Lined Drawstring Bags I Made During the 2023 Sew Along

Happy New Year! Before I post my yearly review or my goals for the new year, I wanted to make sure and properly wrap up the 2023 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along. Every year I intend to do this immediately after the sew along ends in December, but I've usually run out of steam and shift right away to getting ready for our holiday festivities. This past year was no exception!

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who participated in the sew along this season! It was the fourth year and I'm always blown away by all the beautiful bags everyone makes. It is a treat to watch them pop up on Instagram and know that not only are you all taking eco-friendly steps to reduce your waste, but you're also making my pattern a part of your holiday. It's really special.

I'm already thinking about ideas for next year's event! If you have any requests, please be sure to let me know. I've saved as many of your posts as I could in my highlights on my Instagram profile, which you can find here. The highlights are called "Your Makes".


All of the bags in this post were made using my tutorials or pattern:
Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial (Everything size)
Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern (Tiny, Snack, Everything, Project, Artist, and Laundry sizes)
Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern (All the variations)
Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial

And now onto the bag parade! This also ends up being a bit of a recap of all four tutorial posts that I shared during the sew along, since I made bags for each post. Let's start with those and then move on to the just-for-fun bags that I made.


I made an Everything size bag (free tutorial size) to showcase the Gingerbread House Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial. I love how this one turned out! Designing paper-piecing patterns is not something I do a lot of, so it was fun to stretch myself a bit.


The bag I made for the Peppermint Stripe Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial is also an Everything size bag. I made this bag when I was in the middle of sorting and reorganizing my scraps. I think I've been more inspired by my scrap collection than anything else these last few months!


For the Exposed Gusset Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial, I made another Everything size bag! For this one I dug really deep into my stash. I think that blue print was in my destash pile for a while, but I'm glad I kept it around. Went for primary colors on this bag, just because!

I used one of my favorite prints from Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt* for this Everything size bag. I made this one for the All About Cotton Twill Tape and How to Use it for Drawstring Bags post. See the little twill tape decorative tag! :)


One more bag that I made specifically for the posts was this Project size bag for the All About Cotton Twill Tape and How to Use it for Drawstring Bags. Making the little twill tape end covers was a bit fussy, but so cute! I bought this fabric from Tiny Treaters by Jill Howarth* on a whim, maybe last year? I don't remember, but I love it! So whimsical.

Okay, let's take a look at the bags I made specifically to use with my family and add to my stash of bags that we use every year:

I made three Tiny size bags using this long scrap of fabric from Love at Frost Sight by August Wren*. When I ordered holiday fabric from Stash Fabrics a few years ago, a strip of this print was tied up around my order and I've been just waiting to turn it into a bag. When I finally cut into it, I realized I could get three bags out of it, so I did! The other parts are also from the scrap bin, so that felt good.

I think the Snack size is the size I make the least, so I'm trying to make more of that size lately. I went with the bottom accent variation in the expansion pattern for this bag. The main fabric is from Christmas in the City by AGF Studio*. Would be a cute bag to gift a sweet treat in!

I wanted to make a bag that would be holiday-ish that would double as a little knitting project bag, so I used this sweater print from Jolly Darlings by Ruby Star Society*. This is an Everything size bag. I don't have a lot of opportunity to use this hot pink paracord, so I added it here for some extra fun!!

These two bags were last minute additions to the line-up because we had some bottled gifts to give. For both I used my Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial. The main fabrics that I used were from Peppermint by Dana Willard* and Cozy Christmas by Lori Holt*. For the accents and linings I went in a slightly less Christmas-y direction to mix it up a bit!

I was really excited to finally make something using this print from Christmas in the City by AGF Studio*. I love the colors and of course I love vintage ornaments. This is a Project size bag made using the peek-a-boo lining variation from the expansion pattern.

My Mom collects these ceramic light up Christmas trees, so when I saw this fabric from Merry Kitschmas by Louise Pretzel*, I immediately thought of her. I went with the Easy Going variation in the expansion pattern for this Artist size bag. I tried to really mix up my twill choices with these bags, and I use the yellow measuring tape twill the least. Managed to make three bags with it!

Finally, one of two laundry size bags that I made this year. This print was an in person impulse buy from Holiday Classics by Rifle Paper Co*, and for some reason I bought a whole yard! Very unlike me. That's okay, it still made a cute bag.

Now this bag I love! I love stamps so much, and when I saw this holiday stamp fabric from Holiday Classics II by Rifle Paper Co*, I immediately bought it. Zero regrets!! This one is also a Laundry size bag.

I hope you enjoyed this little bag parade! I will be back soon to share some year end/new year posts.

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.