Being new to anything but quilting, I came across the discovery that zippers and draw string holes can be tricky.
My wonderful mother in law solved my draw string issue. You'd think it was a no brainer but I didn't think of it. I was trying to feed the ribbon through the hole with a needle and thread as I thought I had nothing else that would work. She told me to try a safety pin. VOILA! IT worked beautifully.
I'm still having trouble with zippers but I'm getting better at them.
Anyway, here are the links to both of those tutorials:
DIY: Bow Clutch