Gym Bag for O

This lovely gym bag is for a friend -- first name starts with O, and no it is not Oprah.

She's a gym-aholic, but a very stylish lady. So bag is designed with small pockets inside to accommodate her particular style of phone, her keys, and locker key. Outer pockets, there are four, accommodate a large Nalgene water bottle or small paperback novel. I wanted to keep the water bottle pocket on the outside of the duck cloth because I hate when my water bottle leaks on my gym clothes -- or worse my fresh change of clothes. Also used a magnetic snap for a closure... because who likes when people can look inside your bag!?!??! Extra long handles are meant to accommodate extras you might find stuffing on top of a full bag, i.e., winter coat. I also used a plastic placemat in the bottom so that it's really sturdy. It's a sturdy bag, despite its pink sensibilities. Made of duck cloth with basic cotton layers on the outside and the inside (lining).

One trick I did use to stabilize the bottom -- besides the plastic placement -- was that I folded the triangles (from the folded corners) toward the bottom, rather than up. This created several layers of duck cloth and lining at the base. I know you noticed my trademark (well, it's not really mine) bias tape on the handles. This time I elected to cut with the grain rather than bias. I noticed that bias gave enough stretch with other bags that I wanted to have something sturdier for this one (because I knew it was going to schlep shoes, clothes, and books to the gym).

The swirly pink and green cotton print and the magnetic closure are from JoAnn's. But the duck cloth is a remnant from my favorite local fabric store. The tape on the handles is actually a drapery trim (used to make roman shades) that I bought for .12/yard at Hobby Lobby. Placemat was a .25 deal from Target. I dreamed up all the measurements. But it's your basic tote pattern that you can find in just about any/all craft books on the market.