Free Party Favor Tutorial

I figured since CKC is celebrating our 2nd Birthday and having 30,000 facebook fans, now is the perfect time to share some fun party favor tutorial. So today we will be sharing an quick and easy drawstring bag. Later this week we also share some great little favors to fill those goodie bags with.

Okay so lets get started. To start off with you will want to cut the following pieces.

12" wide by 10" high for the main bag piece
 Ruffle 4x44"
Top casing 2.5" x 13.5"
Tie 2" x 44"

After you have cut all your pieces you should have a pile similar to this.

Step 1: To start off we are going to take our main bag pieces and lay them right sides together. Next you will sew along all three sides. Leaving one side open. like pictured below.

Step 2: Take the ruffle and fold it right sides together, sew up the short side so that we have a continuous loop.

Step 3: We are now going to roll hem the bottom of the ruffle. This is easiest if you have a serger, if you do not have a serger, you are still able to do it, it will just take a little longer. To do a rolled hem on a sewing machine you will fold the fabric back a 1/4", sew, then turn it back another 1/4", and sew. It's very simple, just time consuming, but it is worth it! Roll hem the bottom only.

Step 4: We are now going to gather the ruffle to sew on the bag. Set the machine on the longest stitch length. Sew at the top of the ruffle 1/4" down making sure not to backstitch at the beginning or end. Some seamstresses prefer to have two rows of stitching in case a thread breaks, however, if you are using high-quality thread as we do, then one row of stitching should be sufficient.

Step 5: Take the bag and lay it on a flat surface for reference on how wide our ruffle needs to be. 

 Begin gathering the ruffle by pulling the 2 top threads and moving the fabric back so it is gathered together. 

 

 When it looks like it is the right width, we can begin pinning the ruffle to the bag by putting the ruffle along the top of the bag and adjusting the gathers as we go. At this point, we will know if it is gathered too much or too little and it is easier to adjust correctly. Make sure that the side seams of the ruffle match the side seams of the bag.

Once you have the ruffle pinned in place you will stitch it to the bag 1/4" from the edge.

Step 6: We are going to make the top casing now. Take the strip we've cut for our casing and iron each end in 1". Then fold in half lengthwise and iron. 

 Now we will pin our casing on to the top of the bag starting and ending at a side seam liked pictured below.

Next we will sew along the entire edge of the bag like shown.

We may now flip the casing up and topstitch our casing. Sew 1/8" from the ends around all four edges of the bow. 

Step 7: In this step we are going to be ironing our tie. To do this we will take our strip, fold it in half length wise, and iron so we have a nice crease. Open the strip back up so the crease is going down the center. Now fold in both ends in by 1/2" and iron. Now we will fold both of the long sides in so that they meet at the crease in the center and iron. Once ironed fold it in half again lengthwise like we did in the beginning; the original center crease we made will be along the bottom and the two folds will be lined up at the top. 

Now we sew along the open edges of the tie like pictured. Lastly using a safety pin we will guide the tie in one of the openings of the casing and feed it though and out the other end. Tie the ends of the tie together and your done.!!

Hope you all can find many uses for this quick and simple bag. And remember to check back later this week for some fun party favor tutorials to fill those bags with. Happy sewing Y'all!!