Miniskirt to Drawstring Bag Upcycle Tutorial

Sewphilia Studio
by Sewphilia Studio
9 Materials
$5
1 Hour
Easy


Today I’m going to be refashioning an old skirt of mine. I made a gold sequined miniskirt a while back, but the zipper came off, and the truth is, I’m not so into the skirt anymore, so I decided it was time to give it a new life and a new purpose. So follow along as I show you how to sew a drawstring bag from a miniskirt.

Tools and materials:

  • Miniskirt
  • Bias tape, string, or rope
  • Chain
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Measuring tape
  • Safety pin
  • Serger
  • Sewing machine
DIY drawstring bag

Cut

My first step was to cut open the back seam of the skirt. If your skirt has a zipper, you should remove it at this time. 

Sew a drawstring bag

Measure and cut

Next, I folded the fabric with the right sides facing each other and measured how big I wanted my bag to be from top to bottom, making sure to take into account a few inches of fabric above the gathered opening of the bag. Then I cut the fabric to the desired length.

How to sew a drawstring bag

Serge

Once the fabric was cut to size, I serged all the raw edges.

Make a drawstring bag

Fold and pin

I folded one long edge of the fabric inwards by 4 inches and pinned it down. 

How to make a drawstring bag

Sew

Then, I sewed two lines of stitching--one close to the edge, and another one about ½ an inch above it, to create a channel for the drawstring. 

drawstring bag tutorial

Pin and sew

I folded the fabric with the right sides together and pinned the side edge closed. Then I sewed the side edge from the top to the first line of stitching. I left a gap in the stitching at the opening of the channel, and then sewed the rest of the side edge from the second line of stitching to the bottom. Finally, I sewed the bottom edge closed, as well. 

Sew

Because I wanted the bottom of the bag to be flat, I folded the bottom corners of the bag into a triangle with the side seam in the center. Then I sewed a line across the corner about 2 inches down from the point. Then I repeated this for the second corner. 

Prepare the drawstring

I cut a length of bias tape that was three times the length of one side of the bag. Because I used bias tape for the drawstring, I had to fold it in half and sew it down before running it through the channel at the top of the bag. But if you use rope or string, you can just cut it to the proper length. No sewing necessary. 

Make a small tube

Before inserting the drawstring, I used some excess fabric to make a small tube, about 2 x 2 inches. Then, I sewed a line down the middle from one opening to the other, creating two small channels. 

Insert the drawstring

I ran the drawstring through the channel by attaching a safety pin to one end of it and guiding it through from one side to the other. Once the drawstring was pulled through the bag, I inserted each end of the drawstring into the channels in the small tube and tied the ends off. 

Attach the handle

I would have preferred using a D-hook to attach the handle, but since I don’t have one, I simply hand-sewed the last links on either side of the chain onto the top edge of the bag.


And here is the final result! I am so happy with how this transformation came out! Let me know what you think of my DIY drawstring bag upcycle.

Suggested materials:
  • Miniskirt
  • Bias tape
  • Chain
See all materials

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Comments
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2 of 14 comments
  • Tara Tara on Apr 16, 2022

    this is adorable! love love love it!!! good job!

  • Daisy Daisy on Apr 16, 2022

    I love short skirts, just an appropriate length-not TOO short.This is a great idea maybe for a skirt that is needing new life.

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