Saturday, June 21, 2014

Soldiers Angels Laundry Bag Tutorial


Here is a simple pillowcase sized drawstring bag tutorial. I am happily posting this for my fellow Soldiers Angels sewing team members.
 
You are going to need at least 30" x WOF (width of fabric) of cotton fabric and a yard of ribbon or cord for the drawstring.
 
I cut my fabric 30" by 40".


Fold down one of the 40" sides by 1/4" and pressed.

Fold the fabric in half, right sides together with the fold at the top edge. Sew across the bottom at 5/8".  On the side seam, mark 2" from the top where the drawstring opening is going to be. Sew the side seam from that 2" mark down to the bottom and press seam open at the top.
Sew across the drawstring opening so you have a nice clean edge.
I finished my seams by using an overlock foot and stitch. You can finish them as you wish, using pinking shears or zigzag stitch, but I would recomend finishing them. I clipped the seam below the opening so I could overlock stitch the rest of the side seam.

Fold down the top 1" and press. This forms the tube for the ribbon/cord.
Stitch across close to the edge so you catch the fold creating a clean seam.
Use a safety pin to thread the ribbon in the casing and you are done. I tied the ends of the ribbon together so the ends would not get sucked back into the casing.