Drawstring Ipod bag

As I mentioned in an earlier post, over Christmas break I decided to get crafty. I wanted to make a small drawstring bag that had an interior pocket, so that I could store my headphones and the little attachment pieces that came with them in a place where they wouldn't get messed up or lost, and that was portable. Initially, I thought about making a little zipper case like I used to have. Then I thought, "you're crazy." So I settled on the drawstring bag and set about making a pattern.

I picked out two really cute fabrics (one was a remnant). The exterior fabric is this really cute black fabric with music notes in rainbow colors. I know - super cutesy - but I thought it was kind of fun, since it was for my music player. The remnant fabric was a yellow calico with a small white pattern. I also purchased some lightweight cotton batting, and a spool of cord which coordinated with the exterior fabric. You need less than 1/2 yard of each of the fabrics for this project.

I used 8 1/2 x 11 paper to make my pattern. Seriously. I'm a goof, but its what I had. I used a straight edge to make sure my pieces were as close to square as possible. I cut the three fabrics first into rectangles that were 6" wide and 11" tall. I also cut two pieces (one each of interior and exterior) into a 6"x 3" rectangle, to use for the pocket.


First, I sewed the two pocket pieces together, just along the long sides and the flipped it right side out and ironed it flat. I stitched along one long end (which would become the top of the pocket), then put it aside. I decided to sew the batting to the interior fabric to make it easier to work with. So next, I sewed the large interior fabric to the batting (right side out), next I pinned the pocket fabric (with interior fabric facing together) about halfway down the long piece of the interior fabric. I stitched along the edges (matching seams) and across the bottoms. Then, I made two vertical seams to create dividers in the pockets.

I folded the interior fabric, right sides together ("hamburger way"), and sewed along each side (leaving the top open and the bottom unsewn). After trimming the fabric, I mitered the corners so that the bag would stand flat (see below) - then trimmed the corners, too.

After flipping it inside out, this is how it looked below. (this will eventually be the interior of the bag). Next I folded the exterior fabric together (right sides facing each other) like I did with the interior, and sewed up the sides, trimming the seams.

I mitered the corners on the exterior fabric as well. Once done, I put the bag together - with right sides facing each other (below). I really pressed it together, to make sure that the bags were as closely fitted as possible before I stitched around the top. Initially, I was really struggling to figure out how to assemble the bag so that there wouldn't be any exposed seams inside the bag. This blog entry really helped me figure it out.
I pinned a 2" gap in the top edges and sewed around the top (trying to match the line where I had previously sewn the batting to the interior (see teal line in above photo). I left the 2" gap at the side seam - had I thought about it, I wouldn't have done it that way, as the seam is weaker so it split a little and needed some triage later.

Anyway, after sewing around the top, I pulled both bags through the hole and then pushed the interior bag into the exterior (see below).

To do the drawstring, I went back to one of the side seams and using a seam ripper I opened a 1/2" gap, 1" from the top of the bag (I chose an inside seam because it looked cuter to have the drawstring on the inside). After marking the top and bottom of the gap, I sewed around the outside of the bag, one row at the bottom mark, one at the top. (Sewing the rows around works as a "stop" so that the side seam won't unravel further) Then, after putting a safety pin in the cord, I pulled it through the drawstring channel and VOILA! See below!

The finished project below. Later I realized that I could put my Nano in one of the pockets and put the camera into the body of the bag. Because its padded, I worry less about dropping it, and seriously, its as cute as a button.

If you were going to make one for yourself, you should make sure that if you have a larger Ipod (i.e. Ipod touch or regular Ipod) that you add vertical inches to the pattern. Additionally, put the Ipod into the bag before you measure and sew the drawstring channel so that you can make sure its above the height of your ipod.

Finally, I liked the drawstring tutorial blog so much that I modified my pattern for one prototype and included a small oval bottom. I decided that ultimately, it was too much work for the small nature of the bag - the oval was like 3" across and so it was really hard to measure the right amount of fabric and to sew it onto the oval. But I think that her pattern is a pretty great one and I could see myself using it for a variety of other little purposes.