Tutorial: Sleeping Bag Duffle

Emma heads off to summer camp tomorrow for the first time. She will be 13 in less than a month, I thought it was high time she spent some time away from home. She isn't exactly excited about it but we're making the best of it.

When I was a kid summer camp was the highlight of the summer, right after the County 4H fair. Probably because I lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone else from birth to death and the majority of us were cousins I looked forward to any opportunity to get away and meet new people. For either one of my many trips to camp or maybe when I was in the Performing Arts Troupe that toured the state all summer, my Mom made me a drawstring duffle for my sleeping bag and pillow. Mine was heavy denim and had my name appliqued on the side. It was also huge!

I made this simple duffle for Emma to put her sleeping bag in and to keep it neat and easy to identify. I made it in less than 2 hours with one yard of cotton fabric. It would probably take less time now that I have measurements and am not stopping at every step to take photos!


(It still needs an actual drawstring, seems that no matter how much fabric, notions and other stuff I have here at home I still need to make a trip to the store to finish a project!)

Step one:
Measuring and cutting.
Measure around the rolled up sleeping bag. I added quite a few inches to leave room for extra stuff like a blanket or small pillow or if Emma can't get it rolled back up as tight at the end of camp. I determined that one yard would be just right.

Cut yard of fabric in half length wise set aside one 36" x 22" piece to use for bottom and optional pockets.



Finish raw edges of 22" sides. I chose to serge mine with a narrow 3-thread overlock stitch. You could also trim with pinking shears or sew a small zigzag stitch.

Step Two: Marking and Sewing
Fold right sides together matching finished edges. Pin
Make small marks in seam allowance 1.5" and 2" from top edge. I chose to leave the selvage as my top edge.
Sew seam using a 1/2" seam allowance from top edge to first mark, secure, cut thread.
Sew remainder of seam from second mark to bottom, securing stitches at mark.

Press seam open.

Step Three: Making Round Bottom.
Here's where the math part comes in. If you don't remember your basic algebra the formula to determine the circumference of a circle is: Diameter x 3.14(pi) or for our purposes we're going to reverse the formula and take the circumference and determine our diameter: Circumference/pi + 1" for seam allowances.


Because I serge my raw edges I ended up with a 34" circumference instead of the original 35" that I had planned. That gave me an approximately 11" diameter (10.83 to be exact) So I cut a circle with a 12" diameter.

Fold circle in quarters and mark with small notches.

Fold main body into quarts and mark with notches.

Step Four: Sewing body to bottom

Match notches on body to notches on bottom, pin. Continue matching and pinning the raw edges (right sides together). You may need to make small snips in the raw edge of the body to help ease around the curve to match the bottom.

Sew. Be careful to keep both layers flat under the needle, stopping every few inches with the needle down to straighten fabric and keep raw edges matching.

Finish edge.


Step Five: Make Drawstring casing.

Fold top edge down, wrong sides together 1 1/4" inches. If you have a raw edge here turn raw edge under 1/4" then turn down remaining inch. Press and pin.

Sew 1" from folded edge. I chose to sew from the right side using a 3mm topstitch. You could also stitch from the wrong side 1/8" from finished edge.

If you made your small opening in the side seam in the right place you should have a small hole right at the top of the bag to thread your drawstring through. I typically use one and a half the circumference of the bag for my drawstring, 1.5 yards in this case. I plan to get a slippery nylon cord and a cord stopper. After my trip to Joann's I'll try to remember to take a photo of the finished product and post it here.

I just made mine plain and simple but you could add a pocket to either the inside or outside, if you have an embroidery machine you could add a cute design or your child's name to the side. If it is going to get a lot of rough and tumble use, like when I took mine on the road for the summer, you may want to make it out of a sturdier fabric like denim, canvas or home dec weight cotton. There are even some really cute new vinyl coated cottons out there that would make it slightly water-resistant.

Happy Summer. Don't miss your kids too much while they are off on new adventures. I'm going to try not to miss Emma but it won't be easy.