How to make a shoe bag

By Kayleigh Hart · June 2025 · 6 min read · Projects

Sewing supplies including thread spools, pins, and scissors on a work table

A shoe bag is the most useful five-pound make in the house. It keeps muddy soles off your clean clothes in a suitcase, corrals trainers in a gym bag, and stops one grubby pair ruining everything else in a holdall. It’s essentially a sturdier drawstring bag, and it’s a perfect confidence-building project after your very first make.

What you’ll need

Two pieces of sturdy fabric (cotton drill, canvas or a heavier quilting cotton), about 32cm × 40cm each. One bag holds a pair of adult shoes.
About 1.5m of cord for the drawstring.
Thread, scissors, pins, and a safety pin for threading.

Pick a fabric that can take a wash, shoe bags get grubby. A wipeable laminated cotton is excellent if you have some, though it’s slightly trickier to sew.

Step 1: Finish the raw edges

Because shoe bags get yanked around, fraying inside seams is the usual failure point. Before assembling, zig-zag or overlock the two side edges and the bottom edge of each piece. If you have an overlocker, this is a two-minute job; a zig-zag stitch on a regular machine does the same.

Step 2: Hem the top and form the channel

On each piece, fold the top edge down 1cm and press, then down another 3cm and press. Stitch close to the lower fold to make the drawstring casing. Do this before you sew the bag together: it’s much easier to hem a flat piece than to wrestle a tube.

Step 3: Sew the bag together

Place the two pieces right sides together, lining up the channel hems at the top. Sew down each side and across the bottom with a 1.5cm seam allowance, but stop below the channel stitching on each side so you don’t sew the casing shut, leave that top section of the side seam open so the cord can pass through. Backstitch firmly at the start and end; this bag takes a beating.

Step 4: Box the corners (optional but worth it)

For a bag that actually fits shoe shapes, box the bottom corners. At each bottom corner, pinch the side seam and bottom seam together to form a triangle, measure about 5cm across, and sew straight across. Trim the excess. This gives the bag a flat-ish base and more room.

Fabric being measured and cut with scissors on a clean cutting mat

Step 5: Thread the cord

Turn the bag right side out and press. Using a safety pin, thread the cord all the way around the channel and out the same side, then knot the ends. For an even pull, thread a second cord from the opposite side, as with a drawstring bag. Pull to close.

The cheap make that earns its keep

A shoe bag is a drawstring bag with thicker fabric and finished seams so it survives real use. Finish the edges, hem the channel while the pieces are flat, box the corners for shape, and thread the cord. Make a pair in matching fabric and you’ll never throw shoes loose into a suitcase again.