Studio notes : drawstring bag with fabric composition conversation
I’ve been making these little drawstring bags for years and years. They’re fun to make, super practical, and a perfect way to show off special fabrics and your little design process.
When I begin making these bags I usually gather fabrics in a similar colour palette, with texture, design, and some plain colours. I always pull more fabrics that I know that I’ll use.
They can be small scraps with some bigger pieces. It really doesn’t matter. You’ll take time playing with the fabrics, auditioning them, and having a conversation.
The longer you spend creating these little landscape pieces, the more you lean into your own intuition.
While the end result is a drawstring bag, it’s the process of making the little pieced fabrics before you sew it together. There’s absolutely no rules at all!
Which is fun. Some of the bags I create a full one piece of fabric, perhaps with a little insert of embroidery or something else. Many of my bags are slow stitched pieces.
I like to think of the composing of the pieces as a conversation with my fabric. In the quietness you’re able to listen to your instinct, able to see what evolves and what creates under your hands, when you’re allowing the flow to be the process.
I use these little bags for all sorts of things. They’re perfect for carrying your current project while you’re out and about. You can create a bag any size you need, and then squash your fabric, threads, and supplies into it.
But the lovely thing about this versatile bag is that it can be customisable to anyone’s favourite colours and designs. Simple one-colour, delicate embroidery, or layered slow stitched pieced!
Use them to hold ballet shoes, toys, your lingerie or dirty clothes when travelling. Hang one on the back of the door to stash things in. Carry a pear or little snack in your handbag. Make a bunch of them to use as party bags for your children’s friends, or indeed your grown up friends.
Whatever you put into your drawstring bag - please do make sure that you make one or two, or a lot!
If you’d like to see some in-process videos I’ve shared on my Instagram. This one, here, a red stitched piece here, and playful composition here. Here’s one of my little embroidered bags in use.
