Make-It-Monday: No-Sew Drawstring Bag

We’ve all had the moment: you’re wearing your coziest hoodie, and the inevitable happens. Your coffee spills, you snag the sleeve in a doorway – suddenly your favourite lounge sweater is just a little too worn out for even casual use.

Before you get ready to toss it in the bin (or better, take it to a recycling centre that accepts textiles), we’ve got an upcycled project that’s perfect for a thicker type of material like this. Today we’ll be showing you how to make a no-sew drawstring bag. It’s perfect for scrabble and other board game pieces, jewelry, and other odds and ends!

You can also make this with youth sweaters that are just a little too heavily used to be appropriate for donations. Today, we’re using the 18500B by Gildan.

To get started, you’ll need the following:

• Two different sizes of plates (for measuring)
• A drawstring or shoelace
• Scissors
• Beads
• A pencil
• And last but not least, your hoodie. You want to use a thicker fabric like this instead of a t-shirt because it’s much less likely to fray at the edges.

First, you’ll need to cut out a large square of fabric – the back of the hoodie is what will work best. Cut a generous portion out so it’s at least a few centimetres wider than your larger plate.

Draw a line around the larger plate and then cut out the circle of fabric, which will be the main frame of your bag. Once that’s done, take the smaller plate and place it centred inside. This isn’t totally necessary, but it will really help mark where you’re going to cut your holes for the drawstring evenly.

Start with drawing two small parallel lines at the top, and then do two more on the bottom as well as both sides. Careful not to make them too close to the edge! Draw two more sets of lines in each quarter; you basically want it to mirror what a clock face looks like.

To cut along those lines, flip the fabric upside down, turn the edge up until you can see your pencil mark, and then make a small cut. Repeat this on both sets of lines all around the edges.

Now it’s time to thread your drawstring through the loops you’ve created. You should have a couple of inches of extra string even when the fabric is laid completely flat.

Flip the fabric upside down so that the string is facing down and pull the string to cinch the fabric together. Your pouch should be fully formed!

The final step is to add knots to the ends of the drawstrings – we’ve added beads on the ends as well to give it a little extra colour, but feel free to personalize these however you like!

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