Quilted drawstring project bag

Practice products for a future shop idea

I wrote recently about a failed project I trialled for Craft & Thrift, back when I was running it as an online shop. You can read about it in more detail here, but essentially I took pieces of second hand, thrifted, remnant fabric and had them professionally quilted by an independent studio in Glasgow, Dastardly Line. My idea was to add value to otherwise small and almost-worthless fabrics by combining and quilting them, then take that quilted fabric and create a range of project bags. I had an idea to also sell the fabric direct to sewists for their own creations. Sadly, it came too late in my business journey to be profitable and I had to close Craft & Thrift before the idea really got on its feet. I've always vaguely planned to come back to it in the future, but in the meantime I'm happy experimenting with the leftover pieces, plus creating new fabrics and bags myself.

 This drawstring bag I made for my sister-in-law for Christmas, using a leftover piece of quilted fabric from Dastardly Line. It was a medium weight jacquard, quilted onto a piece of brushed cotton using the 'Topography' design that is my personal favourite. I had just enough to make this self-drafted drawstring bag, made by rubbing off a vintage project bag I relined using kimono silk (you can read about it here). I bought the drawstring from Etsy, in several different colours for my stash. It’s a cotton viscose blend and if I’m honest, I don’t love it. The colours are lovely and the string is very soft and floppy, which is perfect for this project. The down side is it unravels so fast you can barely get it threaded through the channel and tied off before a third of it has unraveled. I ended up having to re-plait a section of this string, otherwise it would have been too short if I’d cut away the fraying ends. The hunt for the perfect drawstring continues…

I used one of my Craft & Thrift labels, this time embossed onto remnant cork. I love the texture of the quilting stitches, against the jacquard fabric. Much as I’m not a massive fan of the drawstring material, I do like how the gold colour compliments the gold thread in the main body of the bag.

This is another of the self-drafted bags I’m adding to my future inventory of possible shop stock, alongside two different sizes of zippered project bag and smaller purses for notions. I’m treating these gifts as opportunities to practice sewing them to a professional standard and tweaking the pattern design to optimise their use. I added rivets to the drawstring openings, down the side seams, to keep that part of the bag as solid as possible, since that seam is under tension any time the bag is opened or closed. I’m pleased with how robust this bag feels, plus it’s large enough for a small sweater or large scarf-sized knitting project.

The main design issue with this bag, is that the drawstring closure isn’t as tight as I would like. It’s comparable to similar styles of bag I own that were made professionally, but I think the combo of the thickness of the fabric and the relative narrowness of the drawstring channel have contributed to an opening that sits partly ajar. That’s definitely something I’d like to alter on the next iteration. Overall though, I’m pleased with this bag and I’m glad the fabric has been used for someone special.