Riley Cross Body Bag

Author

Tamara Kelly

Introduction

I was walking through a big department store recently with my daughter, when she spied a purse she thought was “so pretty!” This was the first time she’d ever had that reaction to a purse that didn’t feature pink feathers and a Disney princess, so I had to take a closer look. Lo and behold it was crocheted! Well, I can’t buy when I can make, so the Riley purse was born, based on the purse we saw – with a couple of custom improvements, of course.

The body of the purse is made with a hdc cluster stitch, and the motif squares are made separately – then the whole thing is assembled and the strap is added right to the bag. I recommend a fabric lining as well. You don’t have to get fancy, a flat rectangular pouch is all you need.

Materials List

• US – H/8, 5mm hook
• Worsted weight yarn, 280 yards (Caron Simply Soft in Bone shown)
• Three Riley Flower Square Motifs (Caron Simply Soft in various colors shown) or other 3.5″ square motif of your choice

Gauge

Gauge in Hdc Cluster Stitch Pattern: 17 sts x 10 rows = 4 inches (row gauge doesn’t matter as much as stitch gauge – you want 10.5 inches finished width)

Notes

Tips: Don’t chain too loosely when starting the body of the bag – you want enough give to get the hook in there, but not a whole lot more. Also, you’ll want to block the pieces before assembly to square them up: for acrylic, use a steam blocking method to avoid crushing the stitches; for natural materials, a wet blocking should suffice.

The Pattern

The full pattern, including written instructions, additional photos, and video tutorials, is at http://www.mooglyblog.com/2012/07/06/riley-cross-body-bag/