Tips for Tidy Drawstring Casing Openings

Welcome to the third week of the Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along! Today I'm sharing tips for tidy drawstring casing openings!

I'll be updating the Sew Along Page each week with all the posts so that you can easily catch up or reference these posts after the sew along ends!

I hope you'll sew along with us! Sew from the tutorial or the patterns:
Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern

Before we dive into today's post, let's quickly chat about our to-do for week 3 of the sew along!

This week's task is sewing! Sew your bags through step 10. If you're making a lot of bags and you're short on time, I highly recommend making them assembly line style. This isn't quite as fun, but it's definitely more efficient! A few posts you might find helpful when tackling this:

- Last year I recorded a video tutorial that covers making the bags from start to finish. It's a bit long, but it's meant to be comprehensive! Find it here: Lined Drawstring Bag Video Tutorial

- If you just need a little extra guidance when it comes to the gussets, I have a video for that too! Find it here: How to Put a Gusset on a Bag Video Tutorial


Today I'm sharing two techniques for neater drawstring casing openings. There are raw edges at the openings and those can sometimes pop out and show in the final bag. Personally, this doesn't bother me but it may bother you! I've had a number of questions about this over the years, so I came up with a few ideas for tidying up this part of the bag.

In my sample bag I'm showing two ways to tackle this issue, but feel free to do just one or the other. Bonus points if you decide to do both!

Using a Serger or Zig-Zag Stitch to Finish Edges

For this technique, we're going to finish the edges that will be exposed in the drawstring casing. You can do this with either a serger, or by using a zig-zag stitch on a standard sewing machine.


On the Exterior Accent pieces, zig-zag stitch to finish the two short sides.


On the Interior pieces, zig-zag stitch to finishing the two long sides.

No need to do anything to the Exterior Main pieces.


This will help keep those raw edges from fraying in the final bag. Now you can complete your bag according to the free tutorial or lined drawstring bag pattern. When sewing, be sure to sew with a large enough seam to hide the zig-zag stitching (or serging) in the seams. Or try out the next technique too!

Using Adhesive to Secure Exterior Accent Seams

For this technique, we're going to use an adhesive to secure the seams of the drawstring casing in place. We'll do this after step 5 in the pattern or tutorial.

I recommend leaving the Interior end (where the turning opening will be), unsewn for now to make access to these seams easier.

Carefully ease your partially completed bag around your ironing board. (A sleeve ironing board like this one* is super handy for this.)

Press the side seams of the Exterior Accent open.

I also recommend pressing a few inches of the Interior side seams open too.

Use a small bit of adhesive to secure the opened seams in place, just where the casing opening is. I tried out two options and they both worked well. If you have a roll of 1/4" Steam-a-Seam 2* handy, this was the quickiest/cleanest open. Cut a small strip and sandwich it under each side of the seam. Press when an iron to adhere.


I also tried doing this with a very small amount of glue (I love these elmer's glue pens*), pressing it with the iron to set it. It worked well! I used a toothpick to be able to control how much I applied.


If you left the Interior end of your bag open, go back and sew across it, leaving an opening for turning.

Now you can complete your bag according to the free tutorial or lined drawstring bag pattern.


That's it! I used these two techniques together for this bag and the finished casings are so neat and tidy!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I can't wait to see the bags you make! Please share them with me on instagram @jenib320 + #lineddrawstringbag or via email (jenib320 @ gmail.com).

Happy Sewing!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial

Welcome to the second week of the Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along! Today I'm sharing a tutorial for a patchwork star bag!

I'll be updating the Sew Along Page each week with all the posts so that you can easily catch up or reference these posts after the sew along ends!

I hope you'll sew along with us! Sew from the tutorial or the patterns:
Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern


Before we dive into today's post, let's quickly chat about our to-do for week 2 of the sew along!

This week's task is cutting! Finalize those fabric choices and cut out all the pieces for your bags. A few posts you might find helpful when tackling this:

- If you missed last week's post about make templates, be sure to check that out! They're great if you don't want to rotary cut, or just want to speed up your cutting process. Find it here: Making Templates for the Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern

- You may be interested in adding a little something extra to your bags, like pom-pom trim or ribbon. I have a post all about embellishing your bags with these. Find it here: How to Use Trim or Ribbon to Embellish Your Drawstring Bags

- If you'd like to add an exterior pocket to your bag, I've got a tutorial for that too! Find it here: Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial: Adding an Exterior Pocket

- A related post to today's is my present block tutorial from last year's sew along. I think it's super cute! Another option if you want to add a patchwork element to your bags. Find it here: Present Quilt Block Drawstring Bag Tutorial


Back to the star of the show (haha), a patchwork star bag! I made a bag with a star block on it a few years ago when I was in the process of making the expansion pattern, and I thought it would be perfect as a holiday bag.


Sewing Level: Beginner Friendly
Finished size: Approx. 10" tall, 7" wide, 3" deep

Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag Materials:
- 1 Fat quarter for Exterior Main*
- 1 Fat quarter for Exterior Accent
- 1 Fat quarter for Interior
- 1 Fat eighth star fabric
- 2 yards of 1/2" twill tape, nylon paracord or 1/8 yd fabric
- Coordinating thread
- Acrylic ruler
- Large safety pin
- Pencil
- Optional: wooden beads

*This tutorial is written for using a non-directional fabric for the Exterior Main.

Looking for supplies? Check out my Pattern Supplies and Resources post.

Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag Cutting:
From Exterior Main Fabric:
- Cut (1) 9”x10.5” piece
- Cut (8) 2.5"x2.5" block pieces
- Cut (2) 6.5"x2.5" side pieces
- Cut (1) 1"x10.5" top piece
- Cut (1) 2.5"x10.5" bottom piece

From Star Fabric:
- Cut (1) 2.5"x2.5" piece
- Cut (8) 1.5"x1.5" pieces

From Exterior Accent Fabric:
- Cut (1) 4”x21” strip
- Subcut into (2) 4”x10.5” pieces

From Interior Fabric:
- Cut (1) 12.5”x21” strip
- Subcut into (2) 12.5”x10.5” pieces

If using fabric for ties:
- Cut (2) 32”x2” strips

If using twill for ties:
- Cut (2) 32" pieces

Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag Instructions:
*Use a 1/4” seam allowance unless otherwise noted*

Before constructing the bag, we first need to make the pieced Exterior Main piece.


1. Using a pencil, mark a diagonal line across the wrong side of all (8) 1.5" star fabric squares.


Place (1) 1.5" star fabric square in the upper-left corner of a 2.5" exterior main square, right sides together.



Stitch across the corner on the line you marked. Trim off the corner, leaving a 1/4" seam. Press corner up.


2. Place a second 1.5" star fabric square in the upper-right corner of the 2.5" exterior main square, right sides together.



Stitch across the corner on the line you marked. Trim off the corner, leaving a 1/4" seam. Press corner up.

Repeat with remaining pieces to create four total star point units.


3. Arrange star point units, 2.5" exterior main squares, and 2.5" star fabric square in three rows of three units each as shown in the above diagram.


Sew units together in each row. Press top and bottom row seams away from the center. Press middle row seams towards the center.


Sew rows together, matching up seams. Press seams open. Trim block to 6.5" square if necessary.


Now it's time to add the borders to the star block.


4. Sew the two 6.5"x2.5" side exterior main pieces to either side of the star block. Press seams away from block.


5. Sew the 1"x10.5" top side exterior main piece to the top edge of the block. Press seams away from block. Sew the 2.5"x10.5" bottom side exterior main piece to the bottom edge of the block. Press seams away from block. Trim piece to 9"x10.5" if necessary. This is the Exterior Main piece for one side of the bag.

Optional: You may choose to add additional structure to your patchwork with a lightweight interfacing. I would recommend something like SF101 by Pellon, and interfacing both Exterior Main pieces.

For the bag construction, refer back to the free tutorial or the everything size in the lined drawstring bag pattern, start at step 1.


I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I can't wait to see the bags you make! Please share them with me on instagram @jenib320 + #lineddrawstringbag or via email (jenib320 @ gmail.com).

Happy Sewing!

Friday Favorites 45 (Thanksgiving Edition)

Happy Friday! It's a special Friday Favorites for Thanksgiving, I'm sharing some of our favorite recipes and traditions. For the next few weeks Friday Favorites will be on hiatus, while I focus on the Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along. Catch up on previous posts here: Friday Favorites Archives

- This dish is the center of our thanksgiving. It's SO good. The fresh green beans don't get mushy and the crispy onions are unreal: Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions

- My go-to recipe for roasting a chicken, as recommended by my friend Deedrie years ago: Perfect Roast Chicken from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook*

- I love scalloped corn, and grew up eating the frozen corn souffle by Stouffers. This is even better (in my opinion!) and from scratch: Scalloped Corn (I reduce the sugar to 1 T.)


- My favorite cranberry salad is from Krogers, which we don't have here in CT. So I make this copycat recipe every year: Cranberry Celebration Salad (I use cherry jell-o powder instead of raspberry.)

- Michael loves to have macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving, and this is our favorite recipe: 3-Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese (We add 1 tsp dijon mustard.)

- For most of the last 10 years, Michael and I have spent this holiday alone. It used to make me really sad, but now we have lots of traditions that make it special for just the two of us. One thing we always do is binge watch all three Lord of the Rings movies, starting on Thursday evening when we eat the first round of leftovers!


- I haven't decided if I'm going to make homemade rolls this year, but if I do it's going to be the Milk Bread Rolls from Mooncakes and Milk Bread*

- I've made this a few years and it's a favorite. Why choose between pie and cheesecake when you can have both? Can easily be made gluten-free by using cinnamon chex for more of a graham cracker crust: Cheesecake-marbled Pumpkin Slab Pie

- Some year I want to make the Cinnamon Icecream from The Perfect Scoop* to go with a pumpkin pie. It's our favorite homemade icecream recipe. I add vanilla so it's like cinnamon roll icing flavor. YUM.


- We like to pick up a special treat for our pets. I used to buy George bunny a brussel sprout. We're thinking about getting Dusty some salmon. We hang our outdoor birdfeeders this week too. We like to make sure the whole family gets treats.

Have a Great Weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Making Templates for the Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern

Welcome to the first post of the Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along! We're kicking things off with a post all about making templates!

I'll be updating the Sew Along Page each week with all the posts so that you can easily catch up or reference these posts after the sew along ends!

I hope you'll sew along with us! Sew from the tutorial or the patterns:
Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern

Before we dive into today's post, let's quickly chat about our to-do for week 1 of the sew along!


This week's task is to plan your bags! It's time to decide how many bags you'd like to make, what sizes, and pick out fabrics. A few things you might find helpful when tackling this:

- I've got a post full of tips for choosing fabrics, specifically for drawstring bags. It includes a bunch of sample fabric pulls too. Find it here: Tips for Choosing Fabrics for Drawstring Bags

- This post is specifically about making drawstring bags for wrapping gifts. I've got some gift ideas for each size, to give you an idea of what would fit in all the different sizes: Tips For Using Drawstring Bags to Wrap Gifts

- Still looking for fabric combination ideas? I'd recommend checking out my Lined Drawstring Bag Pinterest Board and well as the #lineddrawstringbag hashtag on Instagram. You'll find lots of finished bags to take inspiration from!


Unlike a lot of bag patterns, my Lined Drawstring Bag Patterns and tutorial do not use templates for the cutting. All of the cutting is done with a rotary cutter. There are a few reasons for this:

1. The main reason is because all of the pieces required for all the different sizes are rectangular, which means they don't have any curves or special shapes that couldn't be cut simply with an acrylic ruler and rotary cutter.

2. I've written the cutting instructions so that it's nearly impossible to cut directional fabrics incorrectly for the exterior pieces.

3. It would be incredibly expensive to include templates for all 8 sizes in the pattern. It would make the pattern too pricey for this type of design, and I want it to be afforable.


If you're comfortable using a rotary cutter, cutting out pieces for this pattern shouldn't be too difficult. If you feel like you need a bit of guidance on the cutting, I highly recommend checking out the video tutorial I made last year that covers cutting out an Everything Bag all the way through to finishing! You can find it here: Lined Drawstring Bag Video Tutorial

Making your own templates for the pattern is easy and can be really useful! They're great if you don't know how or don't want to use a rotary cutter to do the cutting. Also if you're planning to make a large number of bags of the same size and want to speed up the cutting process. They're also nice for cutting quickly from scraps.


I made a video tutorial showing exactly how I made templates from poster board, which you can watch here. Or follow the written instructions below.

Step 1: Choose Your Template Material

The first thing to do is to choose your template material. There are a lot of materials that would make good templates, depending on how you plan to use them and how durable you need them to be. Here are a few options:

- Posterboard: This is my personal favorite material for templates. It's easy to find, inexpensive, and works well for cutting with scissors, or you can put a ruler and rotary cutter right on top of it. The main disadvantage is you can't see through it. It also may not last super long.

- Cardboard: Potentially a free option! A bit difficult to cut through neatly and you also can't see through this. More durable and long lasting than the posterboard.

- Template Plastic: This can be found at many craft stores, and is meant for making templates. The main advantage of this materials if you can see through it, which can be handy! It is the most expensive option and it doesn't come in super large pieces. It will be really durable, can be a bit difficult to cut through though.

- Wrapping Paper or Kraft Paper: I would only recommend this if you have nothing else on hand. It's not going to be durable beyond a few bags unless it's on the thicker size. One advantage though is that it's nice and wide!

Step 2: Determine Your Template Sizes

You'll want to make three templates, one each for the Exterior Main, Exterior Accent and Interior. Above you can see a photo of a portion of the cutting instructions in the pattern. On the second line of each cutting instructions you can see the piece size you'll need highlighted. All these measurements are listed as height x width.

It's the same for the free tutorial size, see below example.

From Exterior Main Fabric:
- Cut (1) 9”x21” strip
- Subcut into (2) 9”x10.5” pieces

From Exterior Accent Fabric:
- Cut (1) 4”x21” strip
- Subcut into (2) 4”x10.5” pieces

From Interior Fabric:
- Cut (1) 12.5”x21” strip
- Subcut into (2) 12.5”x10.5” pieces

These are the sizes you'll want to make your templates.

Step 3: Measure and Mark Cut Lines

I'm going to assume for this step that most folks making templates do not have acrylic rulers or a rotary mat. If you do, feel free to use them! You'll need a long ruler, a pen or pencil, some scissors that are appropriate for your material, and a large flat surface. Measure out your pieces and cut out carefully with scissors. Mark templates with pattern information and fabric direction.

Step 4: Use Your Templates

Place templates on fabric in desired orientation. Trace around template with a marking pen or pencil and cut out pieces with scissors. Alternatively, place acrylic ruler directly on top of paper template and cut pieces out with a rotary cutter.

I hope this post is helpful! I can't wait to see your projects! Please share them with me on instagram @jenib320 + #lineddrawstringbag or via email (jenib320 @ gmail.com)!

Happy Sewing!

Friday Favorites 44

Happy Friday! It's time for another Friday Favorites post! Catch up on previous posts here: Friday Favorites Archives

- My handwork project that I've been working on recently is tying one of my double gauze quilts, since the original quilting I did hasn't held up that well. I've never hand tied a quilt this size and it's been enjoyable!

- I love the colors in this beautiful quilt by Maddy.

- How cute are these drawstring bags made by Hanie?! I love that she used the same fabric for the main bag and the ties!

- My latest instagram follow is an artist named Maylee (@mayleemouse), loving her work!

- Drooling over this beautiful mid-century house that's for sale in Ontario, Canada.


- I'm back on the puzzle train! I'm about to finish this fun cacti & succulents puzzle* that I got second hand! Fingers crossed all the pieces are there.

- I recently discovered a new salty snack! We're loving these veggie crisps*. My favorite flavor is the black pepper!

- Michael and I have both been watching the show Andor recently. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but have been enjoying it!

- I was so excited to attend a zoom class this week with Deb Perelman in celebration of her upcoming book, Smitten Kitchen Keepers*. It comes out next week, and I can't wait for my pre-ordered copy to arrive!

- This cat meme is so true!!


- Dusty is very happy that it is heating pad season again!

Have a Great Weekend!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Finished: Vintage Bear Paw Quilt + Pattern

Happy Thursday! I am SO happy to share my latest quilt finish with you all! I present to you my finished Vintage Bear Paw Quilt!! I started this quilt back in Spring of 2019, so it's been a few years in the making!


I had a vision for this quilt when I first started it, but it honestly turned out better than the picture in my head. The only downside is I don't think it's true beauty shows up that well in photos. The contrast in places is so minimal and I think that's part of what makes it hard to capture. I love how soft it feels and looks.

I've written two pretty in depth posts about this quilt when it was in progress, which you can read here: Work in Progress: Vintage Sheet Bear Paw Quilt and Progress Check In: Vintage Sheet Bear Paw Quilt


This quilt is made entirely of reclaimed vintage bedsheets. Almost all of them came from thrift stores, but a few I found at antique stores, flea markets and couple on Etsy. One of my favorite things about my vintage sheet quilts is that quite a few of the fabrics in my collection have the memory of finding it attached. I also love being able to find/use the same print in multiple colors. I've been building my stash of sheets since 2006 or 2007? During the years that I sold vintage sheet fat quarters, I'd try to save a small piece of every different print that came through my doors. That allowed me to collect so many prints!

This design is pretty simple, it's really just a bear paw quilt block without any sashing or center squares! I used two colors in each block, using multiple fabrics for each color. I also coordinated the background fabrics for each block specially. A block that is orange and pink also has a white with orange background fabric and a white with pink background fabric.


I actually ended up making way too many blocks for this quilt, so I also made a baby quilt and a pillow, which I'll share soon! For the quilting, I kept things simple as usual. I did a combination of straight line quilting on the diagonal as well as vertically and horizontally.


I chose a really special sheet for the backing! This was one of the first sheet designs I thrifted and I fell in love with it right away. Lucky me I've thrifted a few more over the years and I happened to have this one tucked away that was the perfect size.


For the binding I ended up settling on this pink gingham. I would have loved to do a multi-colored stripe but didn't have enough of anything in my stash.


I remembered to add a label, again! I'm so pleased that I've been using these consistently again.


If you're interested in making a quilt like this too, I wrote up a pattern for it! (I promise I'm done releasing patterns for the year!!)

You can find the pattern for sale here: Vintage Bear Paw Quilt Pattern


The pattern features five sizes, including: Baby (40.5"x40.5"), Small Throw (54"x67.5"), Square (67.5"x67.5"), Large (67.5"x81"), Extra-Large (81"x94.5"). It's written for fat quarters but there are tables and instructions for cutting from scraps or other stash too. There are also coloring sheets for each quilt size so you can easily plan out your quilt!


My quilts made from vintage sheets are some of my very favorite, and I am looking forward to starting another one too! Perhaps not quite as long-term as this one turned out to be!

Happy Quilting!