Liberty Backpacks
School is out and the parks are full of kids throwing water balloons, eating soft-serve, and having the time of their lives. Every bit of it reminds me of how much fun those long, hot days of my childhood summers were. Lately though, my summer days feel, well… just long and hot.
Wanting to rekindle that carefree summertime spirit, I made these simple Drawstring Backpacks that are reminiscent of the small sacks we all toted around at summer camp. It’s still the perfect carry-all for all my July necessities: a great paperback, sunscreen, and a few dollars for the ice cream truck!
It was an easy choice to pair this classic bag with the most classic of all fabrics, Liberty of London’s Tana Lawn. Playful, summery prints plus a barely-there lightweight cotton makes Liberty just right for a hot weather tote. And another a little reminder of my 1980’s childhood: a pop of neon for the straps!
Knowing that everyone in my family (and yours!) would want in on these sweeties, I made them in three sizes, from toddler to adult. So to outfit everyone for some summertime fun, pick up a Materials for Drawstring Backpack kit, and since they only take about an hour to make, you’ll be back at the park in no time. – Corinne
Materials
One Materials for Drawstring Backpack kit includes . . .
- ¾ yard of Liberty of London’s Tana Lawn Classics
- ¾ yard of Robert Kaufman’s Cambridge Lawn in Ivory
- 6 yards of Poly Lacing
- 100% Cotton Thread in color 1040, 110 yards
These are enough materials to make two of the small or medium sized bags or one of the large bags (see Sizes, below).
Choose from three colorways:
Mint Mirabelle
Coral / Aqua Edenham
Light Blue Betsy
Sizes
Finished Bag Measurements:
Small/Toddler: 10 inches by 12 ½ inches
Medium/Child: 11 ½ inches by 13 ½ inches
Large/Adult: 13 ½ inches by 16 inches
Notes
Prewash all fabrics before starting.
All seam allowances in this project are ½ inch unless otherwise noted.
Pattern
Cut
Note: When cutting simple rectangular shapes for patterns such as this, straight, clean cuts are key. The best way to make these cuts is with a rotary cutter and a non-slip quilting ruler on a self-healing cutting mat. If you have limited experience using a rotary cutter, I recommend visiting our Rotary Cutting Tutorial.
For the Small/Toddler bag
Cut two 11-inch by 2 ½-inch pieces from the Liberty. These are for the drawstring channel.
Cut two 11-inch by 12 ½- inch pieces from both the Liberty and the Cambridge Lawn.
Cut the cord into two 45-inch long pieces.
For the Medium/Child bag
Cut two 12 ½ -inch by 2 ½-inch pieces from the Liberty. These are for the drawstring channel.
Cut two 12 ½ -inch by 13 ½- inch pieces from both the Liberty and the Cambridge Lawn.
Cut the cord into two 50-inch long pieces.
For the Large/Adult bag
Cut two 14 ½ -inch by 2 ½-inch pieces from the Liberty. These are for the drawstring channel.
Cut two 14 ½ -inch by 16- inch pieces from both the Liberty and the Cambridge Lawn.
Cut the cord into two 63-inch long pieces.
Sew the Bag and Lining
Pin the lining fabric pieces with right sides together along the two long sides and bottom short side. Sew the pieces together along these three sides, backstitching at the beginning and end of the seams. Trim corners at a 45 degree angle.
To press open the seam, fold out the raw edge of one layer of the seam allowance toward the body of the bag and press flat.
Turn the bag over and do the same on the opposite side.
Pin the outer fabric pieces with right sides together along the two long sides and bottom short side. Sew the pieces together along the bottom short side. Starting ½ inch from this sewn line, sew along the two long sides. Backstitch at the beginning and end of the seams. This 1/2-inch opening is where you will insert the backpack straps.
Trim straight along the sewn line until you reach the side seam. Cut down to bottom edge at a 45 degree angle.
Fold out the raw edge of one layer of the seam allowance toward the body of the bag and press flat.
Turn outer bag right side out. Slide the lining inside the bag, matching up their side seams. Pin the lining and outer bags together along the top and stitch 1/8 inch from the raw edges.
Sew the Channel
Use a zigzag stitch to sew around all four sides of both channel pieces.
Fold in the two short sides of the channel ½ inch towards the wrong side and press.
Fold in the two long sides of the channel ¼ inch towards the wrong side and press.
Fold the channel in half, with wrong sides together, lining up the two folded edges.
Pin one channel piece to one side of the bag as follows: Starting at the side seam, fold the channel over the top of the bag so that its raw edge is encased in the channel’s fold. Pin in place. The channel should fit perfectly from one side seam to the other. If it runs short or long, refold the sides so that it measures correctly.
Repeat with second channel on opposite side.
Sew the two channel pieces to the bag with an edge stitch, starting at the side seam, making sure to catch both sides of the channel pieces as you sew. Backstitch at both side seams to secure the ends of the channel pieces.
Thread the Drawstring
Tie a knot at all ends of your cut cording to prevent fraying. Secure a safety pin through the knot on one end of one piece of cording.
Thread the cording through the channel on one side of the bag and then back around the other side so that both ends of the cord are on the same side.
Repeat with the other piece of cording, starting on the opposite side. Pull the cord through so that the pieces are even.
Trim the knots off all ends. With the flame from a lighter or match, lightly singe the cut edges of the cord. This will seal the threads and prevent fraying.
Tuck the cord ends about ¼ inch into the open space at the bottom of the bag. Topstitch through all layers along the edge of the fabric’s folds, backstitching to secure. Repeat on opposite side.
Throw in your summer necessities and you’re ready to go!
Great tute and as on my list to do soon I'm going to use your tute, thanks!! Xo
These are so much prettier and probably much more comfortable than the usual nylon version. I live in Florida where it is hot most of the time–I will definitely be making a few of these. Thanks for the great pattern!
plus, these would be great gym bags!
Oh my gosh! I can't tell you how long I looked for this simple backpack! I finally found a nylon version at Outdoor World. However, had I had this pattern, I certainly would have picked my own fabric and made a few of them!
Thank you!
This is excellent. Thank you. My yoga backpack fell apart (thankfully, it was hideous) and I whipped one of these up in less than an hour. Using some fabric I had forgotten I had, and using the cord from my old yoga backpack – so technically, it was free as well! And with the the lining, it feels really robust.
What a wonderful pattern for back to school. If I wanted to make the adult version from different fabric, what is the yardage?
Thank you
Hi Perry –
Thanks for writing in!
To make one adult size bag, you would need 1/2 yard of fabric for the outer bag and 1/2 yard for the lining.
I hope this helps!
-Corinne
Aww! These are gorgeous! I must make one right away! Perfectly in time for our Aussie summer 🙂 I'm in LOVE with your blog and your photos and layout are so cute!
i'd really like to make these by hand, is that possible? I don't have a sewing machine. thanks!
I’m sure if you hand sewed it with a small backstitch it would hold together just fine.
Hi Hande-
I don't think a handsewn version would be sturdy enough, unfortunately!
Sorry about that!
Molly
Hi Hande!
When I was a child my mother did not have sew machine and made my cothes by hand.
With that in my mind I think that you should try to make the project using double strand of 100% nylon thread (instead cotton), and make small stitches…
Good luck!
Theresa
Hello! I was just making a backpack, and it's going great so far! I was just wondering, when you add the channel pieces to the main portion of the pack, do you want the raw edge right against the fold of the channel piece, or should you leave a space for the drawstring? (I hope my question makes sense) Thank you for the great tutorial by the way 🙂
Hi Tsubasa
You should leave room between the fold of the channel piece and the raw edge of the pack piece so that there is room for the strings to move freely when cinched.
Thank you for your question!
Molly
Hello! I featured your DIY tutorial on my blog Little City Style.
http://littlecitystyle.blogspot.com/2013/09/for-weekend-link-round-up.html
Thank you so much for the clear instructions. I am not a very experienced seamstress but I managed to produce a beautiful bag out of the kit I received from purl soho yesterday. I am sure my niece will be very pleased with it when she receives it for Christmas.
Kamilla
Help! I have almost finished one of these bags for my daughter.I decided to use your linen fishtail chord because I don’t like the synthetic ones. The problem is how to finish the ends so they don’t fray. Any ideas? Many thanks!
Hi Harriet –
Thanks for writing in!
To finish the linen cord, you can just tie a knot at the ends. Make sure that it is pulled very tight and this will keep the cord from fraying.
-Corinne
This is awesome ! Just finished a bag for my niece and it’s looking so nice. Just that the channels and the holes at the bottom were slightly too narrow for the cord I got at Joann’s so I couldn’t knot it at the end. A good trick as we can’t see the ends of the cords, is to just tape them to prevent fraying.
Love this bag and your tutorial looks easy to follow. Before I purchase my materials I have a quick question. Looking at the cutting dimensions for the fabric wouldn’t ½ yard of fabric be enough? I need a pack that is waterproof so I plan to buy what Joann’s calls a “Sport Nylon Fabric”. Do you see any problems or adjustments with using this type of fabric? Thanks!
Hi Mindy –
Thanks for writing in! Yes, 1/2 yard of fabric should be enough to make one bag. We added fabric to the kits so that you could make multiple bags with one bundle of fabric. I don’t foresee that you should have any issues or need any adjustments with a “Sport Nylon” fabric. Sounds like it will be a very useful bag!
-Corinne
It’s hard to tell in the photos, but is the ‘model’ wearing the adult size? Just curious for how large it would look on my kid.
Hi Amy P –
This is a great question! Coco is wearing the child’s size Backpack in these photos.
I Hope this helps!
-Corinne
Hello! I attempted to make this bag last night and have two questions as a result:
I have a Singer Featherweight 221 and the zigzag attachment does not work well on lightweight fabrics like this beautiful Liberty Lawn. Would pinking shears be sufficient to keep those channel edges from unraveling? Or the turn & stitch method? I don’t do a lot of zigzagging obviously so am wondering if there’s another way I could protect those edges in this project.
Then, in the picture above where the instruction is to press the side seam of the long edge of the outer bag: “Fold out the raw edge of one layer of the seam allowance toward the body of the bag and press flat.” How do you do separate one layer of the long edge when you’ve stitched the bottom edge all the way across? “Trim straight across the sewn line,” it says, before you make that 45-degree cut. Are you supposed to cut through that sewn line so you can fold it back? Hope that makes sense…
Thanks for your help! I love your patterns and am so grateful for any advice :)))
Hello Catherine –
These are great questions!
For the channel, I recommend the fold and stitch method (as you suggested) for the two short ends of the Channel piece. The long edges should be secure enough without any additional working of the seam allowance. However, if you would like to add additional strength to the seam you could do a second seam when you attach the Channel to the Bag, just slightly above the first.
And, yes, to fold back the seam allowance at the side seams you will clip through the stitch line at the bottom of the bag, just to the stitch line of the side seam, so that the seam allowance can open up.
I hope this is all clear! Please let me know if you have any other questions as you work on this project!
-Corinne
Hello! Perhaps you will consider bringing this kit back…it’s a great sewing project for young sewists! Thanks for including a variety of sizes too.
I have some Liberty fabric that I’d like to upcycle into this project. Of course I always pick your older tutorials where the materials are no longer in stock! Could you give me a rough estimate of the diameter of the cord used here?
Thank you!
Hi Elli,
Thanks for reaching out about this! I’m afraid that we haven’t carried the Poly Lacing used in the Liberty Backpacks pattern for so long, that we no longer have a record of its size. We’re so sorry about that!
However, you can base the size of cord you use for your project on the measurement of the drawstring channel in the backpack pattern! After folding the edges and sewing the strip of fabric to the bag, the drawstring channel measures 1.5 inches in circumference. Any size cord that’s thin enough to fit through this opening would work!
Apologies for the inconvenience, and please let me know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Lili