Yes, it's really nitpicky and anal. But here goes.

I'm not happy with the current dice bags. They're square bottomed, and made of rough fabric. I prefer the ones from the early-mid eighties. They were round bottomed, very soft, and could stand upright. I've been Googling, but with no success. If you know of a place where these can be purchased, please let me know. Failing that, if you have one sitting in a closet or something, I'll buy it off you. Color does not matter too much, but I would prefer purple.

I'm in the process of making a round-bottomed velvet dicebag for my fiancee. I'll tell you how it goes.

Are yah over 21? Assume so, else your "old" school is kinda young...

Old school dice bag = Chivas Regal packaging. Comes in a purple semi-velvet sack. Isn't all THAT expensive, and you get some decent liquor along with the bag. That's what all the kids (those with boozer parents at least) were rocking back in the early 80's for dice, before comic stores realized they could mark up the price on some swatch of fabric by 666% if it was labled a "gaming accessory".

Chivas Regal, I believe is also known as Crown Royal.

The easy way is to sew one yourself if you are mechanically inclined. Go to the fabric store, look through the scraps and bits section and find a piece that oyu like, or two pieces if you want a paneled bag.

Cut out equal, quarter circle panels. If you aren't good at eyeballing them, print one out on your computer. Then stitch the panels together with a quarter inch overlap. (Do a straight stitch to hold the panels together, and you can use a crossover stitch if you want extra duarability.) Fold over the top of the circle, about 3/4s of an inch and sew the hem down. Run your string through the top hem and voila, you have a round-bottomed dice bag.

Alternately, sew a circle for the bottom and rectangular panels become a cylindrical wall. Same hems.

http://www.silvertigerart.com/dice_bags.htm
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/07/the-perfect-dd/
http://ojive.deviantart.com/

Dice Bags

Ah yes. Ye' Old Crown Royal bag is the way to go.

If you want to copy the nubbly seams of the Crown Royal bag, have a friend run your bag through their serger.

True, though I don't know any novice seamstresses/tailors that own a serger. (I use a friend's when I have a project that absolutely needs it.)

Just get one of those big fuzzy d20s and gut the thing.
Add a cord and you have a dice bag.

Thanks to everyone for their tips and suggestions.

Also, like your second link, there is a D20 version that you can buy and make yourself here:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/miscellaneous/c417/

It wouldn't be anything close to soft but if you do a radial expansion (start with one center ring) (butted) chain mail bag you'll have a nice round bottom bag that can stand in for your clue-by-four when necessary.

If you keep track of the expansion points and keep them in line you can control the overall shape of the bag when it is sitting on a surface. Four expansion points and it is square, five a pentagon, etc etc. (And of course the opposite for doing the top half, always remove the link in the same spot in the line.) For the regular circular look just make sure the expansion or contraction points don't form a line.

One lucky gm was given a 6 in 1 double mail (14ga) bag. Doesn't even need dice in it to do damage.

The Japanese style will be a lot lighter but you have to be mindful of the size of your dice.

edit: just followed the links and saw someone else posted chain mail bags.

We have a group Crown Royal bag. Been at the table since about '85. My personal dice are in a flannel lined buckskin pouch that I made.( which reminds me, I need to get my leather tools out of storage and start making some bags).

Go check with your local wine & spirirts vendor/store, ask if they have any spare empty Crown Royal or similar bags in their supplies. Be truthful & tell him/her what they're for. You might be surprised.
A few years back, a freind was looking for some inexpensive dice bags and I started to ask around. One vendor near me at the time had a few & sold them to me for a couple of bucks. I made sure they were clean and gave them to my friend. unfortunately, that vendor went out of business, but ther are a couple of wine stores that I can get to easilly. I will ask the next time I'm in those areas & see if they have any.

UPDATE: Sorry, I wasn't able to score any. The links provided earlier in this thread should yeild better results.

I got my dice bags at jewellery stores. Sometimes they have extra double lined silk bags left over from jewellery consignments or returns.

My old dicebag used to be a tradesman's leather coffee bag. Still smells of leather and coffee.