So, I've always kinda loved the whole boho-hippie look, its so fun and colorful and comfy. And it's very flattering on my non-curvy athletic frame. So I'm kinda leaning into that fashion a bit more. I made some velvet bell bottoms that I just adore, and I'm probably going to make more, and I'm adding more kimonos and maxi skirts and crochet things to my wardrobe. I already have quite a bit to be honest. And the whole vibe of the style matches my pagan tarot reader thing.
But just recently I decided I needed a new purse. It's a little sad because I did just buy a cool new Firefly themed one at the last con I went to, but it's small, and I was getting annoyed trying to cram everything in there. So I decided a super cool boho crochet purse would be perfect, since I didn't want to spend a lot of money on another new purse so soon. Plus I stumbled across some perfect cotton yarn on sale at Michael's in just the greatest earthy shades. Cost me less than $10 for more than enough yarn.
There are all sorts of patterns and tutorials out there for this sort of thing, feel free to search around and find what you like if you're interested in making one. I decided on this one:
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| https://makeanddocrew.com/fringed-crochet-bag-free-pattern/ |
It was a very clear and easy to understand pattern and I love the look of it. I'm not really going to talk too much about the crocheting, it's all there in the pattern.
I selected a nice earthy brown color for the main color, I just can't do white purses, I know how quickly it will get dirty and it will drive me crazy. I also like bright colors so I picked out an orangey-red, a teal, and a navy blue to add some stripes of color. All I did was change color for the 3rd round, and the 7th and 8th round. I did something similar on the triangular flap in front to sort of echo what I did for the circles.
If you're wondering how big this turns out, it is laying on a yoga mat, if that gives you any idea of scale. I also added two rows to the strip that connects the two circles to make mine a little wider, but be warned, I should have added a bit to the triangular flap over the top and didn't realize it, it doesn't fit quite as neatly as it could. Not the end of the world, but still.
Each chunk of fringe is 5 strands, so I have one of each color and two of brown.
The strap is scavenged off an old suitcase I bought and tore apart years ago to make my leather-ish corset, complete with hardware for attaching.
To close the front flap I actually had a magnet clasp I had torn out of an old purse I'd taken apart years ago as well that fit perfectly in the center hole of the circle parts. They had fabric around the edges from when I'd cut them out, so I just hand sewed one on the underside of the flap and one in the circle. I then sewed a cool looking button I happened to have on hand to the front of the flap as a sort of fake button thing.
The most important change I made however, was to add a lining to this bag. The crochet look is lovely, but with all those little holes I can never carry anything small in it.
Basically, I traced the circles and the strip onto some brown fake leather looking fabric and some burgundy cotton. I also cut out some pieces the size of the bottom 2/3rds or so of the circles from the burgundy so I could add pockets. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of this process, but it was very similar to what I did when I made my Luna-P purse, in this post:
Main differences were I did three pockets instead of two, since this bag is bigger, and I sewed elastic strips to the sides of the bag liner rather than across the front of the pockets for pen holders. I also edged the top of the pocket fabric with bias tape, but that was really because my burgundy fabric was a bit stretchy and I didn't want the pockets to stretch out. It's not strictly speaking necessary, if you'd rather just hem the top edge.
The purpose of the brown pieces was to make an outer layer on the liner to blend smoothly with the yarn through the holes of the crochet, I didn't want a contrasting fabric to clash with the yarn colors, and I was working with the limited options in my scrap collection, no reason to buy fabric for this. Once I had the pockets and elastic attached and all the pieces sewn together, I settled the burgundy liner inside the brown one, wrong sides to the inside so all the seams would be hidden, and I attached them at the top with more bias tape. I then carefully positioned and hand stitched the liner around the top of the purse and ran parallel rows of hand stitching along the seams on the bottom to attach the liner firmly to the bag. The nice thing about hand stitching things to crochet pieces is that the yarn hides the thread beautifully.
Once that was done, I was good to go! This is much larger than my old purse, which I'm a big fan of, and I just love how it came out. And I was so thrifty, everything but the yarn was scavenged from what I already had. Recycling is very boho, right?