Boho Bags, Sling Bags, Hobo Bags, Bento Bags

I've been busy sewing and I'm noticing a new trend. Normally I make small things - things that fit inside of larger things - like wallets, cosmetic bags, coin purses, things like that.  But lately I've been preferring larger things (size really does matter!)  (Get your mind out of the gutter - I am referring to sewing projects!)

It's all yoga's fault. 

What started it off was a message to my sister-in-law, June.  My brother Mike had been taking yoga classes and after he spoke to me about it for a while I started thinking this is something I should do.  So I began doing yoga each morning and I absolutely love it.  It's so nice to see how completely unbendable I am.  But I'm getting better at it!  And of course, while I'm trying to hold steady in a tree pose so it doesn't resemble a tree getting chopped down and more like a nice, steady, straight tree, I start thinking two things:  First, "there must be an earthquake going which would explain all this shaking" and second: "how can I accessorize this?"   I figure yoga mat bags would be brilliant.  So I message June and ask her if my brother has one - I mean, he started me on my yoga journey so I should  make him a yoga mat bag.  Now, I'm thinking a normal, roll up mat and a normal tube shaped yoga mat bag.  She tells me how he could use a yoga mat bag, but then shows me a picture of his mat - it's a giant, folding mat that is long and rectangular when folded. 

So I devise a yoga mat bag according to the measurements June sent me and this is what I came up with:

It's the largest tote bag I've ever made, and I guess that's when this "go big or go home" thing started.  Since then, I've made a good few large, crossbody hobo bags:

and this slightly adjusted Japanese Bento Bag:

The hobo bags I was immediately happy with and they are currently in my shop - the bento bag pattern still needs work I think, so that got sent to my sister-in-law June to use and test it out for me.

And come to think of it, I haven't even started making yoga mat bags at all.  I guess that's next.

So, this is the moral of the story:  Don't start yoga unless you have a lot of fabric on hand.