# Handout 5.11: Bag and Pouch Pattern, Cut Guide, and Seam Quality Checklist

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________ Period: ______ Station: ______

**Directions:** Part 1 on Day 1 during the slides. Part 2 is the pattern description and the cut steps. Part 3 is the closure step cards for Day 3. Part 4 is the stitch quality checklist, which you run on your own item before you hand it in. Part 5 is the name tag.

**The build:** a drawstring bag in woven cotton, seamed on the machine, turned right side out, with a working drawstring channel. **The hand path:** a felt pouch, hand-backstitched, from the same pattern page, for the hand station. Both are real builds and both run on the same checklist.

## Word bank in other languages

[Check with a native speaker before printing.]

| English | Turkish | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| pattern | kalıp | molde | patrón (molde) |
| cut | kesmek | cortar | cortar |
| pin | iğnelemek | prender com alfinete | prender con alfileres |
| seam line | dikiş çizgisi | linha da costura | línea de costura |
| seam allowance | dikiş payı | margem de costura | margen de costura |
| fold | katlamak | dobrar | doblar |
| turn (inside out) | ters çevirmek | virar do lado certo | voltear |
| closure | kapatma | fechamento | cierre |
| drawstring | büzgü ipi | cordão | cordón |
| loop | ilik (halka) | alça (laço) | lazo (presilla) |

## Part 1: Pattern and seam allowance

**Draw the pattern piece** and label two things: the cut line and the seam line.

(Draw here.)

**A seam allowance is:** ___________________________________________________

**Ours is ______ of an inch.** That means the stitching sits ______ in from the cut edge.

**Why do we cut the pattern out of paper first?** ____________________________

**Measure twice, cut once, because:** _______________________________________

* * *

## Part 2: THE PAPER PATTERN (description for printing)

Print one pattern per student on regular paper. Students cut it with the paper scissors, never the fabric shears.

### Pattern A: the felt pouch

Image described in words: a plain rectangle, five inches wide and seven inches tall, with a solid line all the way around the outside marked CUT LINE, and a dashed line a quarter inch inside the solid line on the two long sides and the bottom short side, marked SEAM LINE. The top short side has no dashed line and is labeled TOP, LEAVE OPEN. In the middle of the rectangle is printed: FELT POUCH, CUT 2. Near the top is a small circle labeled BUTTON GOES ABOUT HERE, one inch down from the top edge, centered.

### Pattern B: the drawstring bag

Image described in words: a tall rectangle, eight inches wide and eighteen inches tall, with a solid CUT LINE around the outside. A dashed horizontal line across the middle at the nine-inch mark, marked FOLD LINE. Dashed vertical SEAM LINE lines run a quarter inch inside each long side, from the fold line up to a point one and a half inches below each top edge; above that point the seam line stops, and the area above is shaded and labeled CHANNEL AREA, LEAVE SIDE SEAMS OPEN HERE. Across the top, one inch down from each short edge, is a dashed line labeled FOLD DOWN FOR THE CHANNEL. In the middle is printed: DRAWSTRING BAG, CUT 1, FOLD IN HALF.

### The cut steps

**Step 1. Cut the paper pattern out with the paper scissors.**
Picture: paper scissors cutting along the solid outline of a printed rectangle.

**Step 2. Lay the pattern flat on the fabric.**
Hold it down with your whole hand, not your fingertips.
Picture: a paper rectangle lying flat on a piece of felt with a hand pressing it down.

**Step 3. Trace around the pattern with chalk.**
Trace the cut line all the way around.
Picture: a chalk pencil drawing along the edge of a paper pattern onto felt.

**Step 4. Mark the seam line too.**
Lift one edge of the pattern and mark the dashed line, a quarter inch inside, on every side that gets a seam. Do not skip this.
Picture: a dashed chalk line drawn a quarter inch inside a solid chalk line on the fabric.

**Step 5. Lift the pattern off and cut on the chalk line.**
Fabric shears only. Long, smooth cuts, not little snips.
Picture: fabric shears cutting along a chalk line on felt, blades open wide.

**Step 6. Cut the second piece (felt path) or fold the one piece (drawstring path).**
Felt: repeat steps 2 to 5 for piece two. Drawstring: fold the rectangle in half at the fold line.
Picture: two matching felt rectangles side by side; or one long rectangle folded in half with the fold at the bottom.

**Step 7. Pin, the right way for your path.**
Drawstring bag: put the right sides facing each other, inside out, because this bag gets turned right side out on Day 3. Felt pouch: put the two pieces together with both outside faces showing, because felt has no wrong side and the seam stays on the outside. Machine rule: pins go in perpendicular to the seam, heads out, and every pin comes out before it reaches the presser foot. You never sew over a pin.
Picture, felt: two felt rectangles stacked and pinned around three sides, pins crossing the seam line, heads out. Picture, drawstring: a folded cotton rectangle with the printed side facing in, pinned up both side seams, heads out.

**Step 8. Count your pins and write it down.**
Write the number of pins in your work on the station count sheet, in the notes column.
Picture: a count sheet with a notes column reading "4 pins in work."

## Part 3: Day 3 closure step cards

### Turning (drawstring path only)

**Step 1.** Reach inside the bag through the open top.
**Step 2.** Pull the fabric out through the opening so the seams end up inside.
**Step 3.** Push each bottom corner out from the inside with a blunt pencil eraser or a chopstick. Never the point of the shears.
Picture: a hand reaching into a fabric tube and pulling it through itself, and a blunt stick pushing a corner out square.

*Felt path: there is nothing to turn. Your seam is on the outside on purpose, and that is what a felt pouch looks like.*

### Closure option 1: the drawstring channel

**Step 1.** Fold the top edge down about one inch, all the way around, toward the inside.
Picture: the top inch of a bag folded down inward, making a tube around the opening.
**Step 2.** Pin the fold every two inches.
Picture: a folded top edge held with pins around the opening.
**Step 3.** Sew along the bottom of the fold, all the way around: on the machine, a straight seam at slow speed; by hand, a running stitch.
Picture: a line of stitches running in a ring around a bag an inch below the top edge.
**Step 4.** Leave both ends of the channel open. Do not sew them shut.
Picture: a channel with an open gap at each side seam, marked with arrows.
**Step 5.** Pin a large safety pin to one end of the cord and use it to push the cord through the channel.
Picture: a safety pin clipped to the end of a cord being fed into a fabric tunnel.
**Step 6.** Pull both cord ends out and knot them together.
Picture: two cord ends emerging from a channel and tied in a knot.
**Step 7.** Pull the cord. The bag should close.
Picture: a drawstring bag gathered closed by a pulled cord.

### Closure option 2: the button and loop

**Step 1.** Mark a spot on the front, about one inch down from the top, centered.
Picture: a chalk X on the front of a pouch, one inch below the top edge, in the middle.
**Step 2.** Sew the button on using the ten steps from Handout 5.8, including the toothpick shank.
Picture: a button being sewn on with a toothpick laid across it.
**Step 3.** Cut a loop: about three inches of elastic cord, or a felt strip a quarter inch wide and three inches long.
Picture: a short piece of elastic cord next to a narrow felt strip.
**Step 4.** Hold the loop against the inside of the back top edge and check the length: it should just reach over the button.
Picture: a loop of cord arched over a button, with a small amount of slack.
**Step 5.** Stitch both ends of the loop down with a backstitch, five or six stitches each end.
Picture: the two ends of a loop stitched flat to the inside of the back edge.
**Step 6.** Test it: the loop should need a small tug, not a fight.
Picture: a hand hooking a loop over a button, the pouch closing flat.

### Finishing, both paths

**Step 1.** Trim every thread end to about a quarter inch.
**Step 2.** Check that every end is on the inside.
**Step 3.** Look at every corner. If there is a gap, add three stitches.
Picture: snips trimming thread tails on the inside of a pouch, and a close-up of a corner being closed with three stitches.

## Part 4: The stitch quality checklist (five points)

Run this on your own item before you hand it in. Circle one number in each row. 1 is not yet, 3 is good.

| The check | What good looks like | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Cut to the pattern | Both pieces are within a quarter inch of the pattern, and the seam line is marked on every seam | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2. Seam on the line | The seam sits on the marked seam line, not wandering; machine seams have three or four reverse stitches at both ends, hand seams are backstitch | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3. Even stitches | The stitches are about the same length along the whole seam | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4. Flat, not puckered | The fabric lies flat; the seam is not gathered up | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 5. Corners and ends closed | No gaps at the corners, no open spot where a seam ends, every thread end trimmed and inside | 1 | 2 | 3 |

**Total: ______ out of 15**

**The one thing I would change in the next one, and why:**

_______________________________________________________________________

## Part 5: Name tag (cut this out and set it in front of your item)

* * *

### ______________________________

**What it is:** ______ felt pouch  ______ drawstring bag

**What I would put in it:** ______________________________

**Closure:** ______ button and loop  ______ drawstring

**Checklist score:** ______ out of 15

**On the back:** the one thing I would change in the next one, and why.

* * *

# Teacher key

**Part 1.** A seam allowance is the space between the cut edge and the seam line; it is the fabric that gets used up by the stitching. Ours is a quarter inch, so the stitching sits a quarter inch in from the cut edge. The pattern is cut in paper first because paper is free and fabric is not, and because a paper pattern can be adjusted, traced, and reused. Measure twice, cut once, because fabric does not grow back.

**Why the two paths pin differently.** Felt has no right or wrong side and it does not fray, so the pouch is stitched with both outsides facing out and the seam stays visible on the outside; that is a finished look for felt, not a mistake. Woven cotton has a printed right side and a raw edge that frays, so the drawstring bag is stitched inside out and then turned, which puts the seam and the raw edges on the inside. Say this out loud on Day 1 or half the drawstring bags get pinned the wrong way.

**Common mistakes to catch, in the order they happen.**
1. Cutting without marking the seam line. Check every student's chalk before any cut.
2. Drawstring path pinned right side out. Catch it at the Day 1 pinning check.
3. Corners with a gap. Two stitches in the same place at a corner before turning.
4. The channel sewn shut at both ends so the cord cannot pass. Say "both ends stay open" twice.
5. Thread ends trimmed on the outside.

**Checklist levels, for the teacher's eye.**

| Row | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cut to the pattern | Off by more than half an inch, or no chalk line used | Within half an inch, seam line marked on part | Within a quarter inch, seam line marked on every seam |
| Seam on the line | Wanders more than a quarter inch off, an unbackstitched machine seam end, or a hand seam that is a running stitch | Near the line, one drift or one missed reverse | On the line the whole way, both ends locked |
| Even stitches | Stitches range from tiny to half an inch | One clearly uneven section | Roughly even the whole seam |
| Flat, not puckered | Seam gathered | One puckered section | Flat |
| Corners and ends | A gap, or loose ends outside | One corner needs a stitch | All closed, all ends in and trimmed |

The five-point checklist here is the student's self-check. The graded rubric is the 20-point item rubric printed inside `Lesson 05.11`, which uses these same five ideas plus self-evaluation and the tool and machine safety row.

**Machine notes for the teacher.** The side seams stop at the channel marks; say it before anyone sews, because a seam sewn to the top edge closes the channel openings. Pins out before the foot, every time; a needle that hits a pin breaks, and the broken needle rule from Handout 05.10 runs. The channel is the day the doctor tag earns its keep; a jam mid-channel moves the student to a spare without waiting.

**Standards checked by this handout:** NYS ATPD 2. Production a), b), and c); CTE PSI 2. Design Process (Proactive) a) sub-lines b., f., and g.; CTE HSW 4. Classroom and Workplace Safety c); NYS FACS Standard 2 (Intermediate) PI C; CDOS 2 and CDOS 3a Technology; National FCS 3.0 16.2.7, 16.4.1, and 16.4.5.