The gym I go to recently stopped providing mats for floor classes and I was finally forced to buy my own. I wasn't too excited about the prospect of having to carry around something so bulky twice a week but I did like the idea of getting to make my own mat bag.

I used the pattern from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter but left off the cell phone pocket (I don't have a cell phone). I also lengthened the bag by an inch but that was just to catch a bit of the purple border on each end of my piece of fabric (I cut selvedge to selvedge). I love my fabric. It is an Echino print (by Kokka Fabrics) from Purl Soho. Not only is it pretty but I know for sure no one else will pick up my bag by mistake.

The bag and strap are just two rectangles and a couple of straight seams so everything came together really quickly. My favourite detail is the little tag on the end of the drawstring. It was a rectangle I snipped off the selvedge and sewed over the knotted ends of the twill tape. Cute!