it's a cinch!

I acutally learned how to make these bags when i volunteered to make some for humanitarian aid for my church...

and you can go HERE for probably way better instructions....

I bought a yard of the football flannel..and i already had the yard of the red..(the red is just to make the inside look nice...you can skip it and just do one fabric.....(and actually one yard makes two bags....so you could buy one yard and  just double up the football fabric!) and you will need about 4-5 yards of the red rope material....but you could use shoelaces...ribbon, etc...(the red rope at joanns was a tab expensive)

I cut out rectangles...you can pick any size really....if you are making them for a small person you will want a smaller size....this one is approx 14 by 36 inches

I was painting. that is why my finger is black. but ironed down the top and bottom edges about 1/3 of inch and then took in the sides of them starting at a half inch and going smaller....(to all 4 sides)

then i folded down about two inches and sewed right at the bottom...

then i folded in in half....right sides together. front and back both have that lip and the sides all sewn in

before you sew up the sides you take 3-4 inches of the belt material from your flag football set....

fold it in half....

and place it inside...so all the raw edges are facing outwards...

pin in place and sew all the way up to the folded over edge..(don't sew past that part)

you stop right there.....

make sure you reinforce that nylon belt material...

here's what it looks like so far....

go ahead and turn it right sides out....
take your rope material and add a safety pin and feed it through your top part...

one piece is going to go in one side and go all the way around. so you are exiting right by the whole where you started...... (do it for both sides)

you can tie a knot. but i'm not a boy scout. or a girl scout. and can't tie a proper knot...so i just sewed the pieces together....

what the sides looks like.....

completely lost? sorry about that.

when you pull the strings it makes the bag cinch up at the top keeping all your priced possessions inside...

and then you throw it on your back and take them wherever...

(he's trying to watch good luck charlie)

did you see my flag football set?

pssst. have you seen this ADORABLE ruffle version?

source

if you bought some of that awesome ruffle fabric you could make one super duper easy!!!!