Cute stripey bag~

It took me about a week to make this bag; I took four days, working perhaps 3 or 4 hours a day, making the bag body (it’s summer. I have time.) and then the rest of the week was lazily making the strap, which I would estimate would only take about 2 and a half hours working harder. Sewing the bag together was rather quick and painless.

I took the main idea and stripes pattern from this URL: http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Accessories/LC1537+Crocheted+Totes.htm

I made some changes to make the bag a bit more me.

This is the pattern for my version, using yarn from naturally Caron. The colors I used were black and an off-white, using 2 and 1 ball respectively. It might be smart to buy 3 balls of yarn just in case, because I could not make the strap with this yarn and had to use a half ball of Simply Soft to finish up.

A stitch you need to know: ldc is short for “long double crochet.” It is created casting your thread over the hook and by reaching forward into the front loop of the stitch indicated by the pattern, pulling a loop through and pulling through two loops twice to complete your ldc.

Bag: Black:

Chain 148. (I like using a chainless base, just as a preference.)

1: Hdc in 3rd chain from hook, and every stitch across.

2:*ch. 2, hdc in every stitch across*

repeat row 2 until you get about 4 1/2 inches tall.

Patterned part:

White:

1: ch 1, sc across

2:ch 1, sc in back loops across.

switch to black.

1: ch 1, sc across

2: ch 1, sc in back loops across.

*

switch to white.

1: ch 1, sc 1, {ldc in stitch directly three rows below, sc 1, ldc in stitch directly three rows below, sc 5} across,

2: ch 1, sc in back loops across

switch to black.

3: ch 1,  {sc 5, ldc in stitch directly three rows below, sc 1, ldc in stitch directly three rows below} across, sc 1.

4. ch1, sc in back loops across

*

Repeat from * to * until you run out of white, or approximately 6 1/2 inches tall. bag should be 11 inches tall by now.

Do not do black part of the very last repetition, but do switch to black.

*Ch 2, hdc across* until you have added another 1 1/2 inches to the bag.

bind off.

Strap:

You have two options for this. A simpler option is to chain 35, and make rows of *ch 1, sc across* until you have a 24-inch strap. That struck me as boring, and I was almost out of black, anyhow.

I had a big ball of worsted weight Simply Soft (the Naturally Caron is a sport weight) laying around.

I also had a book of crochet patterns.

So I created this strap:

Ch. 27

1: first three chains are a dc. skip two after that. [dc twice, ch 1, that stitch again twice] makes a shell. * skip 2 stitches, dc, skip 2, shell* across, skip 2, and dc.

{

2: ch 1, sc across, including in chains.

3: ch 3, 2 dc in first stitch. ** across, skip 2, dc, skip 2, 3  dc in last stitch.

4: ch 1, sc across including in chains.

5: ch 3, skip 2, shell, ** across, skip 2, dc in last stitch

}

repeat from { to } until you have a 24-inch long strap.

ch 1, sc across. bind off.

Sew up :

Fold bag piece in half, with wrong side facing out. sew along edge of thickest black piece and along edge.

Take shoulder strap. Sew each end to a side of the bag, aligning center of the strap with crease or seam. Sew onto patterned parts for sturdiness. Take the strap, and about and inch above the edge of the bag fold it in half and sew the seam until you reach about 1 inch above the other side.

Work in all you extra threads, and you’re done.

I hope this was clear enough… I think I’m bad at explaining.

If you have any questions, see the original. You could basically follow the link’s pattern with my altered measurements. Have fun.

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