Fabric Origami Bag - photo tutorial

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I've had a lot of requests to show how I made this bag - so here's a simple photo tutorial to show you:

You can make this bag whatever size you want - the bigger the fabric square you start with, the bigger the bag will be.

I used 2 fabric squares 41cm (16") for this bag.

I used fabric from 2 old dresses (because I love a good upcycle!!)

Stitch the 2 squares right sides together (remembering to leave a small gap to turn out through), clip the corners and turn out; then top stitch around all 4 edges.

Now you have a nice double sided fabric square to make your bag with.

First lay this square flat with what you want to be the OUTSIDE of the bag face down. (I wanted the purple to be the outside here).

Now you need to fold the bottom corner up, then the top corner down.  Play around with this until it looks nice and even!

If you like you can measure to check the sides are even.

Now take a ruler and either draw a line or mark with pins down through the centre from point to point:

Then stitch along this line.

Next fold in both side corners:

Now run 2 rows of stitching on both sides where you just folded. This will form the casing for the drawstring or ribbon.  It doesn't matter exactly where you stitch these rows. Just make sure the gap between them is wide enough to thread your ribbon through. 

Now fold the bag in half - so all the folds are on the inside of the bag:

And stitch down both sides close to the edge - you are stitching the sides of the bag here!

Now turn the bag out so the folds are on the outside!

Now all that remains to do is thread the ribbon or cord through.

I used lengths, 45 cm (18") each. Use a large safety pin to push each piece through the casing you created with your stitching.  Thread one piece through both sides from the left, and then the other piece through both sides from the right. 

Tie the ends of each piece of ribbon together at the sides:

And now you're finished!

Fill it up and use your new pretty bag!

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

And please do take a look through my other free sewing tutorials.

There are over 100 available for all levels of sewing ability.

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