2022 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along

Back in mid-November, Jeni Baker @jenib320 began the 2022 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along, and I was all in. Our family loves repurposing fabric giftbags each Christmas (and other times of the year!); but every year it seems I (and my daughter, Rachel @snippetsofsweetness) need to make more to add to our stashes. 

Though I ordered just a few pieces of new holiday fabric to mix in with what I had, I mostly planned to make as many bags as I could with my current stash, and that worked pretty well. I did, however, need to place an order in Jeni's shop for some supplies for bag ties. In addition to my favorite twill tape, I also ordered some paracord to try. Also shown are some fun beads I plan to use on future bags, and some cotton webbing just to have on hand.

In Week 2 of the sew along, Jeni shared a new tutorial for a Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag, which I definitely wanted to try, and I made it the first new bag I sewed up. Cute, isn't it?!

After that, I focused on more basic bags without a pieced front, basically for the purpose of speed. I used the basic pattern in Jeni's Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern - the same as her free tutorial, except with 8 sizes + instructions for a custom size. And then I also referenced her Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern, which has my current favorite, the Mini Accent variation (see the navy one on the left, below, the three aqua ones, and the gray one in the lower right). The expansion pattern also has the alternative gusset method that is my go-to now.

As you can see, I used a variety of options for ties, depending on what each bag called for - twill tape, cotton cord, and of course the paracord, which was fun to try! I was a bit ahead of the sew along, as just today, Jeni shared a really helpful post on Tips for Working with Paracord. I obviously figured out how to finish off the ends of the paracord, but I learned a thing or two from her post for next time. Meanwhile, I have 10 new bags for this season - three each Artist-size and Project-size, and four Everything-size. Unfortunately that's absolutely the only thing I'd done to get ready for the season, but it's something!