by Paula Trumble

Materials:  Two pieces of fabric, 24 1/2" wide by 8 1/2" tall
                Two pieces of fabric, 6 1/2" square
                One yard of ribbon or cord for drawstring
                One cord stop
                Lanyard hook or swivel hook

All seams are 1/4" wide unless otherwise noted.

1.  Hook preparation:  If not using a hook, skip to step 3.  Cut 6 inches from the drawstring cord.  Fold the piece of cord to form a loop (top hook in picture).  Put the loop through the top of the hook and put the free ends of the cord through the loop (middle hook in picture).  Pull to tighten cord to hook (bottom hook in picture).

2.  Attach the hook:  Fold one of the big pieces of fabric in half so that the short ends are together.  Mark where the fold is.  Stitch the free ends of the cord to the edge of the fabric at the marked spot.  The hook should be haning down on the right side of the fabric.

3.  Assemble the upper bag:  With right sides together, sew the two big pieces together along one long edge.  If you've included a hook, sew back and forth over the cord a couple of times to secure it.  Press the seam to one side.  If you included a hook, trim the free ends down to about 1/4".  The outside of the bag should look something like this:

4.  Side seam:  Fold the bag in half, matching the previous seam in the middle, and make sure the seam allowances are going in the same direction.  Sew the seam, stopping about 1/2" before the seam from step 1:  Start the seam again about 1/2" after the seam from step 1 and finish the seam.  Press the seam open, being careful to also press open the fabric on either side of the gap in the seam.

5.  Drawstring casing:  Turn the bag right side out.  Sew around the gap in the seam, close to the edge.  This is the opening for the drawstring.  Fold the bag in half so that the lining is on the inside.  Iron the bag carefully.

Starting and ending at the drawstring opening, sew around the bag, 5/8" from the top.

6.  Bag bottoms:  Turn the bag wrong side out.  With wrong sides together, pin the square (bag bottom) to where the side seam starts.  Have 1/4" of the bottom overlap the seam.  In the picture, the purple head on the pin on the bag body:

lines up with the purple head of the pin on the bag bottom.

This is the two pieces lined up and ready to sew, starting at the pin:

Sew straight along the first bottom edge, stopping 1/4: from the end.  On the bag side, snip the seam allowance almost to the point where this seam stopped.  This allows the bag to be turned so the next side of the bag bottom can be sewn to it.

Line up the next side of the bottom with the bag and sew the same way as the first side.  Again, clip sew and move to the next side until all four sides of the bottom have been sewn to the bag.

For the lining bottom, sew exactly as for the bag bottom, EXCEPT for the fourth side.  Sew only about half of the fourth seam:  Reach through the gap in the seam and pull the bag right side out.  Sew the seam gap shut by hand (recommended) or by sewing close to the edge by machine (see last picture).  Push the lining inside of the outer bag.

7.  Drawstring:  Feed the drawstring through the casing.  tying one end of the drawstring to a big safety pin works well for this.Feed the two drawstring ends through the hole in the cord stop.  Tie the drawstring ends together in a secure knot.

Materials notes:  I've used good quality quilting cotton fabric for the bags I've made.  The 8 1/2" height could easily be changed.  My first bag was cut from a 1/4 yard piece that wasn't very straight, so it had to be trimmed to even out.  The knitting chicken bag below was made with 9" high fabrics.

The cord in this bag is a narrow (1/8") metallic.  I doubled it for the drawstring.  Ribbon also works.

I found the cord stops at JoAnn ETC.  Dritz makes them.  I've seen them in black, white, and clear (shown here).

I use lanyard hooks on most of my bags because I have a bunch of them.  I add them because you can hook the bag to a belt loop, clip a note on it, or clip a couple of stitch markers to it.

Karrie's variation:

Instead of cutting square pieces for the bottom, cut 8" diameter circular pieces.  Look around your kitchen for something that's 8" in diameter and trace it.  The bag bottom is sewn in a single seam.  This is the bag I made using her method.