Making Fun: Quick Drawstring Toy Bag

This is a quick way to make a drawstring toy bag. We recently bought my son a train track set for his 2nd birthday and needed a way to keep all of the track pieces together. This was very easy and cost me about $2.

I started out with half a yard of flannel fabric that my vehicle-loving toddler picked out and about 50" of piping cord (which I had on hand). Any thick string, yarn, shoestring, etc. could work as your drawstring.

First, I washed my fabric and trimmed loose strings. I folded it in half and cut about 2 inches off from the selvage edges (4 inches total from the fabric). This made the bag a little bit narrower and gives a rough idea of the final bag size.

I wanted the seams to be French seams to eliminate the fraying that would definitely occur with toys being thrown in and pulled out. One side of the bag is along the fold, the other side will be sewn. Pin the fabric together along the side, WRONG sides together. Leave 3/4" unpinned at the top. Do not sew this 3/4" section.

Sew a 1/4" seam wrong sides together (be sure not to sew that top 3/4" of the bag.) Turn the bag inside out. Press and pin enclosing the seam you just made. Sew a 1/2" seam. This encases the first seam and leaves an unfrayed edge inside the bag.

Here's the finished look of the inside of the bag:

Create the same French seam along the bottom of the bag. Sew along the entire bottom of the bag. You may need to trim the corner where the seams meet to make it easier to sew and lay flat.

Now to take care of that top 3/4" section of the side seam.

This will be where the drawstring enters and exits the bag. This is what the section looks like now. I pressed the fabric when I created the side seam but left it unsewn.

We first want to cut off the extra layer of fabric - the little rectangle created by the French seam. You can see that when we unfold it, each side shows 2 rectangles side-by-side created by pressing. We are removing the outside rectangle to create less bulk.

Now that we have removed the extra piece, snip along the bottom edge of the remaining rectangle to allow it to be easily folded. Fold back the edge of the fabric lining it up with the outside seam of the bag. If you pin both sides toward the inside and look from the outside, the edges should line up with the side seam. Clear as mud?

Sew these edges down.

From the outside of the bag, it looks like this now:

Almost done! Turning the bag inside out, press down 1/4" along the top of the bag. Press down another 3/4" inch and pin in place.

When you get to the ends, press them just like the rest.

Sew in place, creating your casing.

Use a safety pin and run it through your cording getting a firm hold. Push the safety pin in one opening, ease it through the bag and pull it out the other side. Tie knots in each end of the cord.