Last year I started practising yoga, and it turned out that I love it a lot. I got a yoga mat as Christmas gift, and so I needed a bag for the mat. I used the yoga bag pattern from Keko Kreativ, a German designer for bag patterns.
Fabric:
As I am so not in sewing bags, I decided to make a muslin first from old curtains. The fabric is from IKEA and I had curtains from it in a flat where I lived 20 years ago. I often thought to discard the old curtains, now I am happy I did not. And as it turned out, I love this bag and won’t make another one. The fabric is rather stiff, so it is suitable for a sturdy bag. The lining fabric is from another old curtain. It is a more lightweight cotton.
Construction:
The yoga bag pattern comes with different options for the closure, side panels and straps. I went for the zipper closure and made two different pockets at each side panel and a shoulder strap. The instructions are very detailed and include photos for each step.
The zipper pocket is just big enough for my key. As you see my zipper is a bit too short. But hey, it was in my stash, so no complaints here.
The other side has an open pocket which is just for fun. It is rather small and not really useful. I also added a zipper pocket to one of the long sides of the bag. This is not included in the pattern, but I needed a pocket for my membership card of the gym.
The pattern comes with pattern pieces for the side panels (this is, actually, circles in different sizes) and how to calculate the circumference which is the height of the bag. The length depends on the length of your mat. It is important that you include enough ease here so that you can put the mat without difficulties in the bag. As you can see here my bag is about 5 cm longer than my mat. It works but a bit more space would be nice too.
The instructions give no hint about the length of the shoulder strap. So I pinned my tape measure to the bag and tried to decide how long the strap should be. In the end I made it 20 cm longer than the bag. This works just fine, but again, it could be longer. Or should be longer if I wanted to use the slider which is also from my stash like the D-ring:
In fact, I only bought the big zipper and the interfacing. The side pieces are interfaced with Vlieseline S320 and H630, the bag itself only with H630.
The pattern has instructions how to bag the lining so that there are no visible seams inside. I do like that a lot.
Conclusion:
I love how the bag turned out, and it is great to carry my yoga mat. This is something I really had a need for, and now it makes me happy everytime I pick it up when I go to m yoga lesson. I did not like sewing it, though. There was a lot of cursing involved, especially when sewing the side panels to the main bag. The interfaced pieces were so thick and stiff and I really appreciate how my machine sewed over it without the slightest complaint. So you will not see many bags on my blog, I will sew them only when I am in great need.
How about you? Do you like sewing bags, or are you a garment sewer like me?
