Drawstring bags need a base, body, channel, and closure that work together. These eight original designer patterns all start from a round base, but their finished proportions and resizing methods differ.
A tapestry needle makes threading the drawstring channel and closing the base seam much easier.
Drawstring bag patterns to explore
1. Round Crochet Drawstring Bag
Sarah-Jayne Fragola’s bag is an intermediate pattern that uses the feather stitch, and the page says beginners may want to practice that stitch first. It uses two balls of Scheepjes Sunkissed (4ply/fingering, 100% cotton) in Peach Ice with a 3 mm hook, and 6 stitch markers, five in one style and one in another. She strongly recommends making a gauge swatch. The finished bag is about 19.5 inches around and 7.5 inches high, with functioning drawstrings.
2. Resizable Crochet Drawstring Bag
Lindsey Roe’s drawstring bag is beginner-friendly and customizable: for a smaller bag you stop the base when it is the size you want, and for a bigger one you add rows. The base is worked in multiples of six stitches. The finished bag is 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall, worked with 5.5 mm and 7 mm hooks in Hoooked recycled cotton blends, and there is a video tutorial. You may sell finished items if you credit Off the Beaten Hook.
3. Raffia Crochet Drawstring Bag
Louise Bollanos’ bag starts from a circular base of 6 inches in diameter and continues in single crochet to a height of 9.5 inches, and you can make it as tall as you like. The sample uses raffia-style yarn and a 5.5 mm hook, plus a 43 inch strap chain, a 12 inch tassel charm and two 1 inch keyring clips. She suggests linen stitch or moss stitch as alternatives that suit raffia. The gold bag chain needs pliers to attach.
4. Basic Crochet Drawstring Pouch
Viv’s basic drawstring pouch is a beginner project that can be someone’s first crochet project. It is worked in double crochet rounds, starting with a foundation chain and working round the underside, and the stitch count after each row is in parentheses. Drawstrings are chains of 40, and you weave them under and over the double crochets and chain spaces on each side. It uses about 15 g of medium weight yarn and a 5 mm hook, with a video tutorial.
5. Drawstring Backpack
Jess Coppom’s drawstring backpack was made with Lion Brand and is a bucket bag worked in single crochet in cotton, with two strands held together throughout for a sturdy body. You can personalize the drawstring straps with leather, wooden beads or tassels, and use up cotton scraps or choose a solid color. The straps are Romanian cord, worked by continually turning the piece clockwise, about 52 inches each. It uses Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton and a J/6 mm hook.
6. Simple Mini Crochet Drawstring Pouch
Rebecca’s mini drawstring pouch is a small project (4 inches tall and 3 inches wide flat) made in worsted weight acrylic or cotton with a 5 mm hook for the bag and a 4 mm hook for the drawstring (chain 80). It uses no special stitches, and the striped version, first published as Simply Striped, is made by changing colors each round. The page suggests it for stash busting or filling a gift basket.
7. Drawstring Bag
Jo’s drawstring bag starts from an hdc magic-circle base worked to 4 inches across, then switches to a shell-and-chain-space pattern for the sides so the fabric has some stretch and texture. It uses a size 4 (worsted) yarn on an H/8 (5 mm) hook, about 80 yards for the bag plus 10 yards for a separate crocheted cord, and finishes about 7.5 inches high with a 4 inch base. The base round count and side row count are both easy to adjust for a bigger or smaller bag, and there’s a video tutorial alongside the written pattern.
8. Small Drawstring Pouch
Jeanette Bagley’s small pouch uses a solid scallop stitch worked in the round, combining double, single and treble crochet with back-loop-only rows, and there is a video for the stitch. It is a small pouch at 5.5 by 7 inches, made from about 150 yards of white worsted (#4) yarn, with a marker and a yarn needle, and two woven drawstrings close it. Gauge is about 2 scallop stitches by 3 scallop rows in a 2 inch square.
