It's no secret: Baggus are my jam. I try to keep one of their nylon bags on me at all times so I never, ever need to use a disposable plastic or paper one.
When the drawstring on my favorite Baggu backpack broke, it was a bummer. But it also presented an opportunity to go one step further in avoiding waste. Rather than buying a new one, I turned tragedy into triumph and jazzed up my backpack with some new neon lacing from Purl Soho.
Drawstrings coming out of anything can be the most frustrating thing and used to leave me shaking my fists angrily at the sky. Turns out teeth-gnashing and hair-pulling aren't necessary; a simple safety pin saves the day in any drawstring emergency. The trick is to use the biggest safety pin that will easily fit through the channel (part where the drawstring goes) you're using.
The poor, deflated little guy. Aw.
I grabbed several yards of this neon lacing.
Start by putting a safety pin through the end of cord or lacing. If you're working with something that frays easily, knotting it's a good idea.
Then, put the head of the safety pin into the channel and begin working it all the way around. The bigger the safety pin, the easier it is to feel it through the fabric and the faster it will come out on the other side.
Keep doing that until the safety pin reaches the other side of the channel. That's really it!
This pink lacing frayed like WHOA, which sort of irritated me at first until I realized it looked like an intentional tassel. I let the ends of the drawstring fray up to the knots I tied.
I also added a zipper pull to the backpack's outside pocket, just for funsies. I think the neon pink works great for summer; come fall, I may switch it out for a leather drawstring.
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