Adventures in sewing: Yoga mat strap and buttonholes

I started taking yoga again - YAY! I'm pretty sure it helps my mental sanity - I'm not kidding. Anyway, I decided that I wanted a yoga mat strap so I could be one of the cool kids. You can easily pick one up at Target and they're pretty inexpensive, but I figured "Hey! Why not make one?". The answer to that question is because that one I wanted to make had buttonholes (so it is self-adjusting, which is fabulous) and anyone who knows anything about buttonholes knows that beginning sewers/sewists should STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM THEM. Ah yes, but not me. My books made it sound easy. Does your machine have a four-step buttonhole? Yep, sure does - PIECE OF CAKE! Ha. I tried to make a buttonhole on a scrap piece of fabric for about TWO HOURS. Keep in mind that I hadn't even made the actual strap yet. I had a feeling the buttonhole would trip me up, so I wanted to get that down before I got all excited about the strap and then ended up stalling on the buttonhole.

Here are my buttonhole tries:

Some of these look semi-successful, but I assure you, they only assumed that look because of me and my yanking on the fabric to sew something I could actually cut apart (novel concept for a buttonhole, I know):

At this point I decided to stop sewing and bake cookies. The good old "step away from it before you throw your sewing machine out the window" mantra worked! I returned after eating about a dozen cookies and decided that I was going to make the yoga mat strap and make my own buttonhole. Take THAT four-step buttonhole maker!  My "fake" buttonhole theory works, but it's just not as consistent, although, as you can see from above, the actual buttonhole maker wasn't very consistent either. Fake buttonhole = a little zig-zag action to form each long side and a couple zig-zags at the top and bottom with some extra backstitching for reinforcement. Ta-da:

And now for the finished product:

I'm now the proud owner of a homemade yoga may strap! :)

New yoga mat!

I got a new yoga mat! I got a new yoga mat! I got a new yoga mat! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

I've been browsing the world of eco-friendly yoga mats for a while. It was actually getting a little depressing because the super-duper eco-friendly ones are around $90. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy yoga, but sometimes my mat sits in the corner and collects dust. I'm one of those exercisers who goes through phases. I'll go all out for three months, then spend two months on the couch. A great habit, I know, but at least I can admit my faults.

I just wanted something eco-friendly that wouldn't break the bank. And that's how I found Lotuspad eco yoga mats. It's a tiny, independent mat company run by Katy Downey. She lives in Massachusetts and is a writer by day and a yoga mat maker by night. I'm completely supportive!!!

Although the mats aren't top-of-the-line in the eco-friendly sense, they are MUCH better for the environment than the mats you find at the big box stores. They are made out of ThermoPlastic Elastomer, which is 100% biodegradable and they resist bacterial and fungal growth. (This is all information you can find on the Lotuspad website.)

In addition to bringing eco-happiness, they're also 72" long, which is longer than normal mats and, although I'm short, that extra few inches makes a big difference. And they're thicker than normal. Yay for a little more cushion!

Here's a little comparison between my old mat and new mat:

Katy even took a couple seconds to jot down a little note thanking me for my patience since I placed my order at the end of June and just received the mat last weekend. But this was fully disclosed when I ordered it and I knew the earliest I would receive the mat was the middle of July since she didn't have any in stock.

Great customer service. Great packaging. Great mat.

Joy!

I'm very happy with my choice.