Making Draw String Pouches or Bags For Marbles and More

I mentioned recently that I was put into the Bears group in Cub Scouts. 

I got my first assignment and it had to do with marbles. I ponder why I would need to  know marbles with scouts but dutifully performed the tasks set aside in the manual for scouts and marbles. 

I wondered at the best method to make marble bags as they have it in the manual to help the boys make pouches to hold their marbles. We discussed what "pouches" are used for and how every culture has some form of the pouches for coins, riches, herbs, etc.

I figured we would need sturdy fabric as cotton would fray and need to be surged or hemmed at the edges and wouldn't be the most sturdy. I thought about using upholstery fabric but it gets caught or catches and is super stiff. I couldn't find leather and wondered if I should just make some bags out of the thicker fabric but it still would leave me needing to hem it all.

I found some polyester fabric and decided to make the pouches out of this fabric due to its ability to not fray. I clipped the top of the fabric with pinking sheers so I wouldn't have to sew a hem or salvage edge. If you are going to do this at home, l would suggest polyester knit fabric as it doesn't rip.

I found some super tight wind thin chording and we used that with large darning needles to sew a gather stitch at the top edge of the fabric. Make sure that you are not really close to the top edge so it doesn't pull through the top edge, about 3/4 inch down from the top edge is perfect.

Tie a knot at the end of the string before sewing and after you finish the gathering stitch, make sure you have enough string left to be able to tie a square knot to hold it closed. I wanted a way to be able to keep the bag closed even if the knot came undone. 

I came up with using a button to keep it closed. I cut the knot off the back end of the string and threaded both ends of the string through the button and then tied a knot on each end of the string. The button being pushed tightly against the fabric bag top when gathered worked great at keeping the top of the bag from opening when you wanted to keep it closed. 

I was really impressed at how the boys were able to gather the tops themselves. I could have had them sew the edges of the bag on a machine so they could have made the entire bag, but we just have time at our meetings for the sewing machine, but perhaps we can do that for another meeting. 

You can make the bags any shape you want but in the end, a rectangle worked best for the boys. Watch the video for more details, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Have a Blessed Day!