Pretty, Pretty Projects

As we're preparing for the Krauselet's arrival, I've been thinking a lot about toys lately.  Specifically, I've been thinking about creative, open-ended toys, the kind that you can use to do all sorts of things.  You know, blocks, dolls, play kitchens, sandboxes, etc.  Things made from stuff besides plastic.  Things a kid can use over and over for more than a week or two.

So when Steve and Stephanie's son Henry was born on January 28th (and I still don't know how they managed to get to the hospital in the middle of the night, during the snow storm ...) I naturally wanted to make him a gift that would be creative and open-ended, at least potentially.  I also didn't want to make something like a quilt or blanket or pillow or clothing, because if Steve and Steph are anything like us, they probably have lots of those already, especially since Henry's their third baby.  (Ok, let's be honest: I'm sure they also have tons of toys.)

So given that I didn't want to make bibs or blankets, and I didn't want to buy something, what's a girl to do?  Go to the internet, of course.  Eventually I stumbled upon this fantastic idea: stuffed blocks.  There are lots of variations on this, some of which I will eventually try.  But that tutorial on Flickr is what I used, and I really like the way they ended up.


Following in the recent stash-busting pattern, I used stashed fabrics: 5 different cottons and the never-ending scraps of yellow twill left over from the button stoles.  The cottons were left over from another baby quilt (Lydia's, made in December of 2007) or various other recent projects, including the tote bags.

On the yellow twill, I machine embroidered H-E-N-R-Y using navy blue thread and a zig-zag stitch.  I just free-hand drew the letters using a pencil - I still haven't figured out the best method for marking fabrics, but pencil works pretty well for most of the time, especially if I don't change my mind later.

I cut out the blocks 4" square, using my rotary cutter, ruler, and mat that thesporkinator  bought me for Christmas.  I <3 the rotary cutter.  It makes things that are square so much more fun and simple to cut. 

Each block has one of the embroidered letters on yellow twill, and one square each of the yellow multi-colored dots, the blue gingham, the green gingham, the teal squares, and the red-orange calico.  I just sewed them together in random order, and by happy accident they turned out to be totally un-matching.  Then turning, stuffing, and hand-sewing the openings closed followed.  Voila!  Soft blocks for the baby.

The most difficult part of the project was marking all the sewing/stop lines (it's important not to sew all the way to the end of the fabric, or you don't end up with a cube!) and next time I do this I will probably just put pins at my stop lines instead of doing all the marking.

I say "next time", because I am totally going to make lots more cubes.  I might even branch out into balls, though that much geometry seems a bit out of my league right now.  These are (I hope) a great baby gift, and they involve way less time and energy and money investment than a quilt.  And we have LOTS of friends having babies just now, including 2 to whom I owe presents already, because they are already born.  (I don't know why, but I don't like to make baby gifts until babies arrive.  I can start them, but I don't like to finish before the kid makes its appearance into the world.  Not sure of the reason: superstition, or a desire to personalize for each child, or a bit of both?)

Anyway, next time I will probably skip the turning part of things - I think it would be fun to leave the seam allowances on the outside and just pink them, so that Baby has something easier to grasp onto.  (Plus, raw edges are cute!) 
I might experiment with using more solid foam rather than poly-fill, so that the blocks are more substantial (after I get the dining room chair cushions made and have some leftover foam to play with). 
I might add a jingle bell or something in the centers. 
And I will definitely be sure all the fabrics are pre-washed ... the red calico shrunk a bit in the dryer (oops) so Henry's blocks are now slightly rounded.  (If I get around to it I might unpick them and take out a bit of the stuffing so they lay flat again.  Then again, I might not.)
I also might transform this into a hand-sewing on the couch kind of project, depending on how many I decide to make.

I think I will probably go through my scrap boxes pretty soon - which are pretty much overflowing - and cut a bunch of squares so that I can make blocks when the mood strikes me, without too much preparation.  This is a pretty quick, fun project, and it would be even quicker and more fun if I already have the pieces cut.

Total time: to read the pattern, pick fabrics, cut out, and sew & stuff 5 blocks was about 2.5 hours.  A lot of that was getting the embroidery finished and looking okay.  The cubes themselves sewed up pretty fast, maybe 15-20 minutes each.
Total cost: minimal, as I used small pieces of stashed fabrics.  Perhaps a total of $2 for fabric and stuffing?  Even purpose buying fabric would probably not cost more than $1/cube.
Total fabric use: a 3" finished cube (which is what these are) needs a 12 x 8 inch piece of fabric (to get 6 4-inch blocks).  That means that it is infinitely possible to get 5 blocks out of 3/8 of a yard of standard-issue, 44" wide cotton fabric.  [One fat quarter could do nearly two blocks of this size.]  (Let me tell you, figuring out that fabric usage with a preggo brain was a Herculean task).  So let's say I used 3/8 of a yard of cotton for these five blocks, spread over scraps of 6 different fabrics.

My awesome advisor (I can never decide if that is spelled with "E" or with "O" and Firefox thinks "O" is wrong but I prefer the look of "advisor" to "adviser" because it seems more active, so I'm not going to look it up, so there) ... anyway, let's start over. 

My awesome advisor and his wife have two little boys, twins named Oliver and Hugo.  They are now about 18 months old.  Actually, Steve and Stephanie now have *three* little boys, as baby Henry was born at the end of January, in the midst of that huge snow and ice storm that stopped Cincinnati in its tracks.  So they really have three little boys, but these backpacks are for the two older little boys, the twins.  Baby Henry gets a different present, one I shall mention in due course.  Hugo and Oliver get presents for two reasons.  First, because I *meant* to make them presents when they were born, and went so far as to actually buy fabric for said presents, but failed to then complete the presents.  And second, because I think newly-minted big brothers are just as worthy of celebrating as newly-arrived baby brothers.  (And third, because taking presents to a baby and not to toddlers in the same house is a sure-fire way of starting tantrums, in my so-far limited experience.)

I thought long and hard about what I could make for the boys.  I didn't really want to make pillows, or soft toys - not sure why, I just didn't.  I've been in a bags mood lately, but I'm not really sure that boys carry tote-bags.  (Male [or female] friends are welcome to put me straight on that point).  So I decided to make some (hopefully) toddler-sized backpacks instead.  This was a free-form project, built using a pattern straight out of my head.



Basically, these are just rectangular drawstring bags, around 9 x 11 inches each, that have straps sewn onto the backs.  They're not particularly ergonomic, but they're also not particularly heavy-duty.  I'm envisioning these carrying a book, a stuffed toy or a ball, and a snack, rather than a weekend getaway's worth of toddler entertainments.

To make the bags more visually entertaining, I used black broadcloth for the back, and pieced the front of each bag in a quasi-log cabin style block, using stashed cotton fabric (and one stashed twill, the yellow, which comes from the button stoles I coordinated making as a fundraiser for SDD in 2003, remember, girls?).  Yes, the center panel is fabric that I also used for the little tote bag for Lydia.  In fact, I had purchased that panel fabric for the never-made baby presents for Hugo and Oliver.  I like the idea of giving twins (especially little twins) things that are similar but not identical.  [gaiadea  and geminid  may feel free to excoriate me for this in the comments.]  So that panel fabric seemed perfect - matching colorways, but squares in some panels and circles in the other.  In order to make the bags not identical, I reversed the log cabinish design.  Hugo's is red at the top, and Oliver's bag is yellow at the top.  I embroidered each boy's name at the top of his bag using some very bright green cotton embroidery floss.

The front of both backpacks are lined with more black broadcloth to cover the seams, using French seams so that the seams are all hidden.  If I had been feeling more ambitious I probably would have quilted the bags, but I wasn't feeling particularly ambitious so I didn't.  Like I said, light-weight bags, not heavy duty ones.  The straps are pieced from more of the panel fabric, matching the central panel (so Hugo's has blocks and Oliver's has circles); the backs of the straps are more black broadcloth.  Have I mentioned that I love my fabric stash right now?  (Though I haven't had an excuse to go to the fabric store since before Christmas ...)

I'm pretty pleased with how the backpacks turned out, and hope that the boys will enjoy using them.  I'm planning to give them away just as soon as the kids and Stephanie get over their colds and I can go visit.

If I were making more backpacks I would probably do a more traditional log-cabin style front, with a smaller center panel and more piecing, and I would at least top-stitch if not quilt the front.  I would also make the button-holes that I used for the drawstring a lot smaller (so that it doesn't slip out as easily), and maybe place them off-center so as not to obscure the embroidery.  And I would probably use a light-weight interfacing in the straps to make them a little sturdier.

Total cost: for each bag, using stashed fabric and notions ... let's say about $3-5.  Or we can say $0, since the fabric was purchased so long ago and was in the stash.
Total fabric use: for each bag, somewhere south of 1/4 of a yard.
Total time investment: for both bags, around 3 hours total.

So for a couple of months now, I've been using a Levenger Circa junior-size planner.  I've been interested in the Levenger circa system for years, ever since I saw playgreek  and family using them.  But they are pricey!  So when I decided to invest (and I do mean invest; the hole punch is like $70!) I wanted to make sure that I actually liked the system before I jumped in with both feet (or with $70, as it were).  I did this by buying a cheapo starter pack (for the much more manageable amount of about $12), which came with a bunch of pre-punched paper as well as a translucent plastic cover and some rings.  I quickly decided that I loved the concept, but didn't particularly like the stater papers that came with the notebook--too form-y, not free-form-y enough.  And I wanted to be able to print my electronic calendar from iCal and Google Calendar and have a paper copy with me.  So that meant investing in the hole punch.  And some heavy-weight printer paper.  And I've been very pleased with the results, in general.  The notebook is a good size, and I always have it handy for jotting stuff down, so that my poor preggers brain, which is apparently made of applesauce these days, doesn't have to struggle to remember when my midwife appointments are or what exactly we needed at the grocery store.

What I really wanted was one of the pretty bookcloth covered notebooks, which come with a handy-dandy pen loop as well as being lovely colors (like plum, and turquoise, and jade).  But spending another $48 on a notebook that's enhanced with a measly piece of elastic to replace a perfectly functional notebook lacking elastic seemed, well, wasteful.  So yesterday, when I should have been doing real work, or at least altering some of thesporkinator 's suit trousers, I decided to make a custom cover for the planner instead.  (What can I say?  It was a beautiful sunny day, and my sewing room has the nicest sunshine ...)

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, in the end.  The materials I used were 3 mostly complete fat quarters, leftover from a pack that I bought in college.  In early college.  So probably this fabric has been hanging around about 8 years now.  It's made its way into various projects in small ways, but I still had big chunks left.  Hooray for my awesome fabric stash!  (I'm working on stash busting from now on, until I make enough space in the drawers that I can put more yardage in ...)  I also employed for the covers a cardboard cereal box that was in the recycling bin, and some stiff sew-in interfacing scraps that I also found in the stash helped give some body to the pockets.

The final product has two cloth-covered covers.  Each cover has pockets on the interior.  The front pocket is vertical (I copied this design element from some of Levenger's uber-pricey leather folders).  The back cover has a pen pocket and a horizontal pocket for papers.  The updated cover is about 1/2" wider than the original Levenger-sized cover, in order to accomodate the pen pocket, but I don't think this is a bad thing.

Unfortunately, this project took a lot longer than I expected, mostly because I sort of had to change plans a couple times in the middle.  (I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the applesaucey pregnant brain, which isn't so good at math or analysis these days.)  I don't think the changes made the project worse in any way, just a little more difficult and time consuming.  This was supposed to be just a short little thing, to enjoy some sunshine before getting back to real work.  Hah!

For one thing, I totally failed to add seam allowances to the fabric I cut out for the main body (the blue/purple wave).  This decision was prompted by the fact that I was just going to glue the fabric down onto the cereal box cardboard I cut for the cover.  But then I realized that I didn't have any spray adhesive, and elmer's glue would be messy, and hot glue would hurt my fingers ... so I decided to sew the fabric to the cardboard instead.  This was surprisingly easy.  I didn't even break a needle.  But then the cardboard cum fabric was too thick to go into my punch, so it couldn't become the cover on its own.  I had to adjust everything (read: pick out everything) so that I could slide the translucent cover of the notebook's original shell into the fabric/cardboard cover.

For a second thing, the whole no-seam-allowances thing meant that the front vertical pocket, which I had intended for use housing folded 8.5 x 11 sheets, wouldn't actually hold said 8.5 x 11 sheets once they were sewed down.  Sigh.  I solved this problem by adding a pocket horizontally in the back cover.  It took some rejiggering, and I had to cover up part of the pen holder, and I had to hand-sew one edge of the pocket down so as not to lose the functionality of the pen pocket ... but it all works now.  Can put folded papers in back pocket, receipts and smaller pieces in front pocket, and still have holder for a pen or two.

I made skinny double-fold bias tape out of one of my pieces of fabric, which I used to bind the edges.  And a good thing I did, too, since I ended up needing something to bind the edges to keep the pocket together, following the major design change from cover to pocket!  Learning how to make my own bias tape (using the continuous method here, by the Dread Pirate Rodgers) has been a real revelation in my sewing.  I love love love bias tape.  And piping.  And edging.  And once I found this tutorial (from Autum at creative little daisy) on a DIY way to make double-fold bias tape, I love it even more.  I attached the bias tape using hot glue (ouch!  My poor index fingers are not sure about hot glue.)  Despite the burned fingers, I think the bias edging really makes the whole project.  It sort of ties it all together.  Thank goodness it works; I would have been very disappointed to put in so much time and end up with a sticky, gluey, mess that looked awful or didn't lie flat.

On the whole, I'm pleased--but probably won't be redoing this project any time soon!

Total fabric: parts of 3 fat quarters.  Probably if I had used fewer fabrics, I could have gotten away pretty easily with just one fat quarter and some bias tape or ribbon.  And about 18 square inches of sew-in interfacing.
Total cost: I'm going to call it zero!  Because these fat quarters and the interfacing came from the stash, and I don't even remember how much I might have paid for them back then.
Total time: from planning to finished, about 4.5 hours.  Probably I could have cut this down by measuring more carefully, including seam allowances, and sketching out a plan on paper before I started.  But where would the fun be in that?

 ... for a tiny tot, my best friend Emily's 12-month-old daughter Lydia.  Lydia's birthday is at the end of December.  Her mom and I have been friends since we were infants (really), and we exchange birthday gifts at the holidays (because that's when our birthdays fall).  So it made sense to add Lydia to the gift exchange.  On the logic that Emily was receiving one of the dishtowel totes, and Lydia is still young enough that stuff Mom likes is cool, and tote bags are always useful, I decided to make Lydia a tiny tote.

I used some stashed cotton and basically followed the same pattern as for the other tote bags, just on a miniature scale.  I have a mini tote bag that my Aunt Frances made for me when I was about Lydia's age, and it is still in daily use around here as my lunch bag.  So I patterned the bag for Lydia on that small little bag, which is about 6 inches square.  Lydia's ended up a little smaller than that one because of the panel fabric I used for the exterior: I wanted to showcase each panel, which is not quite 6 inches, and not get weird bits of the adjacent panels also showing at the sides and bottom.  But in the end I think it worked out - a good size for carrying around a few blocks, some Cheerios, and whatever else a 12-month-old little girl needs to have with her.  :-)

The fabric is from the stash.  The exterior is part of a half-yard of panel fabric that I bought at St. Theresa Textile Trove a while back; the interior is the same aqua blue cotton that I used in the dishtowel totes.  In retrospect, I probably would have preferred using a slightly different shade of blue for the lining, but the lighting in the dining room wasn't great and I used what I had to hand.  All the other fabric was buried in the depths of the not-yet-unpacked sewing room, so getting to my other options was not really possible. 

Total fabric: about a quarter yard, perhaps?
Total cost: nominal, as everything was already stashed away; probably a total of about $3's worth of fabric.
Total time: under an hour, since I was in bag production mode.

Well, not really a ton.  But a lot of tote bags, given to various friends and family members as Christmas and birthday gifts.

I used the Dishtowel Tote tutorial as my basis.  I bought a pack of 5 dish towels at Target for $10, and bought cotton on sale at Joann to use as lining.  Unfortunately I had to use two different lining fabrics because I couldn't find one that worked for all 5 dishtowels.  (Poor me!  I had to buy two different fabrics!  Oh noes!)

I basically followed the tutorial pattern pretty closely, but of course we all know that I am incapable of using any pattern without altering it a little bit at least!  So here are the alterations that I made from the original dish-towel tote:I'm pretty pleased with how these totes turned out.  For one, I love the colors - so bright and happy!  For another thing, yay for inexpensive, reasonably quick handmade useful gifts!

There are a couple things I would probably do differently next time:
Pics: Bag 1, Bag 2, Bag 3, Bag 4 exterior, Bag 4 interior.  I gave away bag 5 before I photographed it, but it achieved a similar level of awesomeness, IMHO.

So for the past couple of years, at least, I've had a couple of vintage aprons lying around my kitchen, you know, like you do.  At least, like you do if you're me; something about me seems to telegraph, "I want vintage half-aprons, please!" to the people around me.  I like aprons, I think they're cute and super useful.  And I like old things, of all descriptions, and I like things made of fabric.  The problem with half-aprons, though, is that they don't actually protect the bits of me that are most likely to get filthy during cooking, namely my top half.  Which is, after all, where stuff splashes you if you're standing at the stove or sink, or where you spill stuff down your front if you taste while cooking.  And who can cook without tasting?

So, these aprons have been hanging around my kitchen, making me feel guilty for not using them and getting dusty.  Not too long ago, though, it occurred to me that I could *add a bib* to each apron, thereby making them cute and vintage, but also modern and useful!  So I did.

Basically I used the same process on each apron: cut out the bib part, following as a pattern a full apron I have but modifying the top slightly; add bias tape to the edges; add bias tape as a neckband, sew bib to waistband of apron; add pocket; wear and use.  Very simple and satisfying.

The first one I did, the red, is for me.  I actually did this one about a month ago, and it turned out so well I did the second one.  I used some red and white calico that I had lying around, and white bias tape ditto.  It's great.  I wear it almost daily.

The second one I did, the brown and green, is for a friend for Christmas.  As is the norm in these things, it's slightly nicer than the red one, because I knew what I was doing, and because I made it for somebody else.  I used some brown calico that I purchased to match the blue-green-brown-peach plaid of the apron, and I made some bias tape out of some big scraps of complementary green broadcloth that I had lying about.  I bought a half yard of the brown calico, knowing it would be too much, and as it turned out I could probably have gotten away with a fat quarter.  (Note to self: remember this for next time, if any other vintage half aprons come my way.)  I'm particularly pleased with myself on this apron, because I matched the scalloped bottom of the vintage half with a scalloped top on the bib, and repeated the scallop motif in some machine embroidery on the second (new) pocket.  Way to be thematic, self!

Overall, this is a super fun project and, I hope, a really great gift.  It's also quick and so far has been very inexpensive, since the aprons were things I already had at home, as were most of the materials.  If I run across other vintage aprons at yard sales and so forth I think I will pick them up and use them for gifts again next year.


Total investment of time: about 2-3 hours each, slightly more on the second because of making my own bias tape.
Total fabric use: about a fat quarter (1/2 of a 1/2 yard piece of 44" wide fabric), plus around a yard of bias tape.
Total cost (each apron): about $3.50 for 1/2 yard of calico; add $2 for a package of purchased bias tape on the red one.

We are in desperate need of window treatments in the new apartment, so I spent a couple of hours this week looking at some books I had gotten from the public library.  They were mostly uninspiring, but at least I did justify schlepping them home by finding a really cute look for the kitchen curtains.

flickr.com/photos/9648411@N08/3094338226/

These are just triangles of fabric, cut so that the short sides are on the straight grains and the long edge is on the bias of the fabric.  The book suggested that they be self-lined, but I didn't do that for 2 reasons.  First, I only had 2 yards of the yellow fabric, and I want to use it in other kitchen sewing stuff too.  Second, I don't want to block any light from the windows, just make them more interesting visually.

So I cut out two triangles of the inexpensive quilting calico I got last weekend, made some bias tape of the complementary blue cotton fabric, and slapped the bias tape on the edges.  I hung 4 cup hooks on the window frame, tied knots in the edges of the triangles, and voila!  Curtains.  Easy, and I like the way they look - dramatic but not pretentious.

Total investment of time: about 2 hours, including making the bias tape and climbing on the counter.
Total fabric use: about 1.5 yards, 1 of the yellow and .5 (or less?) of the blue.
Total cost: about $8 (at around $5/yard on sale)

So a couple of years ago, my Mom bought me for Christmas a pattern for a nice fabric tote bag.  I had seen a pattern at a quilt show, and she couldn't find that exact pattern, but she picked out a different one that looked cool.  The pattern that she picked was the "On the Breeze" bag, part of the Scrap-Bags line by Jamie Kalvestran.

I was really excited about this pattern.  The pictures looked really cool!  The bag had lots of pockets and a useful size (about 14 inches wide - big enough for my 12-inch laptop).  I went out and bought some gorgeous fabric at Rachel's, the quilt shop in Staunton, and got to work right away on the bag - even though I'd just had shoulder surgery and wasn't supposed to be moving my left arm enough to drive a sewing machine.  (Boo to that - no sewing on Christmas break??!!)

The bag took most of a day to complete, and the instructions were really hard to understand.  Worse, though, was the finished product.  The bag's strap was only attached on the back, making it pitch forward if you put anything in it.  It had a lovely flap pocket with a zipper, but the way the pocket was attached was incredibly cumbersome - you had to flip the flap over the bag to get into the main body of the bag, or to access the zipper pocket.  You also had to *close* the zipper pocket in order to not lose everything in the pocket the instant that you flipped it.  This bag DID NOT WORK AT ALL if you put anything in it!  It especially didn't work if you put a lot of stuff in it, like me, or if you are an inherently lazy purse-carrier, also like me.  I like an open bag that I can shove stuff into all day long, but still shut if I need to. 

I abandoned the bag (sadly--I still loved the fabric) and bought a Vera Bradley bag, which is great and does exactly what I needed, though not large enough to carry my day planner.  A few months later, I took the homemade bag apart halfway and tried to refashion it into something that would work for me.  It is better now, but still has the top-heavy problem because of the way the straps are situated.  It's not my primary bag but it will do in a pinch.  I use it occasionally.

Sometime during all of this process, my mom decided that she wanted to try making the bag, so I sent her the fabric requirements and she bought some beautiful cottons at Rachel's.  Then she decided that she'd like to make one for my aunt, too, so she bought a fabric for a second bag.  I gave her a photocopy of the pattern.  She got as far as cutting out the pieces, but when she started sewing it she discovered that in fact the instructions are basically incomprehensible.   Which at least was justification for me - Mom's been sewing for more than 40 years, so if she thought it was hard I knew I wasn't crazy.  :-D  She gave up in disgust and sent the fabric for both bags to me, to do with as I would.

So this year for Christmas I decided to put the bag together (in a way that actually might WORK for someone who, I don't know, puts stuff in a purse) as part of her gift.  I know she likes the fabric a lot because she picked it.  So my task was just to rejigger the pockets to make them work properly, using the pieces that were already cut out to do so.  And I think I succeeded pretty well!  Here's the summary:

On the exterior of the bag, I used the pieces for the "zipper flap pocket" to make two exterior pockets (in two complementary fabrics, mushed together; I also used half the fabric cut for one of the interior pockets to do this).  One exterior pocket has a flap that I made out of the fabric cut for the body of a long exterior pocket, and a magnetic snap.  The other exterior pocket is open.  They are about the same size, these two pockets, approximately square, and centered on either side of the bag's exterior fabric.
Here is the open pocket:flickr.com/photos/9648411@N08/3094330914/in/set-72157610693142804/
Here is the closed pocket:flickr.com/photos/9648411@N08/3093491287/in/set-72157610693142804/

On the interior of the bag, I installed only one of the two planned interior pockets (having used half of one to make the exterior square pockets).  I put the interior pocket in the bag according to the pattern's directions, installed the main magnetic clasp in the place indicated, and sewed interior and exterior together in the same way. 
flickr.com/photos/9648411@N08/3093495053/in/set-72157610693142804/

I decided to make two smaller straps, one on either side of the bag's exterior, rather than one big, cumbersome strap (which was falling off my narrow shoulders and would presumably do the same for Mom).  Hopefully this strap modification will stop the bag's unfortunate tipping-over problem.  I put the shoulder straps on either side of the square pockets on the exterior.

The side gussets are one of the hardest parts of this bag, mostly because one is sewing through so many layers: the sides and the gussets are each lined with fabric, and have batting, too.  But I decided to add side gusset pockets, which are one of my favorite features of the Vera bag.  They are perfect for keys and phone.  I made the side pockets out of two different fabrics, each of which was originally intended for a tall exterior pocket in the pattern.  After sewing those separately, I sewed them to the gusset panel at the bottom (actually I forgot to do the first one, but remembered on the second; sewed the first down by hand!).  It was still pretty tough to install the side gussets, because of the many many layers of fabric and batting (if you're counting, it's main body panel fabric x 2 and batting, gusset fabric x 2 and batting, and pocket fabric x 2 and batting), but I basted them in first which helped a lot.  Also, I sewed each seam twice to make them really really sturdy.  Hopefully they will not break/fall out!
flickr.com/photos/9648411@N08/3093492871/in/set-72157610693142804/

Another thing I really like about the Vera bag is the way the side gussets taper, so the bag is wider at the bottom than the top.  It is thus a very nice shape to sit up under the arm, and can accommodate a surprising amount of stuff, but totally lacks the tendency to gape open widely at the top.   So I tapered the side gussets about 1/2-in in at the top when I was making them.  I had hoped this would help the gaping open part, and I guess it does, at least a little bit. 

Other details: the pattern calls for piping, but I decided to do a variation on piping, which is cordless-piping.  I'm sure there's a real name for this, but whatever.  I made piping, but then pulled out the cord so I was left with a thin ribbon of fabric that I ironed flat, then used it in many places that I would have put piping: pockets, handles, etc.  I think it looks very professional.

I think this project was pretty successful.  There are things I would change for the next one:
-make handles slightly narrower
-sew side exterior pockets to gusset as a single unit
-make side gussets wider and shorter; taper them more (but in this particular bag the size was determined by pre-cut pieces).  This way the bag will have a wider footprint and be slightly shorter than the current dimensions.
-sew a pocket in the bottom interior of the bag, so as to slide a stiff cardboard piece in, to help bottom keep its shape.

But I think on the whole it worked very well - and I think the other fabric that's cut for the second will form the basis of my purse/diaper bag ('cause I am too lazy to carry more than one bag!).  I may add another interior pocket set, but on the whole I expect I will use this modified pattern again.

Total investment of time: about 9 hours, including the rethinking part.  This is not a quick project.
Total fabric use: I have no idea.  Maybe about 2 1/2 yards?  But unevenly divided among 4 different fabrics.
Total cost: minimal, since Mom bought the fabric. I had to invest part of a roll of batting and some interfacing.  And the thread.

aka, thesporkinator 's Christmas present.

I've seen lots of yoga bags (including a tutorial, here) but I don't really like the concept of a mat bag.  Basically, they're just drawstring bags with a handle, which seems like a pretty innocent idea.  But the thing I don't like is that you have to get the mat rolled down to a certain dimension or the bag won't fit.  Plus, in my (admittedly limited) experience, you kinda have to wrestle the mat into the bag.  Maybe the bag I tried was just too small, but I'm inclined to think that any sturdy cotton bag will grab onto any sticky yoga mat and be difficult to deal with.

Ergo, a different solution.  Our yoga studio sells this cool type of strap system or harness to carry your bag.  Problem is, they sell it for $20!  For a couple pieces of webbing and two buckles!  So I figured I could make something just as good, or better.

And I was right!

Basically, the pattern is two buckled straps that encircle the mat, parallel-wise.  I also put in three cross straps between the encircling straps, to hold them in place.  In retrospect, I could probably get away with two cross straps, but I can't find the seam ripper right now.  (I swear to Pete, I need a homing device on the damn thing.  It disappears for weeks at a time, and I don't know where it goes ...)  In addition to the three cross straps, I added a long, cushy shoulder/chest strap because, after all, this is supposed to make it easier for thesporkinator  to carry his ridiculously heavy mat back and forth to yoga practice.

So, to make this yoga mat carrier I made 2 encircling straps, 24 inches long by 1.5 inches wide (finished).  Did I mention that this yoga mat is insanely thick and heavy? 
I made 3 cross straps, 18 inches long by 1.5 inches wide, finished.
I made 1 shoulder strap, 40 inches long by 3 inches wide.
I purchased 2 "parachute buckles" at Joann (on sale) which accommodate straps of 1.5 inches wide.

To make the straps, I made fabric tubes, turned them, and finished the ends.

The fabric I used was some leftover lightweight denim.  It actually feels like flannel, it's so soft, but I got the fabric from Granny so I don't know what exactly it is.  I wasn't sure if it would be sturdy enough on its own, so I decided to use both interfacing and light batting to reinforce the straps.  In retrospect, EITHER the heavy sew-in interfacing (where did that stuff come from?) OR the lightweight poly batting would have been sufficient to do this.  Now, the straps are extra-sturdy!  Since I had the stupid sew-in interfacing I quilted the top side of each strap to catch the batting and the interfacing at the same time, before I made the fabric tubes.

After I had all the tubes made, turned, pressed, and top-stitched, I sewed them together.  Basically, they look like a sideways H, with three center bars instead of one.  That's the body of the carrier, which goes around the mat and grabs onto it.  Because the straps are so thick, what with the interfacing and the batting and all, I sewed the cross-straps to the outside of the encircling straps; that way I can still cinch the straps down tightly to the mat.

I attached the buckles to the encircling straps, making sure that they were right side up! (because that's the sort of thing I do, put buckles on backwards, snaps upside down, etc.  Comes of being absent-minded.)  Then I attached the chest strap to the top and bottom encircling straps.  Basically I just sewed it on as if I were sewing a French seam, putting wrong sides together, sewing, and then flipping right sides together and sewing again to hide the connection point.  This has the added benefit of putting stress on more than one seam.  In fact, all the connections between the straps are reinforced like crazy, because of the weight of this silly mat.  I used denim-weight thread and denim weight needles (yes, needles, I broke two!), and sewed each seam at least twice.  I don't want the straps to tear apart.

The finished product looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Next time I make one of these (I have a yoga mat, too!) I will use a regular-weight cotton and a medium or heavy-weight *fusible* interfacing, and skip the batting on the straps.  I'll only put in two cross-straps.  I'll still put batting in the chest strap, though, for the cushioning effect.  And I might add a buckle to the chest strap so that its length can be adjusted.

Total cost on this was the price of two parachute buckles, because I used scraps leftover from other projects.  And the buckles were on sale. 
Total fabric use was about 1/2 yard of 45 inch-wide fabric, plus about the same amount of interfacing and batting. 
Total investment of time was about 5 hours.  A lot of that could be alleviated by fusible interfacing, lighter-weight fabric (interfaced quilted denim is hard to turn through a 1.5 inch tube!), and skipping the quilting step on the straps.  It would be an even faster project (though somewhat more expensive) if one bought strapping instead of making straps at home, but where would the fun be in that?