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Last Fall I got the chance to write a guest post for the Sewing Rabbit. Halloween was getting closer and my spiderweb drawstring backpack was perfect for carrying all the candy. Today I want to bring the tutorial home. Drawstring backpacks are perfect for all year and the spiderweb would be cool even for older boys.

Materials:

• Fabric for the backpack
• Cord or rope
• leather scrap, vegan leather, some ribbon or scrap fabric

I like to use midweight fabric that still gathers nicely when you draw the cord, but I’ve also made one from canvas and it is great, too.

How To

1. Cut your fabric. You need two 14″ x 18″ rectangles (here in blue). Plus, for this version, you need an additional piece of fabric in a contrasting color (white) that is just slightly smaller than the other two. (You can adjust the fabric sizes according to the fabric that you want to use…)

2. Iron some fusible adhesive to the back of the contrasting fabric. Then sketch your spiderweb to the back. Remember that you’ll later turn the fabric around, so whatever you sketch needs to be mirrored! This hasn’t got to be perfect. Just go with the flow. Now cut the net out, peel the fusible off, turn it around and iron it to the right side of your front piece.

3. Now, make yourself comfortable in front of your sewing machine and topstitch the spiderweb in place.

4. Also cut your spider from the vegan leather (or whatever you want to use).  If you use a scrap of fabric, you can also iron some fusible adhesive on it and then iron it onto the spiderweb. Topstitch the spider in place.

5. Serge or zigzag the edges of your two rectangles.

6. Cut four 1″ x 2,5″ rectangles from the vegan leather or cut your ribbon in the same length. We need two of them now and two in the last step.

7. Lay your front right side up on the table. Fold two of your leather rectangles in half lenthwise (left sides together). Lay them on the front piece (1″ from the bottom) with the open ends aligned to the serged edge of the front piece. Baste in place.

8. Lay front and back piece right sides together, pin and sew with a 3/8“ seam allowance. Start 2 1/4″ from the top, sew down to the corner, pivot, sew along the bottom, pivot and sew up until 2 1/4″ from the top. Iron your seam allowance open (also at the top parts that you haven’t sewn together). Turn right sides out.

9. Top stitch the seam allowance of the slits at the top in place.

10. Fold the top of front and back piece 1″ to the wrong side to create the channels for the drawstring. Topstitch the tunnels in place (approximately 3/4″ from the folded top).

11. Thread the cord through the channels as shown on the picture. You start at one channel, thread the cord through and go back through the other channel. For the second cord you do this the other way round.

12. Thread one of the loose ends of each cord through the vegan leather guides at the bottom of the pack. Then lay the two ends of each cord in between the remaining vegan leather rectangles (from step 6) that are again folded in half. Sew the rectangle closed. Try to stay really close to the cord. Cut close to the stitching line so that the rectangles aren’t much wider than the two cords (see below).

Admire your new drawstring backpack.

I hope you liked the tutorial. One of my goals for this year is to offer at least one tutorial, free pattern or other freebie (plotter, applique, downloads etc.) for you. So make sure to follow along to not miss anything. Or subscribe to the newsletter to get informed.

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