"Mirror Embroidery" Drawstring Bag

Outsies - "mirrors" on top.

"Insies" - "mirrors" underneath.

With William & Kate's royal tour of India, there's a spotlight on Indian handicrafts. I've always been a big fan of shisha - mirror - embroidery. Recreating the look in paper is something I greatly enjoy. Soo - here's a drawstring bag with a mock shisha band.

I bought some lovely mirri card at the Ally Pally crafting event - so this was a project waiting to happen. There are two ways of going about the mirror effect - the choice is yours. You can either glue on mirri card circles, or cut out circular holes and glue mirri card rectangles behind the cutouts. 

Here are your free designs:
ShishaDrawstringBagA.pdf 
ShishaDrawstringBagA.studio3 
ShishaDrawstringBagB.studio3 

Drawstring Bag A has the mirror circles glued on. Drawstring Bag B has the recessed mirrors. I have only given a digi-cut version for this bag because it would be too fiddly to cut out by hand. For hand-cut version A (the .pdf), you can cut out the mirror discs with a paper punch. 

Shisha Drawstring Bags - Making Up Tips

Cut out all the pieces first. Score and crease all the folds. You have to manipulate the zigzag top folds a bit - just take your time and pay special attention to the pointy creases. You need two panels for each bag. For the glued-on-top mirror bag - do not glue on the mirrors until the two panels are joined to make one length. Then do not glue mirrors onto the underlap. For the glued-behind version - do that first, but no mirror needed on the underlap.

The tassels are made with craft thread. I used my brand new handy dandy gizmo that I bought at the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show - yay! It's the Clover Small Tassel Maker. 

I didn't think I needed a tassel maker. I do perfectly well with a notched piece of card. But I simply cannot resist the lure of a new crafty gadget.

The tassel maker was fun to use - the end grooves made it easy to cut the threads. I liked the counterintuitive method of tying the top knot in the centre. So - good new toy!

Enjoy doing the papercraft mirror embroidery. Have bags of fun.