I have a new passion! Making and designing crochet bags! How awesome it is to be able to make your own bag! To pick the colors, size, style and design. Then to go to a yarn shop, and chose the yarn – this is my old passion – buying yarn, but if you’re reading this post, you’re probably the same. And finally when you grab some free time to sit and enjoy crocheting. It’s pretty awesome! I love the whole process. I’m also lucky to have the opportunity to set the creative process on an even higher level by designing my own bags. But, I must admit, that part is sometimes a little frustrating.

This bohemian style bag is medium sized shoulder bag (27 x 28 cm), and the strap is 92 cm long. You can make the bag bigger if you add more squares, or if you use thicker yarn. The square measures approximately 13 x 13 cm (5” x 5”).

I love working with cotton yarn, and this bag is no exception. This time I used gorgeous, 100% cotton yarn “Tanja” 125m/50g (manufacturer: “BIM tex” Serbia). I discovered this yarn brand just recently, and I absolutely love it! The color palette is beautiful, and the yarn is very nice to work with.

 

I always love to line my bags, and this time I decided to use simple white cotton fabric, nothing fancy. And it works very well. Lining this bag is actually very easy. You don’t have to be very skilled at sewing to be able to successfully carry out this task. It can be done even by hand.

Like all my patterns, this one is also very detailed. (22 pages) There are more than 150 step-by-step photographs to lead you painlessly through the boho-chic bag adventure.

For the first time I divided this process into 6 easy steps:
1. Making granny square (49 step-by-step photographs)
2. Joining (39 step-by-step photographs)
3. Making the edge (19 step-by-step photographs)
4. Making the strap (19 step-by-step photographs)
5. Sewing on the strap (14 step-by-step photographs)
6. Lining the bag (17 step-by-step photographs)

This bohemian bag pattern is suitable for intermediate crocheters or advanced beginners who have mastered the basic stitches. I have demonstrated the special stitches like Cluster stitch, Popcorn stitch and Picot, step-by-step, so even if you haven’t tried them before, you’ll be able to do them like a pro after finishing the first square. The pattern is available in both US and UK crochet terms.

You can make this bag in one color, two colors, three, four… or as many colors as you wish. You can also play with the granny square, and use it to make blankets, scarves, table runners, curtains… the possibilities are endless.

The boho bag pattern is now available in Dada’s place shop (payment options: Credit cards & PayPal).

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You can also find in in my Ravelry shop, and my Etsy shop. (payment option: PayPal)

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I never know how to start a blog post. Or a painting. Or a difficult conversation. But, new crochet projects come very easily to me, often uninvited, at the worst possible moment, when I’m so busy with another crochet project (or projects) that I can’t even manage all of them at the same time. Something like that happened with this bag. I was working on my Blooming Blanket pattern, and boom! The idea for this bag came totally unexpectedly but it still managed to convince me that it was a good idea to stop working on the tutorial and to go about making this bag. So, I made it.

Crocheting this bag was a pleasurable experience, and it went very smoothly. I already had all the yarn I needed, and didn’t struggle (like I often do) to find the perfect color combo. I even had this plaid fabric for the lining which was a perfect match for the bag.

The bag isn’t very big (24 x 26 cm), but it’s big enough for your basic things. You can easily put your wallet, keys, phone, and some make-up in it.

Let’s talk about the yarn. I love, love, love cotton yarn, and for this bag I used 100% cotton yarn “Tango” (St. George), and a beautiful “Una” yarn (also from St. George) with thin silver thread, which unfortunately isn’t visible in these photos but looks really great in real life.

Because I love things to be nice and neat, (but not perfect!), I decided to line the bag with some plain fabric. I even added the same fabric on the inner side of the strap to make it firm, and to avoid stretching.

At the end I added those small colorful circles around the opening because I don’t know, I deeply believe that less is more, but I often ignore that rule and add bright colors and shiny yarn and little circles… maybe I have a secret gypsy soul… who knows… but it doesn’t matter because I really love this bag!

In my previous post (Ode to the Classic granny square), I admitted that I had fallen in love with Classic granny square, and here is the evidence. Once I started making those beautiful granny squares, I couldn’t stop… so, I made this tote bag, and I’m very pleased with how happy and colorful it looks!

For this crochet tote bag, I used 100% cotton yarn “Cotton Classic” 120m/50g from St. George (manufacturer from Serbia) and 4 mm crochet hook. The yarn is very soft and easy to work with. I like it, and will probably use it in my future crochet projects – adventures. I like to call them adventures because they always are. I never know where they will bring me, and how many twists and turns we will experience. The process goes always like this: I’ve got an idea, very clear in my head, start to work on it, but then, something happens and like with a teenager, however strong your will is, he always win (at list in my case), so the idea took the lead and you just have to listen. But in the end, I’m always surprised how much better than expected it turned out. Yes, you just have to listen. Listen to the ideas, to the creativity, to the Universe! Yes, I know, this sounds a little “woo-woo”, but I actually love those things. Like spirituality, the “Power of now”, the Law of attraction, and of course Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big magic”. If you’ve now decided to stop reading this post, please don’t, I’m back to crochet…

As you can see, I made 18 granny squares in total (9 for each side) and joined them together with single crochet. With Classic granny square, you have so many options. You can join them as you go, you can join them with slip stitch, or sew them together. I decided on joining them together with single crochet because I love that convex edge between the squares, I always like to add some texture in my crochet.

I love simple crochet projects and this bag certainly is very simple and easy to make. It would be even easier to make without lining. To be honest, the bag would look very neat even without it, but a yellow-white plaid linen is always welcome. At list in my opinion.

As you’ve probably noticed already I love, love, love to play with colors, so I decided to make the sides of the bag in different colors. One in happy, radiant, hot, warm colors (where pink is the queen), and one in cooler, more peaceful colors (where blue is the king). So, depending on your mood, you can decide which side you want to show to the world. Also, people may think: “How many beautiful crochet bags does this lucky lady have?”

Because I wanted this bag to look glamorously I made the straps out of the smallest granny squares (only 2 rows), joined them together using Join-as-you-go method, and then on each side added a row of single crochet. To make it even more interesting I made a picot stitch between squares and in the center of each square.

So, if you like crochet bags, click here to see my previous crochet bags and pouches. Maybe you get an idea, which may lead you into some exciting and unpredictable adventure…

And please let me know in the comments if you have also experienced the strong will of your own ideas.