Tugging at the drawstrings

After being asked to make my 4 year old Niece a PE bag for her first year at school, I set to work with my spotty cloth to make a fun yet functional drawstring bag.

It was really quite simple to make, just took a little patience and a lot of crossed-eyedness from all that spotty cloth!!


There is no set way to do this, but the way I created this masterpiece is as follows:

1. Cut the appropriate size of cloth. To do this, imagine the size you want your PE Bag, double it because you will have to fold it over and add about an inch round all sides as this will be folded over for sewing/making the drawstring bit.

2. Fold over the edge that will be the drawstring part (IE. One of the longer lengths of the rectangle) about 2 inches and pin to secure.

3. Sew along this, leaving an inch/inch and a half "sleeve of cloth" (IE don't sew straight along the fold, leave a gap) that you will be able to thread your string through later.





4. Fold the cloth over inside out and pin the sides so that when you sew them you can do a reasonably straight line. At this point, mine looked a little like an inside out pillow case.

5. Sew along lines as mentioned about. Turn rightwayout and thread the string/ribbon/cord through the little sleeve you made earlier.




6. Tie the ends of the string and TAADAA you have a basic drawstring bag!


I know my instructions are rather basic, please don't feel pressured to follow them to the letter as this is a very adaptable project and I am sure there are many other ways to achieve the same end result- Is the phrase "there are more than 2 ways to skin a cat??"- Who wants to skin a cat?!?! More on my gorgeous cat Mindy later.



Not content with the basic bag, I felt the need to glitz it up a bit and so added S.O.P.H.I.E and some pink sequins. To make the applique name, I simply cut the letters (free hand) out of a scrap of purple felt and stitched them on with a simple running stitch, looping a few sequins through along the way.


Gorgeous Sophie collected her bag today and seemed pretty pleased with herself when she proudly told me the letters in her name. Well Sophie, as every girl needs a great bag, let's hope this is the first of many!




Toodlepip! xx