Adding a drawstring closure to a yoga bag

Last week, I figured out another (hopefully simpler) way to make the drawstring closure on a yoga bag.  Here's the bag I made today using this new (and hopefully improved) method.

Making a yoga bag - summary and quick reference

This is the 7th and final post in the yoga bag tutorial.  Yay!  One week and 200+ photographs later (not all of which were posted on the blog), we've got this:

Here are a couple more views:

Here's a quick overview of how we made it.

Making a yoga bag - attaching the strap and the round bottom

Today, in part 6 of 7, we're attaching the strap onto the bag and putting on the round bottom. We're going to attach the round bottom so that the raw edges are hidden and we get clean finishes from the inside and outside.

Attaching the bottom of the strap

• Pin the strap to the outside of the bottom of the bag so that it's centred over the flat felled seam
• Stitch with 1/4" seam allowance

Making a yoga bag - drawstring closure

Today, in part 5 of 7, we're making the drawstring closure and attaching to the top of the bag.

Setting up the flat felled seam

• Pin right sides facing, with edges 3/8" apart
• Stitch with 5/8" seam allowance
• Press closed with the wide edge on top of the narrower edge
  

Making a yoga bag - the tube and flat felled seam

Today, in part 4 of 7, we're rolling the body of the yoga bag into tube and stitching it together with a flat felled seam. You don't have to use a flat felled seam. I did my first couple of bags with a French seam. You can also sew a regular seam or finish the edges with a serger. Although I really like the flat felled seam, making it on this long tube is a bit awkward (as you'll see below).

Making a yoga bag - the pocket

Today, in part 3 of 7, we're putting trim on the pocket and attaching the pocket to the body of the bag.

Putting trim on the pocket (optional)

• Fold the trim fabric, right side out, along its length so it looks like two double fold hems touching each other (hopefully it's clear on the picture)
• Pin the folds in place and press

Making a yoga bag - drawstring and strap

Today, in part 2 of 7, we're making the drawstring and the strap for the yoga bag.

The Drawstring

• Fold the fabric in half lengthwise, wrong sides facing, and press
• Open and fold one edge towards the crease in the middle of the fabric
• Do the same with the other edge and press
• Fold the whole thing in half again and press
  

Making a yoga bag - getting started

Today, I'm starting a tutorial on how to make the yoga bag. It's going to be in 7 parts, each part showing one small step. Today, in part 1, I'm just talking about all the pieces that need to be cut and the tools that will be used to make the bag.

Why yoga bags? I'm making them because I find they make particularly good gifts.

Gingham yoga bag #4

Ok, this is my last gingham yoga bag (mainly because I don't have enough gingham left to make another one). Here, I had enough fabric to make the drawstring closure like Gingham Yoga Bag #1 and it's even neater with flat-felled seams! (I love flat felled seams!)

Here's the bag:

Gingham yoga bag #3

I didn't have enough orange fabric to make the drawstring closure like the first gingham yoga bag. So, this one is very similar to gingham yoga bag #2.

Gingham yoga bag #2

For my second gingham yoga bag, I made the strap thinner (from a 10" wide piece of fabric rather than a 14" wide piece, which made the final strap 2.5" wide rather than 3.5" wide). I also added a bit of trim on the pocket, made the drawstring channel a differently, and attached the strap to the outside of the bag (on the bag with the lilac trim, I tucked the strap into the drawstring channel).

Oh yes, the other obvious difference is the orange trim. I was a bit wary of using it at first (and while I was making the bag, the colours were screaming a bit too loudly to me) but I think it turned out alright in the end. And the orange seems to be more photogenic than the lilac in bag #1. I had quite a bit of this orange fabric so I'm also using it for gingham bag #3.

Here are the pictures:

How to put the yoga mat inside the bag

Now, this seems a bit simple and silly, but I had a lot of trouble getting the yoga mat into my gingham yoga bag. For my recycled shirt bag, I could open the buttons to get the mat in. But these gingham bags I'm making don't have buttons and it was quite a struggle to get the mat in. This is mainly because the rubbery material that the mat is made of (which has a stickiness that's great for holding yoga poses), is not so great for sliding the mat into the bag. I don't think the material that the bag is made of makes much difference, since the mat is designed to have grip to whatever it's touching.

Anyways, I figured out a simple solution to this conundrum. I just put one end of the mat into a plastic bag (here I used a bread bag) and then I can easily put it in the yoga bag. Problem solved!

Another yoga bag - Gingham bag #1

I was so happy with the yoga bag I made last week, that I've gone on a bit of a yoga-bag-making binge. I had a large piece of heavy gingham (about 60" x 60") in the fabric stash, which I got from Aysha. From that gingham, I managed to cut out the main pieces (i.e. the body and pocket) to make 4 yoga bags. I'm using other scraps to make the bottom circle and the strap. I'm also trying some different drawstring closures.

The original Amy Butler pattern makes a bag that is open at the top -- which is cool too -- but I thought I'd try something different. I also didn't make the lining that the pattern calls for. Since my gingham is so heavy and it doesn't have a right and wrong side to it, Aunty told me that lining would be unnecessary (and a waste of fabric).

Here's the first bag:

My New Yoga Bag!

Here's yet another recycled shirt project from an old Girl Guide uniform. I've got a whole series of these now. With my other uniform I made a series of pouches and bags and a reversible camera bag which was lined with the fabric from Girl Guide pants.

I had bought this other uniform a couple of years ago when it was on clearance at the Girl Guide store (the Girl Guide uniform had changed making this old uniform style obsolete). The sleeves and cuffs had been made into two shoe bags and a pouch at the recycle a shirt class and I was left with the middle bit of the shirt (or basically a shirt with very short sleeves).

I finally got to use what was left of the shirt for this yoga bag (thanks to Sahar for the suggestion). I used blue fabric from the old uniform pants to add contrast (thanks to Aunty for that suggestion). I cut out circles from the pants pockets to make the bottom of the bag and used the waist band for the strap . And then with Aysha's help, here's what we came up with: