Pattern: Fehr Trade Running Armband Pocket (free pattern!)

It’s no surprise that I haven’t been sewing lately.  Summer is in full force, I just started a new job where my commute is longer and I’ve been taking some online courses to brush up on my skills – you know all the usual.  Oh and I’ve been running more.  After the success of my last half marathon in May, I decided to sign up for another one in October…and then another one later in October.  I also have some smaller races and relay races coming up that I’m trying to stay prepared for.  I’ve been running as long as I’ve been sewing, but it seemed that most of my energy that I reserved for sewing has transferred to running and running related activities.  I started track workouts with my running club once a week.  I’m also a bit more consistent with my long runs on the weekends.  I have been working a bit harder at it and I think I’m finally starting to show some improvement.

But I miss sewing. Every time I look over at my machines, I feel sad they are collecting dust.  I had downloaded this free Fehr Trade pattern a while back and had been meaning to try it out with some of my leftover spandex.  It seemed like a quick make, plus it’s something I actually need with all the running I’ve been doing.

I cut two out – one for me and a bigger one for my boyfriend.  This pattern is really simple and making it with spandex is great because it ensures your stuff will stay put in the pocket.  Any knit will do though.  You basically cut out two rectangles – one has the pocket flap and the other one doesn’t.  One is sewn with hole, so that when you sew the two together (one inside the other) you can pull the pocket flap piece through and the seams are finished nicely.

I tried to use a serger to sew together the piece that had the hole and I wouldn’t recommend it.  As you can see, it is hard to stitch it straight across (although it could be my lack of skills).  Then when I had to hand sew the hole back up, I had some trouble keeping this seam straight.  On the other band, I stitched this section on my regular machine using a stretch stitch.  Using a serger on the rest of the seams worked really well though.

Even though this could be cleaner, I’m happy with the result:

I was able to test my arm band out on my weekly 5K with my phone securely stowed and it worked really well.  Unfortunately I forgot to get an action shot of this, but here is a regular picture in my kitchen.

My phone fits quite well into it as you can see:

The summer is not over yet, so hopefully I will be able to get some more summer projects completed.  It’s hard though, as the desire to be outside is strong.  Maybe next year is the year I get better at planning ahead.  I’m not holding my breath…