open. I like to sew just below the topstitching that’s holding the fold. I also like to backstitch a decent amount near the open section as it will take a lot of wear and tear from the drawstring being pulled.

Once that’s done, you’ll need to sew another seam all the way around the circumference of the bag to form the bottom edge of the channel. I use the seam where the strip joins the main outer panel and sew a quarter inch above it.

Below you can see the double lines at the top (one is the topstitching, the other below it joins the two bags). You can also see my stitching just above the strip seam. If you look closely you’ll also see my 1½” gap there too:

Sew a Drawstring

This step is for those that don’t have any ribbon on hand and need to sew a drawstring.

Take your 2½” fabric strip and fold it in half all the way along its length. Press it in place. Open the strip up and fold each long raw edge in towards the crease you just pressed. Press these edges in place. Then fold the whole shebang in half, so that the raw edges are enclosed within the strip. Sew the two folded edges together, close to the edge. You now have a nice long strip, with no raw edges, to use as your drawstring.

I like to thread the drawstring through first before tying knots at the ends.

Thread Your Drawstring

Whether you’re using a fabric or ribbon drawstring, the method is the same. Grab a large safety pin (I like to use a basting safety pin) and attach it to one end of the drawstring.

Thread it through the opening in the top of the drawstring channel and work it around the circumference of the bag, back to the opening. Make sure you have an even amount of drawstring coming out each side of the channel opening.

Once you’re happy with the placement, tie a knot (or two on top of each other) at the end of each drawstring. This will stop the edges of the ribbon/fabric from fraying. You can also add a dab of clear-drying glue if you like (I find the ribbon is more likely to fray).

Celebrate Your New Fabric Drawstring Gift Bag!

You did it – well done!

This is a great way to get those unloved fabrics and scraps out of the cupboard and doing something useful. With scraps in particular, it’s easy to sew together patchwork panels all through the year to have on hand to sew up a bunch of bags when you need them.

If you’d like a PDF copy of these photographs and instructions you can find it for sale here in the shop.

If you’d like another project that can be adapted for use with patchwork panels, how about this quilted tote bag tutorial?

Happy sewing everyone, and happy gifting!

Cheers,

Kirsty

*affiliate link – thank you for supporting Bonjour Quilts.

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