my solution

This is what happens when you have several hundred miles of flapping, shredding tarp and rope beating on your fake leather recliner.

The more you touched the arms the worse it got.  It had gotten to the point if you sat down in the chair you had little flaky bits all over you.  So this is my solution, cover the arms.

I had a raggedy pair jeans that couldn't be rescued.  So I cut the inseams, center front and back seams out.  I did some fancy pinning, trimming and sewing.  And viol`a!  Arm covers that look like they are going to stay on and not slide around like the kind our mothers had on the arms of their sofas.

I haven't figured out what to do with the back of the recliner yet.  Right now a folded afghan covers it.

Next up, is to finish packing because I'm heading back to my sister's in Wichita probably for the summer and maybe part of the fall.  Or at least until the doctors can get her pain under control, so she can figure out what she wants to do.

Hope everybody is having a good day!

Judy

sis's chemo hat collection part 1

Sis's chemo hat collection, part 1.  Yup, I'm going to explore the wonderful world of chemo hats for bowling ball heads.  Our heads are round with short necks and most hats just don't fit well.  Without hair, hats fit even worse.  We are constantly pulling on them trying to get them to stay on.  I'm still looking for a style that really works.

First up, we looked at making fleece hats using McCall's M4681 hat, scarf, and mitten pattern.  We used view D without the flower trim.  She just wanted a plain hat, no trims, no gathers on top, no dangly bits.  The hat is of a very simple construction a back seam, a seam across the top and a hem.  The problem is, it's a tube.  We don't have the elongated skull or neck to pull off wearing a tube.  So I added gathers between the center-front seam and the hem to pull the bottom of the hem up off our noses.

It helped; but she discovered that the hat fit better if she turned it around and wore the gathered part in the back.  The biggest issue is the hat quickly got too hot to wear.  Fleece while soft doesn't work if your chemo makes you feel hot.

This is four of the six hats I made.  The other two were a green/black/white plaid and a Black Watch type plaid of navy/black/forest green.

While I was playing with the fleece Sis wanted me to make face-masks to pre-warm the air before it hit her sinus and lungs.  I found this pattern Germ Free Face Mask over at MammaCanDoIt.com.  A single layer of fleece isn't thick enough for pre-warming your breath.  So I added a second layer, that was better but still not good enough.  I wonder if adding a piece of woven cotton would have helped.  I think a molded wire or piece of metal to pinch it tightly around the nose would have helped, too.  I ran out of cold weather and ideas for materials to shape the nose so I dropped that project for now.

Lunch is calling me, so I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

ready for sister suzy

I finally got the master bedroom ready for Sister Suzy.  Damn, I hate bunged up knees!  I took down the Vertical blinds that seem to be ubiquitous to Arizona on all windows and doors.  Oh, and patio doors are arcadia doors in Arizona, too.  You get some really puzzled looks when you talk about your patio doors until they make the connection.

Can we say butt ugly!?  I thought we could!  Also, note they do nothing to protect from heat/cold infiltration.  I don't think they had ever been taken down to clean, if the top of the bracket/rail was any indications. It looks like all maintenance did was replace damaged slats as you can see in the different shades of white in the slats.

Any way, this is what I came up with.

I went to Hobby lobby and picked up 5 yards of white flocked drapery lining.  I made a sash/black-out curtain and hung that over the door blocking out any light that might come around the curtain as well as blocking out the cold/heat.  That curtain alone cut the temperature in that room by at least 10 degrees and the A/C isn't cycling as much.  Then I hung the drapes I originally bought for the front room on the rod that the finials screw into but only used one and butted the other end up against the wall.  I used rings on the sash curtain so you can open the curtains and step out the door.  But like a dummy I got the wrong size rings for the drapery rod, so I had to just run the drapes on the rod until I can get the right size rings to finish the project.  This makes the drapes hang a little high in the picture.

If Sister Suzy wants it darker in her room, I will go back to Hobby Lobby to get the black drapery lining fabric and make another curtain.  She has a security light just outside her patio door shining on the mailboxes and courtyard.  It really lights up that room and the balcony.

Well I'm going to be off line for a month or so while I'm back in Kansas getting Sister Suzy and visiting family.

Y'all hold the fort down and don't have too much fun!

Judy

latest additions to my summer wardrobe

Here are the two latest additions my summer wardrobe.

The pink print is your standard V-neckline with one important change.  I bring the point of the 'V' up about an inch, as I really don't like exposing my cleavage.  My last name isn't Kardashian, so leaving nothing to the imagination, just isn't my thing.  Something my dear sainted mother pointed out when I was 13-14 was, if you wanted to be treated like a lady, look like one and act like one.  It rang a bell, along with, you are responsible for any child you procreate until that child is 18.   Do you remember how old 18-year olds were when you were 13-14?  E-gads, they were almost as ancient as my parents!  LOL  And did you know that a V-neckline has a slight curve to it?  I didn't until I took that pattern making seminar.

The green Hawaiian print's neckline was inspired by a pattern I saw when I was making sure I was spelling Butterick correctly last week.  That was pretty easy to do.  I took the front opening for the slit-neckline and using the lid off the rice storage container as a template I drew a slight curve on the facing.  Then I laid it down on the front of the shirt matched up the neck line and sewed it on leaving about two inches unsewn so I could attach the back facing and sew up the shoulder seams before finishing the rest of the shirt.

I am reorganizing and cleaning the kitchen so I maybe off-line for a while.  I need to make room for Sister Suzy moving in with her stuff in July.

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

second improvement to summer wardrobe

The second improvement to my summer wardrobe finally got finished today after a couple false starts and an attempt by myself to screw up the other knee.

I used the pattern pictured as inspiration for a better neckline.  I redrew the neckline a couple of times before the old noggin remembered I had a pattern making kit in the closet.  I dug it out and got the neckline much closer to what I wanted. (Still needs a bit of tweaking)

Some of the best money I have ever spent.  I bought this kit and the one for pants back in the mid-80s.  There was a seminar that went with it to explain how to get the most out of the kits and some pretty cool tidbits like; why Simplicity patterns are usually two sizes too big, McCall's are one size too big and Butterick and Vogue are usually dead on.  Which helps explains to me why I always preferred the fit of the Butterick and Vogue patterns, as well as the fact they were more couture/stylish.  Interesting side note: while I was making sure I spelled the names of the pattern companies right, did you know McCall's now owns the Butterick and Vogue labels?  Me, nether!  If you ever run across either one of these kits or the clear acrylic ruler that goes with the kits grab them.  The best thing that ever happened to altering patterns so what you make fits.

Anyway back to my new shirt, I went through my button box, which is a plastic 7” x12 “x12” drawer in one of those tower thingy's, and found a button in the buttons I inherited from my mother I liked really well.

It's old and some of the gold is worn off but I think it adds to the charm of the button.  I moved the button loop down a little from the edge of neckline for the fun of it.  The jury is out as to whether or not I think it was a good idea.

Well, on to the next one.  I'm thinking maybe a keyhole neckline for the next shirt or a V-neck or a scoop then there is a square neckline.  I don't think I want any collars but who knows where my imagination could wander off too.

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

Oh yeah, the knee!  Friday morning as I was coming out of the kitchen my left knee popped and I thought I was going to the floor but caught myself with the table and hung on for dear life.  I finally got myself back to the bedroom using a folding chair as a walker to get to Hubby's cane.  Then, I used both of them for the rest of the day to get from the bed to the bathroom.  I was eating naproxen like it was candy.  All I could think of was, "Man as bad as I hurt, I don't even want to experience this pain without these pain relievers."  It took me until the middle of the night to remember I have a TENS unit for the other knee that would work just fine on the one that was hurting so badly.  LOL, I know, kind of slow! By Saturday afternoon all I needed was the cane to get back-n-forth.  Yesterday, I made it down the stairs to the dumpster and to the mailbox only using the cane for the stairs part.  The weird part is the lower calf muscle is painfully tight and the muscles up the outside of leg into the hip are stiff-tight.  So much for my doing a bunch of exercises to strengthen the muscles that support the knees and doing more walking to get the weight off for the time being!  Jude

the state of my wardrobe(summer)

The state of my summer wardrobe is sorry, sad, embarrassingly ragged.  Since the temps are in the middle to high 80s the situation is becoming critical if I want to leave the A/C off for a few more weeks.  I have repaired or remodeled 6 pair of shorts and should get another summer out of them.  The tops?  I'm down to 2 shirts that are only fit for rags and don't want to be seen in public in them.

So I have gone through my fabric stash and found 8 pieces of fabric that there is enough yardage to make shirts with.  I even found a pattern that I had never used rolled up in a piece of fabric.  What could be simpler than a front, back and neck-facings?  I have the first of the new shirts made.

The shirt pattern takes about two and a third yards.  Not thrilled with a boat-style neckline so the next one will have something different.  Probably bring the back of the neck up to the natural neckline and change the front to a v-neck or a scoop neckline.  Have also considered cutting a square opening just at the mid-line of the bust and inserting a button closure, kind of like the dickeys of my youth.  I'm waffling on this as it is more work (buttons and buttonholes) but it would add some more pizazz to the shirts.

And no, I did not use the shoulder pads! LOL I have football-player shoulders and neck muscles.  Which is why I want to bring the neckline back around to the natural neckline.

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

a case for prewashing

When cleaning out the mother-in-law's apartment after moving her into assisted living we came across this wall hanging that her mother had made.  Nobody wanted it so I took it.

It needed a bath, which I finally got around to doing the other day.  :-)  I hand-washed it in a sink of cool water with some serious toothbrush time in one spot on the white background that was a yellow greasy looking stain.  Which, thankfully, when it dried is not that visible.

It dried with the puckered look you see in the photo.  While examining it closely to figure out why it was not flat this is what I observed.

The gray fabric of the basket had shrunk!  Damn!  I can do one of two thing, leave it as is OR unpick the basket and re-appliqué it and hope like hell it doesn't shrink any more.  I'm going to go with the first option because I'm not that great at appliqué and sometimes less, is more.

The moral of the story is pre-wash your fabrics because I'm sure Hubby's grandmother would be upset about the puckering.

Oh! And here is a picture of Psycho Cat.  Isn't she the most pitifulest thing you ever saw? 

She doesn't fool me.  I see that red gleam in her eyes.  LOL

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

How to move front pockets

I should have posted this weeks ago, but, well, life has kind of gotten in the way.  Here's a link to the original post so you can tie the two together.  So, this is how I move front pockets when tailoring a pair of pants.

As you are marking the cutting line up the leg put those marks on the pockets.

Transfer those lines to the fabric of the pant legs to the seam where the pocket joins the front.  Then get your handy-dandy seam ripper out and CAREFULLY remove the pocket unit from the pant leg.

 Then pin the pocket back in to match up on the new cutting line.  Now you can cut all the excess fabric off the front pant leg using the pocket edge as your cutting edge.  You will be able to see where any notches need cut or stay-stitching needs done.

On this pair of pants the pockets were twisted.  Probably because the fabric was off grain and after they were washed and all the sizing was removed the fabric returned to its natural lay.  Another reason to always prewash your fabric.  I did have to take the pockets apart, re-cut and re-build them so they would lie flat in the garment.  Not something you normally have to do.

Lay the right side of the pocket facing against the right side of the front, pin and sew.  I usually set the pocket on the inside of the front where it goes and then flip it to the front to make sure I putting the right pocket on the right side of the pants.  Cause, well, I've been wrong before.

Clip any corners, flip, iron, top stitch, and press everything flat.  Pin the pocket edges to the side of the pants and to the waist of the pants, then baste the pocket edges where they meet the sides and waist of the front.  Bar-tack (usually a narrow, short [quarter to half inch] zig-zag) at the bottom of the pocket opening and at the top of the pocket opening.

As you can see the side of the pants is a smooth line, but at the waist I have a little of the pocket peaking above the waistline.  This had to do with the way Hubby's pants needed to be tailored.  (Interesting note:  less than 12% of the people in any given size are actually those measurements.)  I just trim that little bit off.  To me having the side of the pocket lying right is more important than that little bit at the top of the pocket that needs trimmed off.

Now you just finish sewing the pants back together!

 I hope everybody is having a good day!

Judy

my take on a jellyroll race quilt

This is my take on a jellyroll race or lasagna quilt.  I wanted to do one and I needed to make a quilt for a wedding gift for a friend's granddaughter so away I went.

I studied several you-tube videos.  Starting with the Missouri Quilt Co. video with a white block spacer between each new strip.  When I got to thinking about how I would construct and quilt a king-size quilt I decided to turn it into a giant nine-patch.  I decided that a random placed white patch might not look so hot so I went with the original jellyroll race quilt look.

A 40-strip jelly roll will make approximately 50" by 64" quilt.  So how would you expand it to get a king-size quilt?  Web surfing to the rescue, of course!  And now that I want to write it up I can't find the you-tube videos that explained how to make different sized quilts! Damn-it!

EDIT:  Found It! Jean JellyRollQueen 
                            Part 2

Any way, I wanted to make an 84" by 84" center. The formula is to take inches wide times 32 rows, then divide by the length of the strips for how many strips in the main body of the quilt.  Next for the 20 inches left over which is 10 rows do the formula again to know what you need for the added length of the quilt you want to make.  Okay, clear as mud, right! LOL!

Main Body    84 x 32 =  2688 / 41 = about 66 strips (round up)
Second Half  84 x 10 = 840 / 41 = about 21 strips (round up)
Add 66 strips + 21 strips = 87 strips of 2 1/2" fabric.
The advice of the lady who posted the you-tube videos was to add a few extra strips so you wouldn't be short.

This lady's advice on adding the extra strips to get the length of quilt you wanted was to add them evenly to the top and bottom, in my case five rows top and five rows bottom.  Just to make sure I had enough (cause I'm paranoid like that) I stopped and measured my strips when I had sewn the first seam in the first batch of strips together.  I was too long and trimmed it back to the size I needed.

This is the back.  I randomly sewed strips I had cut from the stash together.

  
Cut and turned as a nine-patch

See those two yellow strips that are side by side?  That's the middle of your long strip of fabric, which would be no big deal if you were leaving as one big piece.  However, I wanted to make blocks, so I picked off that bottom row and re-sewed it to the top of that block.

This is the front.  I decided to sort the fabric into color families and I changed up the construction, too.  After I had sewn the long strip in half, I cut the strip in the lengths I need for the width of the quilt top.  Then I sewed the top in three sections before cutting it into my blocks.  I think it turned out better.  I didn't have any spots where the fabric doubled over on top of it self.

 This is the nine-patch layout of the top.

I didn't like the original border fabric I had picked out so I switched to this black print.  Better but still not the pop I was looking for.  I decided to use cornerstones to finish the borders.  After sewing them on I liked the square-in-a-square the best.

I'm thinking I should have used black strips to set the quilted blocks together.  That might have helped the over-all look of the quilt by giving the eyes someplace to rest from busyness of the quilt.

Will I make another jelly roll/lasagna quilt?  Only if it is in a size I could comfortably quilt as one piece in my machine, so that would mean probably nothing bigger than a twin or maybe a double with a traditional weight batting.

So the label is on and the quilt is ready to be shipped.  Now to finish up another quilt I'm working on for a wedding in October.

Everybody have a good day!

Judy

hubby is losing it

Hubby is losing it!  His dress clothes are waaayyy too big.  He hasn't really wore his dress clothes since he was he was laid-off four years ago.  I knew his dress clothes were getting loose, but oh-my!  He has to hang on to them to keep them up!  LOL

He had an interview and since we are flat broke, I sat aside my quilt and went to work.  I have two pair of pants remodel.  The great part is he signed the contract this morning!  Yeah!  So I have to get with it and finish up the rest of his dress pants.  

I'm going to let his dress shirts go until after his pants are done.    I'm not real sure I want to tackle his suit jacket.  (I done it before.  I made his three-piece suit for our wedding.)  Maybe, after he has worked a couple of months we can go shopping for a new suit jacket and donate his older one.

For those who have never tailored a pair of men's pants here is how I do it.  First thing I do is have whomever try on the garment and kind of look over where the problems are.  The next thing I do is get my handy-dandy seam ripper and CAREFULLY remove most of the waistband.  I leave the very front attached.  I don't want to mess with the zipper if at all possible.

Have them put the garment back on and start pinning out the excess fabric making sure back pockets and such stay in the right spots on the body.  There are two ways to do this.  One is wrong side out, which is easier.  However, the correct way is right side out, as they would wear the garment.  This takes into account the fact that no body is symmetrical.

Have them take the garment off.  Get a note pad and start measuring what you pinned out and where; then writing it all down.  If you don't have to take out more than an inch out of a seam you won't need to use your seam ripper to remove seams.  However, if you need to take up side seams you are going to have to move pockets.  So get your seam ripper out and CAREFULLY start ripping the seams out.  Make notes as to where all the bar-tacks are; any top stitching you take out.  Pay careful attention to how the garment was sewn together and how the pockets were built.  You will not be able to move the back pockets if they are plackets but most front pockets can be.

One other thought, leave any belts loops attached to the body of the pants if you can, because they won't move more than an inch ether way when you get ready to reattach everything.  I know weird!  You take out nine inches in the waist and the belt loops don't move that much.

 These are his pants ripped apart; the seams and pockets pressed flat with the notes.  I pinned the front side seams together and the back side seams together so I could mark and cut the sides the same.  I did not rip the inseams out or the back center seam.

 I got my tape measure out and marked where I need to cut based on my notes.  I then moved the pins just inside my cutting line and cut.  I was feeling quite brave and did not do the prudent thing on this pair.  Which is to baste up the seams and have him try the pants on, one more time.  It may come back to haunt me when he tries them on and they are too tight!
 

You can see where I fiddled around with the lines trying to get a smooth transition from one angle to another.  You can also see where I moved the marks for the pockets to the new cutting line.  The pockets in these pants were easy to move because they were side seam pockets.  I used a pleat to take out the extra fabric in the front of the pants as that is the style of pants Hubby finds most comfortable.  One pleat goes on the fold line up the front of the pants.  The two-pleat style goes either side of the fold line.

Put the pockets back on with any top-stitching and bar-tacking required.  Do the center back seam with any top-stitching needed.  Sew up side seams and any seam finishing.  Add any top-stitching required to the side seams.  Pin the waistband from the front to center back.  Pin where you need to take out the excess with a seam.  Trim the excess out and sew the waistband on.  Reattach the belt loops and you are done.

The other way to get rid of the excess fabric in the waistband is to take off whichever end of the waistband would be the easiest to rebuild.  If you have a riveted button you would take off the buttonhole end and make a new buttonhole.  On these pants if I were to do it this way I would have taken off the button end.  Trimmed the excess off and reattached the button.  The reason I don't do it the 'correct' way is the zipper and the buttonhole!  It can be a total nightmare!  The other way is easier for me.  And if they  wear a belt, who's to know?

Hey, everybody have a good day!

Judy

Update: The post on how to move the front pockets is here, if you need it.

t-shirt shag rag rug

I decided it would be cool to make Sister Suzy a rug to match her memory quilt.

I did some research on rag rugs.  Ilona over at Life After Money made a couple using the latch hook method.  Instructables has a how-to on braided t-shirt rugs.  Craftstylish has a how-to for crocheting a rag rug.  SheWhoMeasures has a how-to for knitted rugs.  Wow, look at what I just found, a PDF booklet on knitted rugs.  Spoonful has a tutorial on making a round woven rug and this one from Craftpassion is done with sheets but I think it would work for t-shirts as well.

But none were exactly what I had in mind.  I wanted a shag but didn't want to spend any money on a latch hook backing and I didn't have any netting like Ilona in my stash of craft goodies. So I pieced together 4 left-over backs to get a good sized backing.  I used a pieced quilt block design of a heart for the center motif from Simplicity and then doubled it.  I drew a 3" x 3" grid on my backing.  I decided based on what I had left in scraps that two-and-a-half-inch shag would use up too much fabric.  I went with 1.5" shag or a 3 inch square of fabric sewn every half-inch and then snipped in half inch segments.  I choose to use 3" strips of fabric as opposed to 1/2" wide strips because I thought it would make the sewing easier.  If you wanted a tweedy look then you will have to work with a lot of little strips.

As you can tell my half-inch seam allowances are approximate.  I would suggest drawing the seam lines if really straight lines are important to you. I ended up marking the ends, middle and quarter to help keep the middle from getting away from me.  I also discovered I was off on my grid work by a half a square lengthwise and width.  So I should have waited until I laid everything out or spent more time with a paper and pencil!  Most of the sites I read suggest spacing of a 1/4" but I just didn't have the fabric.  Or the stick-to-it-ness to pull that off!  I struggled with the second half because I got bored.

To finish you are suppose to pull each strip until it curls.  It really adds a nice finish to the parts I have pulled but I got bored and have not finished that part.  I'm hoping that the strips will curl after a run through a washer and dryer like t-shirts with cuts and tears.  The last thing for me to do is paint on some non-skid rug backing.

Now for a kitty picture:

She is so concerned about being where she doesn't belong!

Hope every one is having a good day!

Judy

lookee at what I found

An outfit I made for Sister Suzy about 20 years ago!  I took three day off work, at the time, to make her six outfits so she would have plenty of cute clean clothes when she first arrived at the in-laws house.

We were cleaning the shed out of stuff from the in-laws that had migrated to our house and I found the outfit lying in a magazine rack that looked like a cradle.  The mice had a good time chewing out one side of the top.

Sister Suzy had trouble believing she was that little.  She was also fascinated with the size of the shoes.  I had to chuckle when she was flabbergasted about her wearing a dress every day.

I went looking for the pattern in my pattern drawer but didn't find it.  I bet the pattern is in some box rolled up with some fabric waiting for me to get back to it and make another one.  She's a bit too big for the pattern now, LOL, so I will have to wait until somebody has a little girl to use the pattern again.

That's the most blog worthy thing I've done in a while.  Haven't felt like sewing and knitting on my sweater is progressing very slowly.  However the computer card-game hearts is sucking up a bunch of my time when we are not cleaning out storage rooms and sheds.

Have a good day!

Judy

sister suzy got some new shirts

Sister Suzy decided she needed some new t-shirts for college and she wanted to know if I would do some appliquéing like I did on her bird shirt.  I said sure and here are the results.

 The design for these two came from EQ-6, my quilt program.  The pattern is an appliqué Celtic braid block.  Kind of tedious but looks sharp on the shirts.

Found a piece of fabric with dog prints on it.  She wanted the basset hound as it looks like Gracie.  I used a quilting trick here.  The colors in the Cocker complemented the shirt; so because both motifs came from the same fabric the Cocker ties into the shirt and the Basset.

This one took even longer than the first two.  The appliquéing starts on the sleeve, wanders over onto the shoulder, down the front and then curves around to the back.  The shirt looks really nice on her.  She says she wears this shirt when she is having a tough day because it is so bright.

I have a couple more to go but I haven't figured out how to take what we have envisioned and turn it into reality.

Have a good day!

Judy

Sister Suzy is off to college

Sister Suzy is off to college in a couple of weeks, so we have been scurrying around getting things ready for her to move into her dorm type apartment.  She decided that a pedestal bed that she could store things under was a good idea.  So I have made a tailored bed-skirt out of the material we bought for curtains when we were BD (before doors) while building our house.

Then I reupholstered an office chair she had found at a garage sale while out and about with Hubby.  The chair had a brick red Herculon fabric that was stained.  Original I was just going to make a slipcover for the chair but had a flash of brilliance upon spying a piece of Naugahyde in a tub and went for the reupholstering.  It took a while to do because I had to do a mock up of the back in muslin.  Naugahyde is not forgiving when you go to poking a bunch of holes in it.  The very back of the seat back is smaller than the front of the back.  So there was the ease factor to get right between the two pieces, also.  The seat was a breeze; just cut a big square and tack it on.  I think the chair turned out fairly well, all things considered.  (I am going to have to get the blow dryer out and heat up the wrinkle so it relaxes out.)

The next thing I worked on was a bag for her yoga mat, block and belt.

To make one you need a pair of blue jeans that the yoga mat will fit down the leg, two zippers, two 'D' rings, some Velcro, a seam ripper and a good pair of scissors.  Trim the hem of one leg then measure up about 29" and cut.  Cut the other leg off at the crotch line and open both of legs up flat with the seam ripper.  Take off the back pockets and the belt loops.

Measure the circumference of the pant leg then divide by pi and then again by 2 to get the radius of your circular piece for the bottom.  Lay that out on the second pant leg and cut it out.  For the yoga block pocket I measured up the side across the width and down the other side adding 1" for seam allowances and 1" for ease.  I didn't take into account for the couture of the mat when it is in the bag so the block is tight in the pocket.  I should have added at least a couple more inches for that.  Then I measured up the end of the block and across the length of the block adding 1/2" for seam allowance and 2 1/2" for the hem at the top of the pocket.  Then doing my best origami folding, after cutting and putting in the hem at the top, I fold the corners and pinned for all I was worth.  I marked the outline of the block on the leg that was to contain the yoga mat and pinned, shuffled fabric around until I had it place where I wanted it and sewed it up.  It worked!

Built the strap to hold the block into the pocket and applied Velcro.  Next I took the fabric that was left and made the cargo pocket to hold the yoga belt, socks, and gloves.  I cut 4" off the top of the piece and inserted the zipper I found in my stash.  Did the origami thing again with the marking, pinning and sewing.  It worked!  Again!

Then I tackled putting the back pockets on the other side of the leg.  One pocket is closed with Velcro and the other with a zipper.  Easy peasy!

Sewed up the side seam, then put the bottom in along with the bottom part of the strap with the 2 'D" rings.  I had to piece the strap together from the seat of the pants cutting it into 3" strips.  Next up was the 2" hem at the top of the bag.  Then applying the belt loops and bar-tacking the tie strap to the top.  Finally I applied the top part of the carrying strap and I was done.  (The tie strap came from the flat-felt seam I cut out with my first miss-step at making the bag.)

I showed it to Sister Suzy and she was quite impressed!  Yeah!

Have a good day!

Judy