Pleasant Saturday/Halloween. No morning pages, no exercise, just comforting, healthy food (and vegan brownies) all day, lots of water, and a bit of sewing. I made my first yoga mat bag, and have taken notes on the process so I can make more for the shop:
My inability to visualize things in 3D frustrated me again when I realized too late that I should have attached the strap before I sewed on the base of the exterior fabric. But I seam-ripped the base halfway off, put the strap on, and then sewed the base back on… tedious and irritating, but really not too bad, considering I had to redo my first reversible tote twice for the same kind of reason. And this was a much more complicated bag, so I must be improving. I ran into some snags (literally) with the buttonhole — I don’t think my buttonhole foot does well with thicker fabrics — but it’s functional, if not professional-looking, and you can’t really tell when it’s buttoned. I like the fabrics together, the drawstring actually closes all the way, and the bag is proportioned exactly the way I wanted it. I don’t like those mat bags that are all huge and bunchy; they look so sloppy! I’ve always preferred my nice neat rolled-up mat. But tomorrow I am taking my mat to SF via BART, and I wanted another layer between it and all the BARTyness. My mat *just* fits into this bag — it’s quite a snug fit, which I’ll have to remedy for the Etsy versions I plan to make — and the strap is just long enough so that the bag sits close against my back when I wear it. I quite like it.
I think, for Etsy, I will have to make the bag bigger around, so it can fit thicker mats (mine is already about as thin as mats get). At first I was thinking I’d have to do a longer version too but I just realized that extra-long mats would only mean an even bigger-circumferenced bag, not a longer one. I guess that’s why all those commercial bags are so fat. Well, I will do a “regular” size that can fit Erik’s mat, loosely rolled, and maybe I’ll just indicate in those listings that I can do bigger custom versions for thicker mats (like the black Mandukas).
I should also think about whether I want to do the same kind of pocket on the Etsy versions. I can’t think of a better pocket, since I can’t do zippers yet (and don’t really want to bother buying little short zippers). And it’s not likely I’ll make any more bags out of this kind of fabric, which has an unappealing threadiness on the reverse side.
And the strap… I don’t like the long straps on commercial bags, but maybe other people do. Or perhaps I should just stick with my instinct, and make bags I would like to wear, and if people want longer straps I can do custom versions. Yes! Integrity to my vision! 😉
The bag took a surprisingly long time — I think new designs always do — and afterward I was pretty tired. My eye exercises proved really helpful after all that sewing. I had thought I was getting a headache but I guess my eye muscles were just getting tight! The exercises:
- You want to do all of these without moving your head. Just move your eyes.
- Look to the lower left, then move your glance diagonally upward to your upper right. Look back down to the left. Repeat this six times, then do it starting from the lower right and going to the upper left.
- Starting from the lower right, move your glance up and over in a horseshoe shape, ending at the lower left. Reverse the movement. Repeat the process six times.
- Hold a finger about a foot in front of your eyes. Focus on the finger for two full, deep breaths (breath = inhale and exhale), then look past your finger into the distance, and hold that gaze for two more breaths. Repeat the process six times.
Try these exercises next time you’ve been staring for a long time at something at close quarters, and see if your whole brain doesn’t feel better afterward! 🙂
Dinner was tasty: pumpkin and king oyster mushroom e-fu noodles with garlic, sesame seeds, and nori. This was a joint effort between Erik and me. We’ve noticed this before: after a day’s work, I hate the thought of dinner prep. All that chopping and slicing and washing and mincing… ugh! Meanwhile, after the day’s work, Erik hates the thought of planning dinner. So, when we both “get off work” at the same time and go to the kitchen together, it works perfectly. I, who have been working with my hands all day, enjoy the meal planning (even when I’m not crafting, I do much of my writing longhand, and of course drawing just kills the hands/wrists), while Erik likes to give himself a brain break and just play sous-chef. The tricky part for us is both getting off work early enough to start preparing dinner before we get wolfishly hungry.
After dinner, I wanted to work on something else, but I didn’t feel like starting another project. I browsed vintage fashion sites for a while, then remembered I have a mending/altering bag hiding in the guest-room closet. So I took it out and discovered happily that there is enough in there to keep me busy for a long time. Some of this stuff has been in there for almost a year, if not longer, just waiting for my sewing skills to improve so I could tackle these garments! I fixed a clutch that broke when it was almost new, and I ripped off the patches from a tank I used as a frog costume for Al’s birthday party. Then I found the humble little apron that was my first self-designed project when I got my Singer sewing machine last year. I had been trying to make a skirt from the Built By Wendy book, but her pattern wasn’t big enough for my waist size, and altering it was beyond my skill. After a time-consuming and frustrating attempt, I decided to make an apron instead. I used my own favorite apron as a rough pattern (didn’t bother to really copy it), and started work… I was just getting comfortable with it, and was almost finished with the main piece (including pockets), when the cheap Singer just refused to work any longer. It was only my second or third day of sewing with it!! (But alas, I’d let it sit unused in my closet well past the warranty date, which is why I now have a different machine instead of another Singer. THANKFULLY.) And then I was too annoyed to want to shell out more money for repairs or another machine, so I didn’t get another one until I moved here… and so, this little apron has been patiently waiting for months and months and months.
I took it out and ironed it, and looked at it afresh. After making so many pouches and bags, the apron seemed such a simple little thing. I thought, it deserves better! So I gussied it up… sewed vintage yo-yos to the pockets (I bought them at an estate sale! such a lovely find!), and made waist ties in one of my favorite FabMo fabrics (red and white stripes with multicolored fish), and a neck strap in a Japanese fan print from a thrift shop. Now my little apron is a colorful, cheery piece of whimsy. I’ll take pictures another day, when the sun’s out. I’m very pleased with my creation, and may make some more from this same design (if I can figure out how the straps work on the apron Rochelle wore when we went to her house, that will be a really adorable apron) for the Etsy shop. The question now is, do I list this apron there, or save it for a gift? I’m so proud of it, I want it to be seen… yet I’m so attached to it, I want to know it’s going to a good home. Well, this question can wait.
Yoga workshop tomorrow, and I hope to start on Mousemarket‘s cash apron! It’ll be made from the same fabric as the aforementioned sweet apron, and I plan to embellish it with colorful fabrics too, so it’ll be like making a sister apron for the first one. 🙂
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