Cerise Magazine

Have you ever wanted to make your own dice bag, but felt that your sewing skills weren’t up to the task? You may find that felt – inexpensive, easy to cut to a pattern and requiring no hemming whatsoever – is an ideal material with which to make your own bags. And after turning out a few easy felt dice bags, you may be ready to try branching out into other, more challenging materials.

Cost: very inexpensive. Enough materials for a few bags can easily be purchased for under $10, US. Embellishments can raise the cost.

Time: 2-3 hours for an experienced sewer, probably more for a novice.

Skill level: this craft requires only very basic sewing skills, and is a good choice for someone just learning to sew.

Equipment: you’ll need at least two pieces of felt (available in notebook-sized sheets at most craft stores), embroidery thread, yarn (or ribbon, or cord), an embroidery needle, straight pins, scissors, a pencil and a printout of the pattern provided in this article. You might also like to have a small safety pin or a crochet hook on hand, and any embellishments you’d like to use on your bag, such as beads, sequins, patches, etc.

Gather your supplies together and get ready to start sewing!

Step 1: Print out the pattern

Copy the pattern linked above into a program that allows for some image editing, and resize it (keeping the proportions the same, if you can) to the size you want your finished bag to be. Print it out, and cut it out along the solid outline. If the rectangular part at the top is taller than an inch, trim it down a little.

Step 2: Transfer the pattern to the felt

Put the pattern down on one of the pieces of felt you want to use, and trace around it with the pencil (you may find that it is easiest to move the pencil in short back-and-forth segments, instead of drawing smoothly, as you would on paper).

Holding your second piece of felt against the one you traced the pattern onto, carefully cut the felt along the penciled line.

Step 3: Pin and prepare to sew

Using the pattern as a guide, pin the two pieces of felt together where the dashed line would be. This will be where your stitches go.

Mark the location of the dotted line near the top with pins tucked into the fabric sideways.

Step 4: Sew

Thread your needle with embroidery thread (ideally, in a color that looks good against the felt you’re using!) and use a running stitch to sew along the line marked by your pins, starting and ending where the dotted line appears on the pattern (which you marked with sideways pins earlier). For this pattern, your stitches will be visible when you are finished, so take your time and try to make them neat and even.

Step 5: Sew drawstring pockets

You should now have a bag with two short flaps at the top. Next, you will fold each flap over and – being careful not to sew your bag shut – sew pockets for a drawstring.

Fold one of the flaps over, being sure to leave enough room for the yarn, ribbon, or cord you plan to use as a drawstring, and pin it in place. Stitch the flap down. Take your time – it’s very easy to accidentally sew through too many layers of felt during this step.

Turn the bag over, and pin down the other flap. Sew the second pocket the same way you sewed the first.

Step 6: Insert the drawstrings

Cut two drawstrings, each long enough to circle the mouth of the bag and with a few inches left over, from your yarn, ribbon, or cord. Look at your bag. You should have two long pockets for the drawstrings, with an opening at each end of each pocket. In order to make the bag easy to open and close, you’re going to cross your drawstrings inside the pockets.

Insert your first drawstring through one of the openings, and thread it through the pocket (you may find that a crochet hook helps with this. You can also try tying a closed safety pin to the end of the drawstring and pushing it through the pocket) and out the opposite opening. Now, make a loop by inserting the same drawstring in through the next opening over – the opening to the second pocket – and out through the fourth opening. Tie the two ends of the string together.

Now repeat the process with the other drawstring, starting with the other set of openings, so that you have knotted strings on both sides of the bag.

To close the bag, just tug on both ties.

Your dice bag is ready to use!

A few ideas for enhancing your project:

Use beads to add weight and interest to your drawstrings.
Experiment with embroidery and appliqué to decorate your bag.
If you have more than one set of dice, make bags in different sizes and colors to suit different collections.
Try using two different colors of felt to make bi-colored bags.

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Craft Check: Easy Felt Dice Bags

June 2007 Issue

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