So last year, around this time, I took up jogging (I then stopped in September, but I’m going to take it up again soon, honest!). To start with, I was just holding my phone in my hand – because you can’t run without music! Also, I used a couch to 5k app, which is really good and tells you when to run and walk and builds you up from running for a minute to running non-stop for 20-30 minutes.

I quickly realised it would be helpful to have an armband to hold my phone in, so I didn’t drop it. I found this free tutorial on Fehr Trade, the queen of work-our gear. I found this tutorial to be a bit confusing, though, so I did some more googling and found this tutorial on Brown Paper Patterns and used that for my inspiration. Because the fabric she uses doesn’t have an obvious right and wrong side, I got a bit confused and did it wrong, so I thought I’d write a tutorial for anyone who is equally confused.

My arm is 26cm round the upper arm, where I wear the armband. My phone is 13.5cm long, so my rectangle measured 29cm (twice the length of my phone + 2cm seam allowance) x 28cm (the circumference of my arm + 2cm seam allowance). I cut 2 of these.

I measured a mark down the centre line (with it folded in half on the phone measurement side) and found the centre of that centre line, and measured the width of my phone (half on each side of the centre point). Sew the 2 rectangles together, wrong sides together, with a gap in the middle where you’ve made the marks for your phone – this will be the gap to get your phone in and out.

 You need to also measure some elastic around your arm as the stretch of the jersey wouldn’t be strong enough to hold up the weight of your phone. Sew the elastic on the wrong side of one layer of fabric – you can see below the 3 other parts are out of the way of the elastic.
You then fold 2 layers from the top to the bottom, over the elastic and sew them in place along the bottom edge. I sewed them one at a time, but you could sew them together.

You then flip the whole thing over…

And fold the final layer down, so all the ‘halves’ are lined up, with the elastic in the middle of the 4.

Then turn the tube right side out, so you will be able to see the stitching that is holding on the elastic.

You then pass the tube into itself, so that it’s folded in half inside the tube. I don’t know how else to explain this, but hopefully these pictures help illustrate what I mean.

You then sew around the circular edge, making sure to catch the elastic in the seam. It should look like this:

You then turn the armband around, through the hole in the middle (that is for your phone), which will mean all the stitching is on the inside. Now you’re ready to run! I also made a matching headband, to keep my hair out the way (last year I was growing out a crop, so my hair wasn’t long enough to tie back – also, it means it doesn’t matter how shitty your fringe looks, if you have a fringe), using this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess.

I hope that I’ve explained this well enough, but let me know if there’s anything that isn’t clear. I think I’ve got the bug a little for making work out wear (despite the fact that I no longer work out!). There’s a Burdastyle course on making a full set of exercise gear, which started last month – I might give it a go the next time it comes around. Do you make clothes to exercise in?

p.s. let me know if you make a running armband from my tutorial, I’d love to see it!