Boho Yoga Mat Bag | PFAFF

My first Yoga bag ever.  I used it the few times I went to Yoga, now it sits in my living room more than anything. 

Made this Yoga bag for my friend who was looking for a mother's gift.  

Pattern Used: Easy to follow tutorial from PFAFF for the "Boho Yoga Mat Bag", and it's FREE!

MATERIALS: 

• Fabric:
  • Main Fabric - 3/4 yard of home decor
  • Contrast Fabric - 1/3 yard of home decor (or leather, pleather, etc... for the bottom)
• 1/4" Rope or cotton cording - 1 yard
• 1" Cotton Webbing - 2 yard
• 1" D Ring - 3 units

CUTTING:

• Main Fabric - 1 piece 20⅜”Wx20”L
• Contrast Fabric -
  • 1 piece 20⅜”Wx9¾”L (lower bag – notch center of bottom edge)
  • 1 piece 7”W circle (base – template provided)
  • 1 piece 6½”Wx7½”L (pocket)
• Cotton Webbing -
  • 1 piece 48”L (strap)
  • 1 piece 10”L (top loop) 1 piece 8”L (bottom loop)
  • 1 piece 3”L (drawstring stop)

Our apartment in San Francisco was right across the street from a 24 Hour Fitness (the gym is no longer there) and I was super excited thinking "wow, I can go take my yoga classes again like I did back in the days".  Fast forward 2 years and I was still sitting in my living room having the same thought HAHAHA!.  I had so many excuses for not showing up to the gym: I have work, I need to clean the house, I need to walk the dog, I rather eat that snack, but I have no time, etc...etc...etc....  One of the excuses was - I don't have a yoga bag to put my stuff in, so I should make myself a yoga bag first and then I'll be ready to go to the gym! 

I really like that excuse so off I went looking for a free pattern online and hold and behold, found this one from PFAFF that was very straight forward and the picture of the bag was super cool.  One of the issues though, as with any project I make, is selecting the fabric.  I have a decent fabric stash and every fabric is precious, and as a beginner sewist, I'm always thinking "maybe I'll use the ugly fabric so if anything goes wrong, I don't waste the nice fabric".   But then, every fabric I have seems to be precious and I end up with a large selection of which fabric I should use.   Do you guys have the same problem or is it just me and my indecisiveness? 

So, how did I end up using this really cool cat fabric?  Well, the elimination process included selecting only canvas fabric and one that I had double (or more than one).  The only one that met that criteria was was this cat fabric as I had one in black and off-white, and another in black and red.  

Now, let's talk about the pattern.  It's soooooo good! It might look challenging for someone that's a beginner (trust me, I was worried) but the instructions are clear and it wasn't hard to cut the fabric at all.  The only challenge I ran into was sewing the circle for the bottom of the bag as I had never sewed in a circle before.  I did it very slowly and I actually had to do it twice.  I also watched this YouTube video from TheCraftyGemini (check out time code 13:25)  But hey! now I know how to sew in a circle! 

There were a few of modifications I made to the pattern: 

1. The pocket.  I wanted to have a pocket with a flap so that I can close it because I was going to be carrying my cellphone, wallet and keys and didn't want any of the items to accidentally fall out.  So, I searched online on how to make a closed pocket and used the Sew a Cargo Pocket for a Tote Bag tutorial by Radiant Home Studio.  The instructions here were also very easy to follow and it has pictures, so that's always a plus! 
2. Additional inside lining.  The pattern itself does not call for an inside lining, but I did not like having the seams visible because it gave it an unfinished look (yes I know, it's on the inside, but I still knew they were there).  So, I sewed essentially the same bag with thin fabric (like a muslin or quilting-weight cotton) and added it to the inside of the bag. 
3. Drawstring closure.  I happen to have a cord lock which I put it to use with this yoga bag to save me a little bit of time. 

For the second bag that I made for my friend's mom, I made the bag exactly as it was detailed in the PFAFF instructions.  But for the seams, added an extra step and finished them with bias tape as detailed in the Colette tutorial for Bias Bound Seams. 

I haven't checked out other yoga bag patterns, but I was very happy with this one and will most likely use it again for future yoga bag projects.  Unless I want something super different from this (like a zippered yoga mat bag).   Do you have a go-to yoga bag pattern you would like to share?