Easy Lined Drawstring Bag Sewing Tutorial

A lined drawstring bag is versatile in it’s usage. Cosmetic bags, jewelry bags, goodie bags, project bags, gift bags…the options for them are endless!

And, as with many of my sewing projects on this site, it’s an easy beginner project and fat-quarter friendly.

(Looking for more beginner-friendly sewing projects? Check out my posts on scrunchies and fabric trinket baskets.)

A Sustainable Bag Option with Many Uses

Did you know that, according to the EPA, the average American tosses an average of 4.9 pounds of waste every day? Although a large amount is recycled or composted, most of it ends up in landfills.

It’s a depressing statistic. And it made me want to find ways to reduce the waste my family goes through. I covered a few of these changes on this website, like replacing paper towels (tutorial here) and our plastic Easter eggs with fabric ones (tutorial here).

Making drawstring bags is next on my list for sustainable sewing projects.

A few weeks ago, my daughter came home from her best friend’s birthday party with a small plastic goodie bag. She dumped her goodies on her desk and then threw away the bag. That’s when it hit me just how wasteful a goodie bag is.

Since her birthday is coming up, I decided, instead of plastic goodie bags, I’d make some small drawstring-lined bags. That way, the girls can reuse them as cosmetic bags or jewelry bags! Or their parents could reuse it as a small gift bag for future gift giving.

The finished size for this bag is 8.5” tall by 6” wide. It’s easy to size up or size down, depending on use. Have a little fun playing around with the dimensions. Go bigger for Christmas gifts or go smaller for jewelry.

Let’s get started with some lined drawstring bags!

Gather your Supplies for Your Lined Drawstring Bag:

1 fat quarter of cotton or quilting cotton fabric
46” of ¼” wide ribbon or cotton string
Scissors or rotary cutter
Sewing machine
Ruler
Fabric pen or marker
Iron
Wonder clips or fabric pins
Turning tool
Safety pin

Step 1: Prepare your fabric and string/ribbon

For this project, you do not want two different fabric patterns because you will end up with one fabric pattern on the lining and exterior piece and another pattern on the other lining and exterior pieces. So, I recommend using the same fabric for both pieces.

First, you will need to cut your fabric into 2 18×7-inch pieces.

Next, cut your ribbon or string into 2 pieces, each being 23 inches long. Set aside your ribbon/string until the end.

Step 2: Sew your pieces together

Now you will lay your 2 fabric pieces on top of each other, right sides together.

Using your ruler, find the middle of your fabric pieces along the long side – it should be at the 9-inch mark. Make marks at 3/4” on each side of the 9” mark. This means you will have a mark on 8 ¼” and 9 ¾”.

Repeat this process on the other long side of the fabric.

Sew along the edges of the sandwiched fabric using a ½” seam allowance, but DO NOT sew over the opening between each set of the two marks on each side of the fabric. Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end.

Step 3: Turn your lined drawstring bag right side out

To ensure your corners are as pointy as possible, clip all four corners with your scissors as closely to the seam as you can without cutting the seam.

Next, you will reach into one of the two openings you left in the middle of the fabric and pull the right side of the bag out through the hole.

Once all the fabric is through, use the end of your scissors or a turning tool to push each corner out. With your iron, press your fabric layers and seams flat.

From the middle of the fabric, push one side of the bag into the other half of the bag to create the lining.

Step 4: Finishing the bag

Now that the lining is inside the bag, the top should have the beginnings of a casing for the string. Before we insert the string, you will need to iron this casing flat, ensuring the seams on the exterior piece are aligned with the seams in the lining.

Take your bag to the sewing machine one more time! You will sew around the top of your bag with a 3/4” seam allowance, back stitching at the beginning and end. Now you have a casing for your string or ribbon! Almost done. 😊

(I used a ½” seam allowance on the top of my daughter’s goodie bags because I felt it looked a little more polished, but it does make it more difficult to string the ribbon through.)

Step 5: Adding the ribbon or string

In Step 1, you should have cut your ribbon or cotton string into 2 pieces, each 23” long. For this tutorial, I used cotton string, but on the goodie bags for my daughter’s birthday party, I used ribbon. (You can see the goodie bags with the ribbon in the featured photo at the top of this blog post.)

Take one end of whichever you chose and tie it around the bottom of the safety pin. Then work the safety pin – and string or ribbon – through the casing on the top of your bag. Once it’s through both sides of the bag, tie the ends of the string or ribbon together.

Grab your second string or ribbon and follow the same steps above, but start at the other side of the casing so the knot ends up on the opposite side of the bag.