Or more generically, “How to Make a Drawstring Bag”. But since yesterday was National Dice Day this tutorial is about making a dice bag.
Skills:
– Be able to sew a straight line.
I’ve only been sewing for a few months, and I’ve made a couple of shirts, but I’m by no means an expert seamstress. I think this is a good starting project. The bags don’t have to be perfect to look good.
– Ironing
It makes it easier to pin and sew the casing if you iron the folds. It can be kind of tricky, so try not to burn your fingers!
Supplies:
– Fabric (I used a 12″x6″ piece)
– Ribbon (I used 3/8″) or some other string small enough to fit the casing
– Ruler
– Pins
– White pencil or some other marking tool
– Iron and ironing board
– Pinking Shears
Directions
Step 1 and 2
1. Iron a fold of about 3/8″ on the shorter sides of the fabric. Some of my cuts of fabric weren’t straight, so I used this step to make the edges straight by making the fold straight. This means I couldn’t measure 3/8″ from the edge of the fabric. I had to eyeball what “straight” was. This fold will be sewn down and helps prevent the casing from fraying open. I didn’t do this on my first bag, and I had to hand sew it closed. It will probably fray open again, but for now it works.
2. Mark 1″ from the ironed edge. Fold and iron at the markings. The first ironed fold should fold under the new fold. That’s pretty confusing, but it should look like the image above.
An edge pinned with the smaller fold under the larger fold.
3. Pin the fold down on both edges. I tried focus on pinning the smaller fold down.
4. lay the pinned edges together to see how the bag folds. If it looks weird, feel free to unpin and re-iron the edges. Better to do it now than regret it later!
5. Sew 7/8″ to 9/8″ from the edge. I would go as far from the edge as possible to leave more room for the casing.
6. I ironed the edges again. Sew 1/3″ to 1/4″ from the edge. I sewed as close to the edge as possible, again, to leave more room for the casing.
7. Fold the sewn edges together folded sides out. Pin the unsewn edges together.
8. Sew 1/2″ seam from the new fold (bottom of the bag) to the first seam. I did NOT sew the whole edge together!
9. Again, I didn’t sew the whole edge. Sew from the top seam to the top of the bag.
10. Use pinking shears to and cut the excess fabric at the side seams of the bag. This stops the sides from fraying.
11. Flip bag inside out. Cut holes in the casing at the sides of the bag. (The left picture is before, the right picture is after). You should have each 4 holes (two at each side).
12. Get your ribbon. Cut a two pieces of ribbon. The length should be the circumference of the bag plus some. Use a safety pin to help you feed the ribbon through the casings. Tie the edge of the ribbon in a knot.
13. Feed the second ribbon through the other side of the bag and knot it.
14. Your bag should look something like this
Fill your new bag with dice!
Small Town Tech 
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