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How To Make The Easy Breezy Crochet Tote Bag
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May 17, 2024
https://www.jspcreate.com/easy-breezy-crochet-tote-bag-with-granny-squares/ How To Make The Easy Breezy Crochet Tote Bag #crochettotebag #easybreezycrochet #howtomake OTHER RESOURCES FROM VIDEO Easy Breezy Square Tutorial https://www.jspcreate.com/the-easy-breezy-multicolour-crochet-square/ Single Crochet Join https://www.jspcreate.com/single-crochet-seam-join-your-squares-easily/ How To Crochet The Single Foundation Stitch https://youtu.be/jHDK-sWZsS0 Full Pattern in My Shop https://www.jspcreate.com/patterns/ Blog Post with More Bag Info - *** COMING SOON ***
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey gang, Jane back with another fun crochet tutorial
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Today I'm going to let you come along with me while I assemble a large version of my
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easy breezy crochet tote. These crochet totes are so useful for so many things
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They make great carryalls when you're out about the town, shopping or just visiting
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the beach. The pattern for this bag comes in two sizes, so the small bag can be used as a crossbody
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purse and the large tote for shopping or carrying your current crochet project
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They're quick and easy to make, they're awesome stash busters and they're perfect on the go
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portable projects. And they make great gifts. So what I want to do in this tutorial is to give you a little over the shoulder look while
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I assemble one of my large size bags. With a few little animated diagrams to help you follow along
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This bag was made using my easy breezy crochet tote bag pattern which is available over on
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my shop. It includes a 21 page printable pdf with lots of diagrams, written instructions, charts
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and colorway layouts. So this bag is made using, of course, my easy breezy square and I'll drop a link to the
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free tutorial for that in the description below. I made this bag using worsted weight yarn
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It doesn't take much, in fact the entire small bag takes 150 grams of yarn and the large
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bag takes a total of 250 grams of yarn. I suggest having a full 50 grams of your main color or a full ball of it and then small
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amounts of your contrast colors. I'll also be using a 5mm hook for the shoulder strap which is the same size as I used to
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make the squares and you'll need a pair of scissors and a darning needle as well
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You can use these assembly directions with any square of your choosing
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Just be aware that the bag size will be different if the square size varies from the original
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With the square I'm using, the square sides are 3.5 by 3.5 and the finished size of my
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large bag is 15 inches by 17.5 inches. You can find more info about the square sizes and the finished bag sizes over on my blog
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Now of course before we can get to assembling our bag, we first have to have squares in
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order to do that. So this large bag requires 32 squares and once you've completed those squares, join
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me in the next section and we'll start to assemble our bag
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Now once we have the 32 squares, we can start laying them out and assembling them
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The large bag diagram has the following layout. The squares that I'm using are my Ocean View colorway and I'll use this to represent the assembly
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So let's first discuss what the layout is going to look like. For the large bag, we have 32 squares
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So this diagram has a layout with all 32 squares numbered. The first thing I do is lay out my squares and see if I like the way that they look beside each other
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And if you have my pattern in your following mat, it will tell you where to place each square
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Once I'm happy with the layout, I'll start to join the individual squares
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First I join the squares in strips. And then I join the strips together to create one large piece
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Now you're probably going to ask, how do you suggest I join these squares, Jane? Well, there are many great methods you can use and I've tried a few different ones and
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the result actually gives a little extra interest to your finished product
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My Sandbanks colorway small tote uses the single crochet method to join the squares
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and adds lots of fun color to each of the seams. So for today's assembly, I'm going to show you a simple whip stitch method
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So keeping in mind the layout and the method of first joining the squares into strips and
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then joining the strips, we're going to start joining our squares. You're going to want to take two of the squares and you'll need a darning needle and a piece
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of yarn about 10 inches long. As a rule of thumb, I try to use three times the length of the edge I'm sewing, so this
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gives me lots to play with. Place the two squares face up beside each other
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Start by inserting your needle underneath the bottom corner, which in this case is a
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chain three space, of the left square and bring it through and up
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Then back down into the bottom corner of the right square. Then back up one more time on the left, same bottom corner as before
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Then to secure our yarn, take your needle under the loop you just created and pull it through
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Give it a little snug pull, but not too tight. Now working our way up the squares, insert the needle down into the next stitch front
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to back on the right square. Making sure you go under both loops of the edge stitch
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Then back up through the corresponding stitch on the left square. Again under both loops
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Pull secure, but not too tight. Then repeat this again for each stitch as you work your way up the edges
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This seam creates a nice secure join, but no extra bulk. I like to work it in the main color for a seamless appearance, but you can jazz it up
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by doing each seam in a different color. You can also try other joining methods to give even more interest to your bags
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Continue until you reach the opposite corner, at which point you'll stitch through the chain
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3 corner spaces as before, and then secure your yarn by going underneath the last loop
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and give a little tug, just like when we started. Using your layout as a guide, continue to join your squares into strips, and once all
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your strips are done, then join your strips in the same manner working from one end to
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the other. I like to lay my squares out on the floor as I join them so I don't lose track of where
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they are in the layout. I also like seeing it come together piece by piece
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If you don't have the room to do this, however, because of kids, pets, or just life, you can
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pin numbers to each of your squares so that you keep track of where they belong in the
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layout without having to lie them all over your floor. This is also handy if you're working on this project on the go and only have your crochet
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bag to keep everything in. It's always good to lay out the squares occasionally as it is an odd shape and you want to make
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sure you're staying on track and not joining any edges that don't belong together
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When you've finished this step, you will have one solid piece and will be ready for the
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next step. So once we have all the squares joined together and we look just like the layout that we originally
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started with, the next step is going to be folding our bag so that we can continue to
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join the rest of the squares to complete the bag itself. This animation helps you understand where to fold your piece
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I'll use the square numbers from the original layout to identify what squares you're folding on
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First, we'll fold it in half on squares 17 and 21. This edge will be the bottom of your bag
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Then we fold the sides of our bags. First side along squares 19, 13, and 7
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And then the second side squares are 6, 3, and 1. To do the next set of joining, I'll have to flip my bag over to the opposite side
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Now once I have it flipped, I can join the remaining seams as indicated by the solid
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red lines on both sides. Once you've sewn those seams, the main section of the bag is complete
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Now let's try to use this technique to fold the actual bag
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I'm going to stay quiet and just let you watch me fold this
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Now we're really seeing the bag come together
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We're almost there. The next step is to finish sewing the remaining squares to give our bag its three-dimensional shape
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So I've gone ahead here on one side and sewn some of the seams using the same whip stitch technique
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The squares fit neatly into each other. So now I'll show you some on the opposite edge of the bag
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These squares fold in half to fit neatly into this space like a puzzle piece
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It can get tricky here to make sure you're sewing the proper edges together, so check
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and recheck your work to make sure the square is in the right place
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Now I'll show you here how I actually sew one of these into place. I'm going to be quiet for a minute and just let you watch me sew these sections together
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And at the top we fold this one in half and sew it down as well
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Once you have all your square seams finished, this is what your bag will look like
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Every square is secured in its proper place. It gives a nice subtle rounded edge at the bottom corners and it flows nicely from one
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side to the other with no apparent side seam. Feels kind of good to see all those squares take the shape of an actual functional bag
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doesn't it? So what's next? Well, now we have to add our shoulder strap
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This bag is only going to have the one strap. It'll be long enough you can either wear the bag as a crossbody bag or over one shoulder
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The strap will be worked in two halves. We'll start with the front half and then we'll repeat the process for the back half
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In the written pattern for the bag, we start with a regular chain foundation, but in this
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tutorial I'm going to show you an alternative and faster way by using the single crochet
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foundation stitch method. I'll drop a link for the tutorial for this technique below
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I like to use the main color of my bag for the strap as well, but this is a personal preference
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Now the length of the strap is determined by the number of chains you start with for
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your strap. I like my straps to be on the longer side so the bag sits around my hip area, but shorter
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straps work well for smaller bags if you want to wear up under your arm
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I usually suggest anywhere between 75 and 100 chains to get about a 25 to 30 inch strap
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You can check your strap length by laying down your foundation chain, giving it a slight
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stretch as it will stretch a bit when you wear it with the weight of the bag, and then
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measure that. Once you have your foundation chain finished, we'll start working along the top edge of
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our bag. We start by working a single crochet in the top corner chain 3 space, and then continue
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working single crochets into each square edge stitch and chain 3 corner spaces until we
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reach the center V shape of our bag. At this point we want to work a single crochet decrease over the next three chain 3 spaces
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This is to keep our edge lying flat and even without any puckering at the V
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We work this single crochet decrease by pulling up a loop in each of the three chain 3 spaces
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and then pulling a loop through all three of the loops on the hook to create one stitch
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Once we've worked this decrease, we will continue to work up the next edge as we did before
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Single crochet into each stitch and chain 3 space until we reach the top corner, working
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our last single crochet in the chain 3 space. Now if you did a single crochet foundation like I did, we'll be finished our first round here
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If you're following the pattern and did a regular chain foundation, then just continue
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to work single crochet stitches along the chains to complete the round at the opposite corner
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Once your first round is complete, we just need to work two more rounds of single crochet
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making sure we do a single crochet decrease the same way at the center V by working over
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the center three stitches. You can work three rounds or four rounds or as many rounds as you'd like depending
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on how wide you want your strap to be. Once you're finished the number of rounds that you want, you can fasten off your yarn
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Now we want to repeat this for the second half of the strap on the opposite side of
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the bag. So starting at the top corner of the bag, join your yarn and work as for the first half
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remembering to decrease at the center V and when you get to the strap on your first round
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at the opposite corner, work into the bottom loops of the foundation chain
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This creates a single strap. Once you've worked the three rounds of single crochet, you can fasten off and your strap
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is complete. And finally, you can finish it off with a closure if you want to
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I've put a tassel on mine. You can use big buttons or you can leave it without a closure at all
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And if you want to, you can go ahead and line it. So now you have the basics of how to put together my Easy Breezy Crochet Tote Bag
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So I hope this tutorial has given you some ideas on how to create your own crochet tote bag
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You can find more info on techniques I use in this tutorial below and the full pattern
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for this bag is available over in my shop. The pattern itself contains 21 pages of detailed directions for both the small and large bag
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stitch charts, assembly diagrams, and four different bag layouts and square colorways
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Thanks again for joining me in this tutorial. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and remember to subscribe to my
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channel so you can catch all the new tutorials as they come out
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I'll see you soon. Happy crocheting
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