Boro-Inspired Drawstring Bag is an easy sewing tutorial to make a pretty bag with all those scraps of fabric you save from your quilting projects.
As a quilter you might save all those scraps of fabric after you finish making a new quilt, and I agree with you, most quilting fabrics are so pretty with beautiful color and patterns that I also keep even the smallest piece.
On this tutorial, you can use those small scraps of fabric to make a piece of fabric that will be used later to make the drawstring bag.
Boro-Inspired Drawstring Bag
After I finished the Sampler Quilt 2021, I noticed I have a few scraps of fabric on my work table, as I wanted to make something with them, the idea to make a Boro-Inspired bag came to my mind.
For this sewing tutorial, you will need a piece made with the Boro technique, which is made by cutting a piece of fabric of the desired size, any type of fabric will be good, then place the scraps of fabric on the big piece to cover this piece, pinch a few pins on the scraps, and then you can do some basting stitches to keep all the scraps of fabric in their place while you work on the hand quilting.
You should do the quilting on all the pieces, this will keep all those small scraps of fabric well stitched to the big piece of fabric.
How To Make The Boro-Inspired Bag
1 Cut Fabrics Pieces
- 1 piece of fabric to make the Boro-Inspired patchwork of 19 x 9 inches
- From Fabric A, cut 2 pieces of 4 x 8 inches, and 1 piece of 3 x 12 inches for the bag strap.
- From Fabric B, Cut one piece of 19 x 9 inches for the lining
- 2 Cords Or ribbon of 22 inches each one.
2 Prepare The Channel Drawstring Pieces And The Bag Strap
Fold to the back the ends of the channel drawstrings pieces 1/2 inch and stitch on across the fold. (Single fold).
To make the strap for the bag, fold the two edges of the piece of fabric to the center lengthwise, and fold it again like a bias, top stitching on both edges.
3 Sew On The Drawstring Channels To The Bag
Lay on your work table the Boro Inspired piece, pretty side up, and fold in the middle lengthwise and finger press or pin the middle point on each side.
Take each piece for the drawstring channels and fold in the middle lengthwise, fold the each piece in the middle and finger press or pin the middle point.
Lay each drawstring channel piece on each end of the Boro Inspired piece, center to center, and pinch two to three pins, stitch on each piece to the Boro inspired piece, 1/8 inch seam.
Stitch on each piece for the drawstring channel piece 1/4 inch from the top.
4 Stitch The Seams
Take the two pieces of fabric to make the drawstring bag, the Boro-Inspired piece and the fabric for the lining, fold in the middle and stitch on 1/4 inch seam on both sides.
Lay the two pieces on your work table as it’s shown on the image below, and with the help of a patchwork ruler and a pencil, mark a square of 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 inch on the bottom of each piece on both sides.
The square should be drawn from the seam allowance to the bottom of each piece. Cut out each square with the help of a pair of scissors.
5 Make The Boxed Bottom
Take one piece at a time and open each corner to match the square to a boxed corner, sew across from folded edge to folded edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and reinforce the stitching at the beginning and at the start.
Do the same step on the other boxed corner.
Do the same steps on the piece for the lining.
6 Stitch The Two Bags Together
Turn the Boro-Inspired bag inside out, and place the strap on each side, pinch a pin on each end of the strap to the bag.
Tuck in the Boro-Inspired bag inside of the lining. Match the seams and pinch a few pins along the bag opening.
Sew on across the opening of the bag
7 How To Finish The Boro-Inspired Drawstring Bag
Turn the inside of the bag out by the gap in the lining, stitch on to close the opening on the lining.
Tuck the lining in the bag and top stitch the top of the bag.
8 How To Thread The Cording Through The Channels
Cut the cording or ribbon and pinch a safety pin on one end of each piece, thread each cord or ribbon through both channels, so you have two ends of cord or ribbon on each side. Tie a knot on each piece of cord or ribbon and cut the ends with your pair of scissors.
Your Boro-Inspired Drawstring Bag is finished and it looks amazing!
More Ideas To Make A Drawstring Bag
Use Patchwork blocks – as a quilter, you might have some orphan blocks after you finished a quilt, this bag can be made using those orphan blocks and the bag will look pretty!
Use Batting Fabric – On this tutorial, when I made the Boro-Inspired piece, I didin’t use any batting fabric as Boro is a traditional Japanese mending technique, and it’s made by layering new pieces of fabric on a piece of cloth, but if you add a batting fabric, it will make it to look like a quilted bag.
Add Some Embroidery – If you have a piece of cloth with a nice embroidery on it, this piece can be used as the main piece of fabric to make this bag, it will make it unique and beautiful!
Why To Make A Drawstring Bag?
We all are living on a planet where we need to think about making things that won’t be used just one time, when you make a bag with the Boro-Inspired stitching technique, you’ll be using all those scraps of fabric that might be too small to make something else. On the other hand, if you make a drawstring bag, it can be used as a wrap of a present and I’m sure the person who gets the present wrapped so beautifully in a handmade bag, will use the bag to carry many things on it.
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More Patchwork Bags Tutorials:
Puedes leer el mismo tutorial para hacer Un Bolso Inspiración Boro Con Jareta en español, aquí!
Watch the video tutorial here: