A Fancy Crochet Bag Tutorial, A walk in Zemst and many shades of Grey

Hello my blogfriends!

First, thank you so much for all your kind birthday wishes! I had a lovely day, first spending it with my oldest daughter who is currently visiting and in the evening together with the nice ladies from the Knitting group 'T Arm Schaap in Zurenborg, Antwerpen.

The other day I made another Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch when visiting my friend. I also gave her the South Bay Shawlette I recently made with chunky black yarn (I wrote about it in this post) . My friend was very happy with both!

04.01.15 Finished Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch made with Scheepjeswol Stone Washed

For those of you who are interesting to find out more how I made my Fancy Crochet Bag/Purse I will share this Tutorial with you!

A Fancy Crochet Bag Tutorial

You will need:

A crocheted piece approx 25 cm wide x 30 cm long (I used Fenna yarn and this crochet stitch pattern)

I first mentioned about making this 'sample' piece in this post. Sew up the ends.

Note: I crocheted this sample piece well before I managed to find the metal frame for the bag. I was hoping to buy a more rectangular shaped closure, but they were only available in a gold tone colour which I didn't like for this project.

In hindsight I could have crocheted a more rounded shape (in 2 parts) for my bag. You could do so from the start, if you wish. Remember to add a little seam allowance for crocheting the sides together.

A similar sized piece of material for lining the bag (I used a kind of velour/fake suede material which I found cheap in a charity shop).

Note: Using a more stiff fabric/material it had the advantage that I did not need to add a seam allowance all round. If you use thin fine Cotton for example, you will need to stitch around at least the top part to prevent the fabric later from fraying.

Note 2: You could probably omit the lining if your crochet piece does not have any large holes (The pattern I used certainly makes big gaps between stitches!).

A bag fastening called Bella by Prym (it measures approx 19cm across the pivotal points at the sides) or similar.

Sewing thread that matches the lining plus sewing needle (I used a long darning needle that could go through the stiff lining)

Steps:

Fold your lining fabric in half (pin together) and draw the outline of your bag shape onto it - use the metal closure as a guide for the top part.

Cut out lining shape leaving pins in place.

Fold crochet piece in half (inside out) and arrange edges to make a tapered shape.

I gathered the top edges by inserting a yarn thread into the crocheted edge stitches and pulling tighter. Do not cut the yarn yet. If your crochet edges already follow the rounded bow of the metal frame you do not need to gather anything.

Crochet each side (seam) together, making sure you attach both layers firmly to one another.

(If necessary, sew the seam for the top of your lining before....)

Likewise, sew lining along the side seams just below the point of the pivots of the metal frame. Take care to double check this corresponds correctly to your frame and that the side seams do not go beyond that point or you might have trouble opening your bag fully later on).

Lining with side seams, Crochet outer with either side seams crocheted together

Insert sewn lining into crochet outer and pin both crochet and lining together. You can now tighten the drawstring yarn in order to gather the top part of the crochet layer.

Both layers pinned together

Sew both sides with tiny stitches using thread. Check that the bag opens as far as it should corresponding to your metal frame. Once sewn together, you can now sew up the drawstring yarn ends.
 

Crochet layer and lining sewn together at the opening top part of the bag

Now take the closure/metal frame and line up with your sewn bag shape. The closure has tiny holes along the outside, you can place pins through them and pin bag and frame together.

Sew in and out of the frame and make sure the thread is reasonably taut (without breaking the thread!). You can see the stitches pretty well in this picture. After sewing frame and bag once together, you should try to sew it a second time to secure the stitches.

PS: This is the first time I made a bag like this and I did not follow any instructions, would you believe! I thought I was going to glue the bag to the frame, but sewing it instead seems the better option, especially since the crochet makes it a bit too bulky! (Hope this answers your question, Birgit!)

Your bag is ready!!!

A Walk in Zemst

On Sunday my partner and I went on an organized walk in Zemst near Mechelen. Here are some photos I took.

Start and Registration Point in Zemst

Walking across countryside

Scenic Interlude with Swans

A field full of Brussel Sprouts!

Chickens

An amazing tree with red berries

A majestic double alley of trees...

...and the beautiful castle at the end of it!

Walkers everywhere!

My refreshing break at the control point after 4.5 km

Turning back towards Zemst

The route of our 7.5 km walk

We did the 7.5 km long walk (including short break) in about 100 minutes. When we returned to our starting point I noticed a sign where it said that by 3pm 1400 people had registered for the walk!!!! (This includes all different length of walks from 4 km to about 20 km).



Finds for my Wool Stash

On Monday my daughter and I went to the charity shop and I came back with a small bag of mixed yarn! I got now at least 50 8 new shades of grey!!!

It included some Vintage Phildar Wool. I really love the label!!!

Front and Back of the Wool label

Hope you enjoyed reading this bumper length post!!! If you are making a similar bag and got any questions, please ask!

Feel free to leave me your comments below, I love reading them!

Make your own Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch! Plus a second Alpaca Shawl and tiny Flowers

Hello and welcome back at the beginning of 2015!!!!

Nice to see you visiting!

Thank you for your many good wishes and lovely comments which I value very much! It thrills me to see both loyal supporters and unexpected new faces leaving their messages!

The New Year has truly begun! I'm looking forward to sharing many more exciting projects with you all. As always, I am interested what you think, or if you got valuable suggestions to make.

So, without further ado, I want to tell you about a new pattern I came across (via Pinterest) only this morning! I liked it that much that I had to try it out immediately!


Make your own Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch (or Applique)

You will find the link here - full instructions given.

Ta-Dah for 2015: My finished Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch

These are my explanations so you can visualize how to proceed:

The pattern is worked in the round. There are only 3 steps/rounds:

First you make a chain which is closed into a loop.

Then you add 7 loops around the original (middle) loop which look like empty flower petals.

At the last round you 'fill in' each petal until all 7 are finished.

Once you made one, you will realize how easy this can be! I had fun, so I carried on making a few.

My first two flowers

Finished Crocodile Stitch Flower Appliques made with Bamboo yarn, Cotton and Acrylic

Finally you need to sew up the 2 ends. If you want, add a Vintage button that gives it some charm!

Now it is ready to be used as an applique, you could sew it to your bag or jumper, for example. You could even attach it to a Granny Square and call it a Doily or a Potholder!!!!

If you prefer, you can sew a brooch pin to the back. Voila! Your very own Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch is ready!!!!

Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch made with Fenna yarn

Please let me know if you have made one of these flowers, maybe even post about it, so that we all can see it on your blog/s.


Another Alpaca Triangle Shawl? you ask

On another note, my second oldest daughter has flown back to England yesterday and I let her have the Soft Black Triangle Alpaca Shawl because she was so cold!!! We went on a New Years Day walk around our village to the riverside (Schelde River) and back again. Here are the 2 landmarks of our village:

The Church in Schelle 01.01.15

The Wind Turbines in Schelle near the River Schelde 01.01.15

I was flattered that she wanted it, but at the same time I realized that not only would I miss my daughter, but also my Shawl (I only finished it in Mid December and had been wearing it daily!)

Luckily I got my Alpaca Cape (see my previous post) which is doing a great job keeping me warm! (After all it is made from the same Drops Alpaca Boucle yarn which I used for the Shawl).

But, I felt the need to cast on stitches yet again and so I began another Shawl last night! Unfortunately I only got one ball of wool left which is giving me a start, but I need to wait until my wool shop will get another delivery, I went there today and couldn't get any of the Black colour!!!!

Crochet WIP - Tiny Forget Me Not Flowers

Yesterday I crocheted a bunch of really tiny flowers with the wonderful Mille Colori Baby Wool by Lang (100% Merino). This is another of my favourite yarns, the colour combinations are amazing!!!

Mille Colori Baby - Crochet Forget Me Not Flowers

Closer look at the tiny flowers

Please feel free to leave me your comments, I love reading them! Thank you! :)

I made 2 more Flowers this afternoon - love these colours!!!