Cameron's tech and art rotation includes woodwork and food but also graphic design where he learnt to use a drawing tablet and work with Manga Studio, art was drawing this year - which Cameron excells at, in wood work he made a very neat money box, plastic work uses CAD (computer aided design) where he made a picture frame and stand using lots of fancy equipment and now he has rotated through to textiles.
I'm a bit giddy about him getting to experience textiles class because it wasn't included in my school education at all and I'm fascinated to find out what will be taught and how a teacher manages a class full of kids with sewing machines!
Last week, Cameron came home and mentioned that they'd be making a drawstring bag and asked if I could give him some pointers to help him. Panic! I can help in so many ways with his school work but the correct way to sew is something I am accomplished at.
I set about looking for online tutorials so I could brush up my skills. Being a visual learner I went straight for YouTube.
I started with this Simple Drawstring Bag Sewing Tutorial which delivers exactly what it promises.
I made mine with part of a vintage tablecloth that I picked up in a charity shop (no gasping - it had permanent stains so was always intended to be a cutter!) and used some ribbon from my box for the drawstrings.
Despite my dodgy sewing skills (why is it so hard to sew in a straight line?!) I was quite pleased with the outcome.
This all seemed fairly straight forward, but what if Cameron's project was intended to be a lined bag?
Whitney Sews was my first stop on YouTube. If you haven't come across her channel before then it's worth a look. She's very good at simplifying a project and making it look easy. I also find her adorable, especially as - like me - she has named her sewing machine!
Whitney has a DIY Fully Lined Drawstring Bag tutorial which is easy to follow and shows an easy but clever trick for not having raw edges on the drawstring openings.
30 minutes later I had a fully lined drawstring bag which I'm so pleased with that I'm still admiring it!

Cameron was suitably impressed when he arrived home (phew!) and we've earmarked the next rainy weekend day for him to do some practising with the machine.
I think these bags are going to be so useful for storing projects in progress and transporting knitting.
I have to admit that - despite this not being a craft I'm ever going to be uber talented at - I'm itching to do some more sewing projects now.























