Fat Bottomed Drawstring Bags

Lately I've been having a strange obsession with fat bottomed drawstring bags. I thought I was done with drawstring bags... When I first started exploring bags bottoms, I thought that logically the circumference of the bottom should fit the surface area of the bag perfectly. But it soon became clear that I would end up with a tube-like bag. Not very attractive.

Fat Bottomed Bag No. 1

This blue-white gingham piece started out like a usual flat-piece bottomed bag. At this point, flat-bottomed bags was beginning to bore me to death so I thought why not explore round bottoms.

I started out with a rectangle. At four corners of the rectangle, I marked four small squares. To calculate the length of the rounded corners, I found this website http://www.mathopenref.com/arclength.html which gave me the formula. After driving myself insane with the massive calculation, I finally finished with the paper pattern.

Just to be sure, I used a measuring tape to measure the paper pattern. It fitted the base of the bag perfectly. I should have been a mathematician! (Um, what do they do?)

Sewing the bag bottom to the bag wasn't really difficult. Cutting little notches on the seam allowance of the bottom helps.

I really like this bag. It's cute. The embroidery is of my kids and me skipping. (The one with the big head is me). It's a fantasy world. In real life we just sit in front of the computer playing Heroes V.

Fat Bottomed Bag No. 2

I borrowed this book Handmade Gifts from Fabric in the Japanese Tradition by Kumiko Sudo from the National Library and was delighted to see a few fat bottomed drawstring bags featured.

I'm usually rather wary of following tutorials via books because it always turns out to be harder than it looks. Browsing through, I knew I had to choose the hardest one to make.

This little baggie consists of a million pieces of patchwork. After joining them into a tube like structure, you handsew the bottom pieces together. Check out the bottom! (You can see my ugly handsewing thread sticking out.)

I just love this baggie to death. It's completely useless though. I don't know when I might have the occasion to use it.

Cute Bottom

Fat Bottomed Bag No. 3

This bag is far easier to make as it only consists of strips of fabric sewn into a tube. The bottom is sewn together and the seams covered by a yo-yo.

I made a huge mistake when I used denim for the casing. It's too stiff and as a result I cannot close the casing all the way.

My Bottom's really a hat?

Check out the cords I used for drawstring. I braided it using my braiding machine.

My Braiding Machine

I found this stool which has a hole in the centre at a household goods store. The hole is where you put the finished braid. The empty jam jars act as weights.

This cord is a four string (lily yarn) round braid and it's really gorgeous. I like the cord more than the bag (you know because of the casing being too tight).

This bag is meant for keeping your favourite marbles and that's exactly what I'll do with it.