Crocheted Sunflower Crossbody Purses

It is great to be back with my readers after taking time to create and crochet this new line of spring purses.  With the warmer weather approaching, I like to get away from knitted and crocheted garments to indulge myself in working on interesting accessories.  In the past years my focus had been on beach bags.  I was able to gift one to my daughter, and enjoyed for myself in a blue and white for summer outings.  I also made several variaations of the Japanese knitted purses. 

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However, when I saw the Sassy Sunflower Crochet Crossbody Bag from Crochet 365 Knit Too,  I knew I had to produce these pieces in a variety of colors. My new purses are crocheted with Lily Sugar n'Cream in worsted weight cotton.  For these bags I used a G (4.0 mm) hook in order to produce a denser fabric.  The motif begins with 16 DC into the center of a magic circle.  I changed the color in the second round with puff stitches.  The third round saw a new color with bobble stitches.  At this point I had to square out the motif with a fourth color. Finally, I used the main color in single crochet to set the square for several rows. I repeated the process to make a second square before crocheting both squares together.  I slipped the ball of yarn through the last stitch so that I could continue with the strap without having another end to weave in.  For specific directions on how to create the squares and the bags see the Sassy Sunflower Crochet Crossbody Bag from www.crochet3655knittoo.com

For the girl-size purse, I crocheted a chain of about 27 inches before attaching the chain to the D ring part of the clip hook.  Then I Half Double Crocheted (HDC) in each stitch back to the body of the purse where I anchored the stitches.  Next, I crocheted a second row of HDC back to the body of the purse to anchor the strap. To get the right amount of thickness I made a second row of HDC back to the D ring and anchored the strip again.  I left a 6 inch tail so that I could weave in the yarn and cut off the end.  Finally I had to sew in the last D ring on the other side of the purse so that the clip could slip into it.  I really like the effect that this hardware gave to the bag. For the lady's purse I would make a chain of about 46 stitches for a crossover strap.

When my 6 year old granddaughter saw the purses with the black backgrounds, she liked the bold colors.  However, when offered a choice, she thought that she would like her purse with pink in the background and strap.  Since she wanted to put items into the bag, I asked her to wait until I could sew in a lining and a magnetic snap so that small items wouldn't fall through the openings between the stitches.  As soon as I can finish with the photos for this article, I look forward to gifting her the bag.

sStill I was not finished.  I still had great deal of white cotton yarn and a white leather purse handle from previous year's crocheted purses. I had a vision for purse that would work for me in the spring and summer months when I chose to wear white garments.  I started with a black center, switched to white in rows 2 and tourquoise in row 3.  I had a variegated white and black yarn left over from another purse that worked for row 4 and switched back to black for row 5.  The remainder of the square was stitched in white for several rows.  The purse was lined with a grey, white, and black print, and fitted with a magnetic snap. This piece would be more like a handbag in length. Since the clips of the handle easily just attached onto the purse, there was no need for additional sewing.

In the weeks since my last article, I have been busy fashioning an assortment of purses in variety of colors and shapes.  I have at least two more articles that I will be posting in the series for your reading and creative pleasure. As always, I appreciate your reflections and feedback. I welcome you to join metonym stitching journey