Ten Minute Drawstring Bag

 Materials:

• t-shirt
• scrap of cute fabirc
• old shoelace
• 10 minutes 

My long-time friend and walking buddy put in a little sewing request the other day for some kind of basic bag to store a new set of toys her daughter got for Christmas.  The toys (a big magnetic set) are pretty neat, but the box they came in was huge.  So, as per request, I whipped up this basic little drawstring bag this morning. 

Actually, it's not really all that little.  It measures around 20" tall and 10" across.  (Umm... I'm just guessing.  I don't really remember.  But it was something like that.)  And the whole thing (funky little decorative tag included) took me maybe about 10 minutes to throw together--including all the random little breaks I took to check on Olivia and help her with random little things.  And I didn't even have to iron anything!  Can't beat that.  :)

I used the same basic concept as my Drawstring T-Shirt Bag tutorial (click on the image above to go to the tutorial), but I simplified things just a little this time. 

Here's the basic run-down for how I made the bag this morning:

• Lay the shirt flat on the cutting mat.
• Cut one big rectangle (it will fold in half to make the bag).
• The top edge of your bag will be the bottom hem of the t-shirt.  This hem will be the casing for your drawstring.

• Sew the ends of the hem stitching so they won't fray.  (I left out this step when I made a bag this way the other day and it was bad news.  All of that nice pretty stitching from the industrial serger came out and I had to fix it.  So save yourself the headache and just add a few stitches for security.)

• If desired, sew on a quick scrap of fabric for a funky little tag.

• To get that frayed look, just leave the edges of your scrap raw, sew the tag on, and then pull out a few of the threads in the seam allowance until you get the look you want.
• Fold the bag in half, right sides together, and sew up the bottom and side seam, making sure not to sew through your casing (the t-shirt hem).

• Feed your drawstring through the casing (t-shirt hem) and--voila!--you're done!

Whew!  It took longer to explain it than to do it.  :)

Best of luck making lots of fun little t-shirt drawstring bags!

And remember to enter the giveaway from Resurrected Threads!