Make a Lined Drawstring Bag

 
I’ve been keeping myself busy lately making drawstring bags. It started out as a small project. Many of my sewing machines do not have cases, and I wanted to make some bags for the foot controllers, power cords, specialty feet, etc. Along the way I became slightly obsessed, and now I can’t stop making them. Be looking for a blog giveaway soon.
Here’s how I made them.

What you need
2 pieces of bag fabric 16” x 11” (a fat quarter cut in half will work)
2 pieces canvas (or other lining fabric) 15” x 11”
1 piece canvas ( or other lining fabric) 10” x 6 ½”
2 strips of coordinating fabric 2 1/2” wide , and 12” long
1 strip of coordinating fabric  2 1/2” wide and 7” long.
Paper backed fusible web cut in 1” strips. You’ll need about 30” total
60” cording or ribbon
Cut bag and liner fabric and set aside. If you have used a fat quarter that is not quite as wide as the measurements above, use what you have and cut the canvas the same width as the bag fabric. Just make sure your liner is 1” shorter than your bag. Width measurements of both bag and liner must be the same.

Step 1—Making the two casings and the pocket trim.
Choose one of your 2 ½ inch strips measuring about 12” long. With wrong side up iron paper backed fusible web to the center of the strip. Leave release paper in place and fold edges together to just meet in the center. Press to form a good crease on both sides. Remove release paper and press to make your casing strip. Repeat for other casing strip and 7” pocket trim. Set aside

You should have two 12” strips and one 7” strip that are 1 1/4” wide.

Step 2—Make the pocket (if you don’t want a pocket, skip this step)
Fold small canvas piece in half to make a 5” X6 ½” rectangle, press to make a crease. Open canvas and draw a line 1’ below the fold. Pin pocket trim to the pocket aligning top edge of trim with the drawn line. Stitch trim to pocket piece.

Now fold right sides of pocket together and stitch on both sides, leaving about 2” open at the bottom for turning. Turn pocket right sides out, fold in opening and press.
Position pocket in the center of one of the canvas pieces and stitch in place along the sides and the bottom making sure you catch the area you pressed in.



Step 3—Making the Bag
Put right sides of bag fabric together and stitch on the two long sides and the bottom. Repeat with canvas pieces, but leave a 3” opening at the bottom of the canvas lining. You will later turn the whole bag through this opening.


Step 4 Mitering the corners
You can skip this step, but it makes for a bag with dimension. Go ahead and try it, it’s not hard to do.
Grab one of the bottom corners and match it with one side seam and the bottom seam line. This will form a triangle. You should be able to feel that your bottom seam and side seam are together.
I draw a line 1 1/2”  from the point of the triangle.

The sew on your drawn line

You will miter the two corners on both the liner and the bag.


Step 5—sewing bag and lining together
Leave the canvas liner wrong side out and turn the outer bag right side out. Stuff the outer bag in the liner bag. Make sure the right sides are together, and the top edges are aligned. Stitch all the way around the top edge making sure you catch both the lining and the bag.
 
Locate  the bottom hole in the canvas lining, pull the bag all the way through and continue to pull working the lining out as well. Both sides will be right side out, joined at the top.

Machine stitch to close  the hole in the bottom of the lining and stuff the lining into the bag. Adjust the bottom of the bag so that the corners you mitered are at the bottom of the bag rather than positioned at the side.  Since you cut the lining shorter than the bag you will have a nice border inside the bag.


Step 6—Attaching the casing
Take once section of the casing and turn under the short end ½”. Beginning at one side seam pin casing halfway around the top of the bag, stopping at the opposite side seam. Turn under casing ½” and pin just shy of the side seam.
Repeat the process with the other piece of casing. You will have about a ¼” gap between the two casings at each side seam. Stitch top and bottom of casing to bag 1/8” from the edges.



Step 7—Thread the drawstrings
Cut two 30” lengths of cording or ribbon. If you are using one that ravels make sure you wrap it with tape before cutting. I used painter’s tape.  
Take one cord and attach a safety pin to the end. Begin at one of the side seams and thread the casing all the way around the bag through both casings. Adjust so the cord is of equal length. Take the other cord and begin at the opposite side seam and thread it all the way though both casings. Even the cords and pull to activate the drawstring feature.

Tie the ends of your drawstrings together, and there you have it. The two bags in the center of the picture below have coordinating fabric strings…more about that in another post.