Drawstring Shoe Bag Tutorial

Good Morning.

As you may recall, we are hosting my husband's family reunion. Just an intimate group of 40! LOL! One of the primary activities is a golf tournament. Much teasing and ribbing makes for a lot of fun. There is even a trophy with each year's winners engraved on it.

At the golf tourney it is customary for the hosting family to provide a sack of some goodies. I decided to make something that could be useful and reused. A drawstring shoe bag. So while the pictures below are for a golf shoe bag, just downsize to fit regular shoes. Then you can pop your shoes in it while traveling and protect your clothes. Or you can adjust the size and use the pattern as a drawstring bag for lunch, gifts, jewelry etc. If you desire you can french seam the sides. I considered this briefly and ran screaming from the room. While this is a quick, easy project, making 40 with french seams isn't in the plans.

1.  Cut a piece of fabric 16" by width of fabric (WOF). The folded edge is at the bottom, selvage at the top. Trim selvage off.

2. Measure down 3" from the top right edge. Using scissors, snip 1/4" into fabric toward center. (note arrow). Repeat for left side. Snip will go through both layers of fabric.
 

3. Using your iron, press all four top edges in.

4. Here is a photo showing two sides pressed.

5. Now sew all four edges down. (sorry about the glare)

6. This is what it will look like...

7.  Now fold th top raw edges down 1/4 an inch and iron. (Ironing saves time pinning)

8. Fold the edges down again about 2 1/2" or whatever it takes to meet edge of snip you made earlier.

9. Sew this seam down, close to the folded edge.

This is how it should look...

10. Now it's time to put right sides together and sew the two sides. Start even with the previously stitched  edge. (see arrow)

11. Time to trim edges if desired and turn inside out.

12.  Now you can lace your tie through the channel you have sewn. I like to use a large safety pin to guide the ribbon through. (I used grosgrain ribbon). I found it smart, after threading the ribbon through the channel to then knot the two ribbon ends together. This protects you from losing an end in the channel and having to keep re-threading.

13. Wa-La, finished product. Easy peasy, don't you think?

Have a great day!