Sewing Tutorial: Make an Easy & Cute Wide Drawstring Pouch Bag

Learn to sew a sweet little drawstring pouch with double-pull ribbons. This is a simple sew that takes 15 minutes or less. You do not need a pattern or a serger to make this practical DIY.

This drawstring pouch is perfect for storing scrunchies, ear buds, bangles, or any other tiny treasures. This is a great project for beginners, and you don’t need too many materials. These little bags are a great way to use up fabric scraps. They also make great handmade gifts or gift bags.

Kitchen Table Sews

Before we jump into the tutorial, I’m curious to know – where do you do your crafting and sewing? I do most of my creative work on my kitchen table and island. There’s a small little space cleared on my kitchen table for a placemat where I eat. The rest is covered in my creative tools and supplies lol. My island is piled with tubes of paint, my brushes, more sewing supplies, embroider floss, a cutting mat, and bundles of fabric. Comment below & let me know where you create!

Without further ado…let’s sew up some drawstring pouches!

Materials & Tools You’ll Need

GRAB YOUR SUPPLIES

The Essentials

Sewing Machine
Fat quarter (21 by 18″) of medium-weight cotton fabric & matching thread
40″ of 1/4″ wide ribbon
Sheet of computer paper (8.5″ by 11″)

Sewing notions

bonus supplies

Mini tabletop vacuum (super optional, but oh-so-cute)

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Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Prep your fabric. For me, this includes ironing the fabric, ripping off the selvedge edges to release the fabric and let it “breathe,” and laying it on top of my cutting mat.

Step 2: Lay the piece of computer paper over top of your fabric. This is effectively our sewing pattern and will serve as our cutting guide. Cut around the paper using a rotary cutter or scissors.

TIP

This pattern will make a wide drawstring bag, with finished dimensions of about 4.5″ by 7″.

If you would like a more narrow drawstring bag, you can fold the computer paper so the dimensions are 5″ by 11″. Then, you would lay the computer paper over top the fabric, and cut around the paper as directed in step 2 above.

Keep in mind that if you make a more narrow bag, you will need less ribbon when we get to the step of adding ribbon to create the double-pull drawstring feature.

Step 3: With the wrong sides together, fold the fabric in half so the short edges of the fabric touch, as shown in the photos.

Step 4: On both sides, Fold the short edge down by 1 inch. Press so it stays in place.

Step 5: Next, we want to hide the raw edge of this fold. Unfold the fold you just pressed, and tuck the raw edge down by about 1/4”. Press. Repeat on the other side. Now you should have a clean fold on either side, with no raw edge peeking through.

Step 6: Now it’s time for us to get to our sewing machine! But we are not going to stitch down this fold just yet; we are going to leave that unsewn for now. First, we are going to sew from just below the fold, to the bottom of the bag. Use a 1/2” seam allowance.

Step 7: After stitching, clean up your raw edges. You can snip them with your pinking shears (what I did). Alternatively, you can use a zigzag stitch or a serger.

Note

Right about now, there will be a lot of fluff, loose threads, and scrap fabric in your sewing space. I like to clean as I go because I get distracted when my space is cluttered. If you’re a regular person, dust the scraps and loose threads into your hands and chuck them into the trash. But if you’re extra like me and like aesthetic tools that bring you happiness by both how practical & adorable they are, you use your teeny, kawaii tabletop vacuum.

Step 8: Now we’re going to do a lot of pressing. Take your bag to your ironing board or pressing mat, and press on both sides. Unfold the top fold you created so it looks like the photo below. Then unfold that smaller fold as well.

Step 9: Fold the pinked edges in towards the bag, as shown in the photo below. Press so they lay flat and inward. Repeat on the other side.

Step 10: Refold the top edge of the bag again.

Step 11: Repeat on the other side. Press both sides.

Step 12: Now, let’s take this to the sewing machine and sew our final stitches! It should look like this on both sides.

Step 13: We are going to topstitch the folds down on each side of the bag. You will have to feel for the fold as you sew to ensure you’re catching it. First, top stitch one side of the bag, then repeat to complete the other. By stitching these folds down, we will create two tunnels where our ribbon will go in a later step.

Step 14: We’re all done with sewing! You can give your sewing machine the rest of the day off. Press your bag. Now turn it right side out, and press it again.

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Step 15: Now it’s time to add our ribbon to our bag. Cut two strands of ribbon. You can cut them anywhere between 17 to 20” long. I wanted my ribbon on the longer side so I cut 20”, but you can cut yours 17” if you prefer less ribbon.

Step 16: Grab your safety pin, and pin it closed onto the end of one strand of ribbon. Now, using the safety pin, stick the ribbon into one of the tunnels we created. Pull it through to the outside of the tunnel.