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Travel Tip – Drawstring Bags

I’ve always been pro having a separate pouch for dirty and clean underwear while traveling. They keep my underwear from getting lost in all my other clothes and keep my dirty underwear separate from everything else. It’s always been a necessity when I travel but on my last move I lost the bags I usually used! So now that I needed new ones, I decided to make really cute ones!

I decided that I wanted one that said “Fresh” for sure but I couldn’t decide what the other one should say so I went with a little Skull and Cross Bones instead. His cross eyes make me laugh. 🙂

Materials:

Embroidery Thread (DMC Floss Colors, 3852, 3799, 937, 964) Embroidery Needle Embroidery Hoop (6 inches) Scissors 1 Yard of Fabric for outside of bags (I used some leftover from when I recovered a lamp, the fabric type is called “Printed Duck”) 1 Yard of Fabric for inside of bags (optional but helps to keep the back of the embroidery from getting stuck on stuff) (I used some leftover fabric from some curtains, also printed duck) Ribbon for the drawstring (I used a velvety one) Sewing Thread that matches your fabric Sewing Machine (our you could just sew it by hand, I think it would be fine!) Straight Pins Ruler or measuring tape (not really necessary but helpful) Scotch Tape Printed Out Templates (Same as Above) A window that you can reach Fine point marker (or something else you can write a light line on fabric with) Iron & Ironing Board (optional)

The first thing I did was cut my fabric so that I would be able to embroider it.

I used this DIY instructional from Notes From the Kitchen Table for directions on how to make the bags (they didn’t do the inside lining). My fabric piece that I cut was about 22″ x 10″. You could also cut the inside lining fabric at this time or wait until later.

Embroider on the right or left side of the cut fabric (not in the middle). That way when you fold it in half the embroidery is right in the middle.

After my fabric was cut I started the embroidery portion. I used the printed out template to get my pattern onto my fabric. To do this I cut the template so that it fits inside the hoop and then taped it to the back of the hoop. Then I held it up to a window (during the day) and traced the pattern onto my fabric. (I found out it is harder to see the template the busier your fabric pattern is.) From there I started embroidering! The Vacations are for Explorations hoop that I did a while back has very detailed instructions  for the embroidery portion of this project if you need more information. To learn how to do the roses watch this YouTube video. To learn how to the do the letters watch this tutorial on how to back stitch. To learn to do the leaves watch this tutorial on the satin stitch (I didn’t outline the leaves first since they are so small).

Once the embroidery was done I followed the rest of the instruction from “Notes from the Kitchen Table” to finish up the bags.

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I am so pleased with how these turned out! Cute and practical, just how I like my life!

travelbags

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