I’ve been working out.  A lot.  It goes with the territory of training for a 70.3.  My gym bag was feeling a little small to haul around shoes, a swimsuit, and all of the other paraphernalia that I’ve been carting to and from home to workout at the gym.  So I decided I would make a new one.

I’ve been saving some Amy Butler fabric for a bag, but didn’t have a pattern yet.  It was fate when I saw my favorite local fabric store offering a class for the Girly Gym Bag.  I was unfortunately unable to take the class, but I went and purchased materials and the pattern anyway.

I love how this bag turned out!  It’s stiff on the sides thanks to some fusible foam, and large enough to haul swimming gear, running gear and a change of clothes.

I did make a few modifications to the pattern, based on what I wanted:

I did not add a flap to the outside pocket, as seen on the pattern envelope:

I honestly didn’t like the look of the half circle pocket, so I omitted it.

I also made the end pockets mesh instead of cotton.  I really like how that turned out.  The top of the mesh is finished with a piece of fold-over elastic that you can find at almost any fabric store these days.

The other pattern modification is an inside pocket.  If I were on my game, I would have added a zipper, too, but since it was a new pattern I didn’t get to that.  The pattern itself does not have any interior pockets.  I would have liked to have seen at least one or two.

While I was at it, I made a small toiletries bag that I could carry from the bag to the shower.  It’s lined with a terry cloth to absorb any spills that might happen, but also makes it extremely washable.

Overall, I liked this pattern.  It was easy to follow for the most part.  I could tell that it was made by a quilter, most likely, because of how the pattern pieces were cut out and assembled.  There were a few things that an apparel company would have assembled differently, I think.

The cons: sewing fusible foam got a bit thick for my machine in a couple of areas. The adhesive got all over my iron (press cloth, anyone?), which I know is my fault, but…

If I were doing it over, I would use my darker fabric for the body of the bag and handles, and lighter fabric on the pockets, just to hide dirt.  It’s great as-is, but that would be a design choice I would make in the future.

I hope you all have a great Easter weekend.  I am hoping to get outside in our gorgeous Montana spring weather!

Happy crafting,

Ingrid