Easy To Customize

Your favorite colors of fabric, some ultra pretty ribbon and the iron-on color of your choice is all you’ll need to create an incredibly unique bag! One that you’ll be proud to use on each and every trip! I’m going away in a few weeks and can’t wait to use them…

SUPPLIES:

• Sewing machine
• 2 yards of lightweight cotton fabric (1 yard per bag)
• Cute ribbon
• Sewing scissors or rotary cutter and cutting mat
• Cricut Explore
• Circut Iron-on
• Iron and ironing board
• Large safety pin
• Our free “clean, dirty, wash, wear” SVG design file below!

Wash + Iron Fabric

First things first, you need to wash, dry and iron your fabric. You’ll need about 1 yard of fabric per bag including the lining.

I searched high and low for a simple yet beautifully constructed draw string bag pattern that wasn’t going to fall apart or fray after a few uses. Low and behold, good ol’ Martha shared a great video on how to make this exact bag. I know that sewing tutorials sometimes aren’t the easiest to understand in images, so check out her video if you’re feeling lost!

Cut The Fabric

You can make your bag ANY size you’d like, the sizes I did are below. You’ll need to cut two pieces of fabric per bag, one for the outside and one for the inside at the exact same size:

• Turquoise: 11″ x 30″
• Violet: 12.5″ x 32″
• Pink: 14″ x 36″

Sew The Long Sides Together

Place the two pieces of fabric together with the right sides facing and align. Pin or just hold them them together and sew along both long sides of the fabric, using a 3/8″ seam allowance.

Turn + Iron

Turn the right sides out and iron out the fabric as evenly as possible.

Iron The Channel

Now we are making the channel where the “drawstring” or ribbon will go. Start by ironing each end up by 3/8″, then fold again about the same width as the ribbon you are using. Measure to make sure your folds are even and iron. Ironing makes it so that you really don’t even have to pin – it’s great!

Sew the Channel

With each end double folded, sew along the fold twice. One at 1/8″ and one at 3/8″.

Sew Bag Together

The last two seams are the sides which finish off the bag. Fold the fabric in half and sew each side together on the outside using a 3/8″ seam allowance. Sewing on the outside instead of on the inside let’s the seam show and let’s a bit of the lining peek through the sides!

Now For The Circut Iron-on Design

Download our free file at the end of the post, it comes with both “clean + dirty” and “wash + wear”.

• Import into your Cricut Design Space.
• “Ungroup” the file to select the design you want and delete the parts you don’t want.
• Now is the time to add a different word like “lingerie” or “Mrs.Carreiro”… or anything you’d like.

• Select different colors to organize your cut.
• Select all and choose “attach” then click go.

• Make sure to choose “iron-on” on the machine before you cut.
• Check of the little box that says “mirror image for iron-on” or else your design will come out backwards!

Iron-On Face Down

Don’t forget that all iron-on material is cut face down! Cut your design, carefully remove it from the cutting mat and trim down.

Weed The Design

Carefully remove all the excess iron-on material to reveal your “clean + dirty” design!

Iron It On

Place on top of your cute new bag and center. Place a scrap piece of material on top and iron for at least 30 seconds. Then iron the backside of the design, which means inside the bag, for another 30 seconds. All iron-on instructions can be found on the roll.

Add The Drawstring

Use a giant safety pin to help guide your ribbon through both channels of your bag. When using ribbon as the drawstring, the best way to keep it from fraying is to paint clear nail polish along the edge!

Clean + Dirty

Lingerie

Or maybe a larger bag for just your special little things…

Wear + Wash