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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Drawstring Bag with French Seams: A Tutorial

A good friend of mine is getting married this summer. Her bachelorette party was a few weeks ago. I didn’t get to go, but I wanted to make a gift. I decided to make a lingerie bag.
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (12)

I made the bag using a technique called “French Seams”. It means that the raw edges are hidden despite the bag not being lined. Want to find out how to sew french seams? They are really useful for bags, pillow cases, skirts, and other clothing!

I got these super cute iron-on letters, stencil spray, and a blank bag from Fashion Art Projects. I wanted to use the purple sparkly letters for this bag.
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (1)

Anyway, here’s how you get started making a simple drawstring bag with French seams.
Take two identical pieces of fabric. Mine were 12” x 18”. bride bag for lingerie with french seams (2)

Here are the letters. They were easy to use. I decided where I wanted them on the bag, centered them, made sure they were level, and then followed the instructions to iron them on. Easy. bride bag for lingerie with french seams (3)
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (4)

Then, pin the two pieces of fabric together with WRONG SIDES TOGETHER. (May seem counterintuitive, but just trust me.)
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (5)

Sew the whole way around using about 1/2” seam allowance. Now your unfinished edges are on the outside of the bag.
  bride bag for lingerie with french seams (6)

Turn it wrong sides out. Use your fingers to push the fabric out as far as possible at all edges. Press the edges out flat. 
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (7)

Now, you will sew 3/4” seam allowance on the wrong side of the bag.
 bride bag for lingerie with french seams (8)

Now, when you flip the bag back to right sides out, you won’t see any raw edges on the outside or the inside. Press the bag flat.
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (9)

Next, make the top casing for the drawstring. I folded the edges under 1/4” and pressed. Then I folded them under 1” and pressed them again.
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (10)

I stitched the whole way around, leaving about 1” unstitched for inserting the drawstring.
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (11)

Use a safety pin to feed the drawstring through the bag’s casing. 
(I used t-shirt yarn as the string. I braided it and added some beads.)
bride bag for lingerie with french seams (13)

As you can see, french seams are very useful for various projects! This bag is a great project for anyone who is a beginning sewist (if that is a word).

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Disclosure: Fashion Art Projects provided me these iron-on letters and other craft items free of charge. I received no monetary compensation for this review and all opinions are my own.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing! I sew but I've never made French seams. I'm going to try it on my next project. Pinning you to my DIY board on pinterest.
    Cheers!
    Lori D.
    Atlanta

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    Replies
    1. Glad it inspired you to try it for your next project! Happy sewing. Jen

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  2. I just recently learned how to do this...my mom and I made some pillowcases for hospitalized kids through the ConKerr Cancer organization and they want you to use french seams. I've been sewing for years but never heard of it until then, but wow, what a cool technique! Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing at Shine on Fridays.

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  3. I had never heard of French seams until recently and then I wondered what the term meant. Thanks for the explanation and tutorial!

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  4. WOW! Thanks so much for sharing this! Excellent Tutorial and it is definitely something i want to try out!!

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  5. I've once used french seams, but I'd forgotten about them. They make things so much neater. I'd love for your to share this at my link party. http://adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com/2012/07/terrific-tuesdays-22.html
    Rachel

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