Welcome to the first post of the 2024 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along! Today I have a new bag size to share, the Book Lined Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial!
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
Here are a few to-do items for week 1 of the sew along!
The main goal for this week is to get your bag plans mapped out. Figure out how many bags you'd like to make, which sizes and choose fabrics. Here are a few posts from the archives that you might find helpful when tackling this:
- My tips for choosing fabrics, specifically for drawstring bags. This post includes a bunch of sample fabric pulls too. Find it here: Tips for Choosing Fabrics for Drawstring Bags
- Guidance for making drawstring bags for wrapping gifts. There are also 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
- There are a few other bag sizes outside of the tutorial or pattern, you don't want to miss then! The Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial and the Knit Drawstring Shoe Bag Tutorial.
- Still looking for fabric combination ideas? I'd recommend checking out my Lined Drawstring Bag Pinterest Board as well as the #lineddrawstringbag hashtag on Instagram. You'll find lots of finished bags to take inspiration from!
I'm so excited to share two bag sizes with you today that would be great for books! Books make such a nice gift, I thought we could all get some use out of a bag tailored specifically for wrapping books. I'm sharing two different bags today, one that fits larger novels and another that fits small paperbacks.
The Large Book Bag is 15" tall x 9" wide and fits hardcover books around 9.5"x6.5", as well as larger trade paperback books around 9"x6". The inside usable height of the Large bag is 12.5". 
The Small Book Bag is 12.5" tall x 8" wide and fits medium paperbacks around 8"x5" as well small mass-market paperbacks around 7"x4". The inside height of the Small bag is 10.25". Both bags fit books that are of moderate thickness.
If you're worried that your book won't fit, I suggest making a test bag! You can always add height (the same amount to the Exterior Main and Lining) if you need to. A good rule of thumb is if the book is shorter than the Exterior Main height measurement, it has a good chance of fitting. If your book is particularly thick, you may consider adding a little to both the height and width of the pieces to accommodate it.
Book Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial
Sewing Level: Beginner
Finished size: Large - 15" tall 9" wide, Small - 12.5" tall 8" wide
Book Drawstring Gift Bag Materials:
| Small Bag | Large Bag | |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior Main | 1 Fat Quarter | 1 Fat Quarter |
| Accent | 1 Fat Quarter* | 1 Fat Quarter* |
| Lining | 1 Fat Quarter | 1 Fat Quarter |
| Ties | 1/8 yd or 1 5/8 yd twill | 1/8 yd or 1 2/3 yd twill |
- Coordinating thread
- Acrylic ruler
- Large safety pin
- Pencil
Looking for supplies? Check out my Pattern Supplies and Resources post.
Book Drawstring Gift Bag Cutting:
All cutting measurements are listed as height x width
| Small Bag | Large Bag | |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior Main | (2) 10"x8.5" | (2) 12"x9.5" |
| Accent | (2) 4"x8.5" | (2) 4"x9.5" |
| Lining | (2) 13.5"x8.5" | (2) 15.5"x9.5" |
| Ties** | (2) 28"x2" | (2) 30"x2" |
Book Drawstring Gift Bag Instructions:
For bag construction, refer to the free tutorial or the lined drawstring bag pattern. The depth for both bags is 0, so you can skip steps 6-8 and proceed to step 9. If you need extra guidance on the construction, please refer to the video tutorial.
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! I can't wait to see your bags! Please share them with me on instagram @jenib320 + #lineddrawstringbag or via email (jenib320 @ gmail.com)!
This is so exciting! My sister just asked for a book cover for Christmas! I can't wait to make one! Thanks, Jeni!
ReplyDeleteI will be making these and add them to my arsenal of different book sleeves that I have made, I use the drawstring bag pattern all the time for gift bags etc, thank you.
ReplyDelete