Howdy readers!!
When I decided to make a set of purses for the summer, I chose these two beautiful blue/green yarns.
I first made the Quick Stripe Cosmetic Clutch purse to go with the larger duffle.
I wanted to create a larger duffle/purse that was fun and different and a little funky and this is what I came up with.
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I love this bag and hope you love it also. I do want to add that this is a crochet tutorial – it isn’t a sewing tutorial, and I did sew parts of the lining. For the crochet tutorial, I will let you know what I did and what I used, but the sewing skills part is going to be all up to you. I am a mediocre “sewer” at best, but I think I did a pretty good job on this lining, and it turned out so much better than it was in my head!
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Materials:
I used my I hook for this project. Get the same hooks I used right HERE.
My yarn for this purse is Red Heart Colorscape in Dublin and Red Heart with love Stripes in Rainforest Stripe. You will need one full skein of the Colorscape and about half of a skein of the with love Stripes. To make sure you have enough here is the yardage: Colorscape is 187yds/171m and the Stripes is 223 yds/204 m. The circles where I have used the Stripes yarn may even be a good scrap yarn part for you. These are both #4 yarns.
Get my exact yarn:
Here are the handles that I started with:
You will need a set of purse handles – I actually started this duffle thinking I was going to use these brown wood ones in the photo, but after getting my purse finished, I preferred these black handles so I swapped them out. I purchased my handles at Hancock Fabrics before they went out of business, but there is a website – Everythingmary.com – and they are the makers of my handles. I am not sure if they are in stock, but these are available from Amazon, and they are close to mine:
If you are going to line your duffle to make it nice and sturdy you will need some fabric and some Heavy Weight Fusable Interfacing. I had about ½ a yard of remnant fabric.
This duffle purse is made in parts.
I first created the long oval for the body of the purse and then made the two circle “sides” and then pieced it all together. I will begin this tutorial with the body of the purse – which is basically a big oval. My duffle measures almost 12’ across for the width.
This pattern is intended for personal use only. This pattern -and all my patterns- are offered for free or a small fee to help support my family so please do not redistribute, sell, copy or use them in any way not in accordance with fairness.
You may sell products made from this pattern, but please give me credit as the designer. Please do not use my photos as your own work, but you may use my photos to reference back to my blog, Etsy, Pinterest, IG or FB, but please link back to me.
If you find any problems with this pattern, please let me know and if you have any problems with any of it feel free to message me and ask for support.
Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to me, Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
In this pattern: If I write hdc 2 that means hdc one stitch in each of the next two stitches, but if I write 2hdc this means to make 2 hdc in the same next stitch.
Chain 42.
Hdc in the 3rd chain from the hook and in the next 39 chains (40)
Make 2 more hdc in the last stitch – there will be 3 hdc in the last stitch of the chain.
You will now turn your work so that you are working on the opposite side of the chain.
Hdc in the next 38 stitches on this side of the chain.
Make 2 hdc in the last stitch – the one with your first hdc (so you will have 3 hdc on each end and equal hdc between them on the top and bottom)
**I usually work in a continuous spiral. I do not join and chain up, but rather just keep on crocheting around. This is up to you. If you choose to join each round and chain up that is up to you. Using the join/chain up method will give you a seam. To make your duffle purse seamless, just continue around in a continuous method without joining/chaining. To help see where your end is, I do encourage you to place a stitch marker in the last stitch of each and every round. Since I am working in hdc and also working in a continuous spiral, my first stitch on the next round will be a sc to make the transition up smoother, but only on this next round.
Round 2: sc in the 1st hdc, (place your stitch marker in the last stitch of the first round), hdc in the same stitch as your sc and then hdc in the next 38 stitches, (2hdc) 3, hdc 38, (2hdc)2, move the stitch marker to this last stitch.
Round 3: hdc in the next stitch, 2 hdc in the next and then hdc one in each of the next 39 stitches, (2hdc, hdc) 3, hdc 38, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc. Move the stitch marker up to this last stitch. (94) See photo below of what you should have at this point. You can see in the photo that I have added some scrap yarn to show you each “curve” – this is important because on a few rounds in our upcoming work we are going to adjust these curves a little manually to correct for the natural shift that occurs with crocheting in a continuous spiral. At this part you will have 10 stitches that make up each curve. It would be a good idea at this point to evenly mark on your purse bottom 4 places like I have done evenly and mark your 10 curve stitches. Make sure you mark them evenly across from each other so that your duffle stays straight as we go and doesn’t get turned wonky. – wonky is a nice, real and super fun word 🙂
On each round I move my stitch markers up to keep each curve properly marked.
At this point you will have 10 stitches in each curve with 37 stitches between them on the top and the same on the bottom.
Round 4: hdc, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc, hdc, hdc 37, curve pattern: (hdc, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc, hdc, hdc, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc, hdc,) hdc 37 (hdc, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc, hdc) – move up marker.
Now, this is where we are:
You can see in this photo how your stitch markers will eventually get “off” a little. This is normal and due to the natural spiral in continuous crochet and working in the round. We are going to fix this by just moving our markers and evening up the curve from time to time. Trust me – if you will continue to place your stitch marker in the LAST stitch of each round and go with me and end up with me all will be well in the end.
At this point we have 14 crochet stitches that make up each curve. The pattern for Round 5: hdc, hdc, (2hdc, hdc) 3x, hdc 36, (hdc, 2hdc) 3x, hdc, hdc, (2hdc, hdc) 3x, hdc 38, (hdc, 2hdc) 3x (114) – move markers.
Starting Round 6 we have 20 stitches making up each curve and we are increasing each side to 28 stitches in each curve. Round 6: hdc 3, (2hdc, hdc) 4, hdc 36, (hdc, 2hdc) 4, hdc 4, (2hdc, hdc) 4, hdc 38, (hdc, 2hdc) 4, hdc in last. (130) – move markers
**test to make sure your bottom is lying flat. If it is bowling up, you are probably crocheting too tight. You will want to pull back some at this point and go up a hook size and/or add more stitches on the previous rounds or crochet looser to even out your work. You want your bottom to be flat right now. Maybe even lightly steam block to see if that adjust it without pulling it back. My piece was loose enough on each end at this point – photo below is mine after round 6 – that I did Round 7 with no increases and worked straight in the round for 130 hdc around.
After round 7: photo: **I am moving my markers right now to even out my curves again. See photo:
On round 8 we are going from 28 in each curve up to 36. Here is the pattern: hdc 4, *[(2hdc, hdc, hdc)4, hdc 37, (2hdc, hdc, hdc)4] * repeat from * to * hdc 4 (146) *check your markers.
Round 9: the curves are going from 36 stitches up to 42 stitches on each side. The curve pattern for this round will be (2hdc, hdc 5) – so, here is the pattern: hdc, hdc, (2hdc, hdc 5) 3, hdc 36, (2hdc, hdc 5) x7, hdc 38, (2hdc, hdc 5) x2, 2hdc, hdc 3. (158)
Round 10: hdc around (158)
*Now, I am “resetting” my curves. Take out current markers. See the next two photos. I drew an “imaginary” line using my tape measure across the top of the curve from round 1 and placed new markers:
You want to have 36 stitches IN EACH CURVE with 43 stitches along each SIDE of the duffle bottom. (158)
NOW, wherever you are in your work you will hdc to the next stitch marker and THIS IS YOUR NEW STARTING POINT. Place your new markers.
Round 11 [hdc 43, (2hdc, hdc 5) 6] repeat. Move markers up each time. (170)
Round 12 [hdc 43, (2hdc, hdc 6) 6] repeat. Move markers up each time. (182)
Round 13 [hdc 43, (2hdc, hdc 7) 6] repeat. Move markers up each time. (194) *On this last stitch I switched colors to my Stripes color (the same color that I was using for my two outer circles because you will be slip stitching the two circles onto the bag so I wanted my final color to be the same as my circle color)
Round 14: hdc in each stitch around except on your last stitch. Sc in your last stitch and then slip stitch and finish off. Weave in your end.
This is where I was after round 14. From here I went to my ironing board and steam blocked it lightly. See this post on Steam Blocking and how it is important.
The next step is to mark 36 evenly spaced stitches along the top (up at the curve) with 61 stitches between the markers on each side. This is going to really matter – this determines where you side circles get attached so make sure you have 61 stitches on each side with 36 stitches marked across each curve.
PART 2:
Again, working in continuous spirals we are making 2 circles in hdc. I chose NOT TO FINISH OFF MY CIRCLES when finished, but rather just Steam blocked and then slip stitch them to bag so I would have less ends to weave in. If you are going to use interfacing like I did you may choose to do that step before slip stitching onto the main bag. That part will be up to you and what you prefer.
Chain 2.
Half double crochet 6 in the second chain from the hook and work over your starting tail.
Starting in the first hdc make 1 sc and 1 hdc in the 1st stitch and then 2hdc in each stitch around. (12) *Still work over the starting tail.
After getting done with all 12 hdc for that round, pull the starting tail to cinch up the opening. You can now trim that tail or weave it in or just leave it if it will be on the inside of your work.
You want to move your stitch marker to the last stitch of each round so you know when you get to the end.
Round 3: (1 hdc in next stitch, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (18)
Round 4: (1 hdc in next 2 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (24)
Round 5: (1 hdc in next 3 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (30)
Round 6: (1 hdc in next 4 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (36)
Round 7: (1 hdc in next 5 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (42)
Round 8: ( 1 hdc in next 6 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (48)
Round 9: (1 hdc in next 7 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (54)
Round 10: (1 hdc in next 8 stitches, 2hdc in the next stitch) repeat around (60)
After this last hdc, I usually do 3-4 single crochet in the next 3-4 stitches to even out my circle.
Steam block if you are doing that and then starting at the upper stitch marker on one side of you purse body slip stitch the side circle around until you get around to the other stitch marker on the other side.
***If you are going to use the Fusable Interfacing to give support to your duffle, I advise tracing the shape onto a template BEFORE you slip stich the last circle down. This will make it easier. I did not add my fabric lined and reinforced liner to my crochet circles before slip stitching together, but that certainly is an option – especially if you are going to try to use your sewing machine on these side circles.
Part 3:
As I mentioned above, this is not a sewing tutorial. I will tell you what I did and what I used, but I am not a great seamstress. I wanted my duffle to have a lot of support and be sturdy, so I used the heavy fusable interfacing that I mentioned in the materials above. I chose to use a double fusable so that both sides of my circles would have fabric covering them – just in case it ever showed through my crochet stitches on the outside. I will also mention that probably a good seamstress would have a better way to do this, but I am self-taught on what little I know on sewing.
First, I laid fabric on the top of my interfacing and ironed it down. Then I did the same to the other side and traced out two circles that were about the same size as my side circles. Then I slip stitched my bag together *in hindsight it would have probably been easier to sew the interfacing/fabric circle to my crochet circle before I put it together, but it wasn’t that difficult. I just sewed the circles together using sewing thread and went around the outside – you will want your thimble for this part.
After I did the circles, I cut a piece of the interfacing to fit the duffle/purse portion. I cut mine so that it would sit in the bottom up the bag and reach up to the point of where the curves started. After cutting to size, I adhered fabric on both sides of this piece as well. This photo was hard to get because I was alone but the interfacing is cut to the size to sit in the bottom of the bag and curve up the sides a little.
I wanted to trim the interfacing piece because I decided to keep this part removable. I wanted it to be really nicely finished. I used some old denim from my project pile and cut 4 strips – one for each side. I ironed it all to make it smooth and sewed the short side piece first to my interfacing like you would trim a blanket – maybe – and then trimmed that up nice and then did the long two sides the same way. Last I sewed down the pockets – don’t accidentally sew your pocket shut if you are doing this part.
Here is my finished liner and I just love it so much! I am very happy with how it turned out. I know us crocheters typically do not like to make bag liners, but this one is so much fun!
Last, I sewed on my handles and one of my great little tags from All This Wood on Etsy.
I would love to see any duffles you make so please tag me over @theburgundybasket on IG
I’ve started my gift basket/bags for Christmas. I usually put together some really great gifts!! Please see below at all my latest fun and favorite things – I’ve picked up some Burt’s Bees items on sale lately at the drug stores so I decided to put together a Bee Gift **we play “Dirty Santa” or have a “White Elephant” a few times during the holidays so these will go into a gift together:
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