Ladybug Bag

Flowers and the Ladybug

Another flower

For Elif

The other side

Flowers and the Ladybug

Beads and buttons

Is this your project? Can you share instructions or a pattern with the Craftsy community?

Difficulty:

Category: Crocheting

Type of item: Accessory

For: Girls

Style: Romantic, Mod, Holiday, Casual, Cute, Whimsical

Materials

Bast - in Tunisian crocheting of the main body of the bag; Different sorts of yarn (also leftovers) - for the flowers; Beads; Buttons (ladybugs, butterflies, flowers); 100% cotton cloth for the lining; Polyester gift ribbon - for the edgings.

What was your inspiration?

Well, the inspiration was a pattern I saw on Ravelry. It was Girls Purse with Ladybug by Eva Unger (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/girls-purse-with-ladybug - on ravelry.com and http://www.etsy.com/listing/98497947/girls-bag-purse-with-ladybug-and-flowers on etsy.com).

The pattern in itself doesn't look too complicated. I think the bag can be finished in a couple of days. However, in my case it took several month - due to all this sewing and embroidery! I'm not too good at handsewing (or sewing at all!), but this is what I was doing after having finished the crocheting part (which was fun!)

I just wanted to make a similar bag for my niece (and make it a present to her 5th birthday), so I took the pattern picture as the main idea, chose the materials and decided to Tunisian crochet it.

I looked up the flowers mostly in Claire Crompton's "200 Crochet Flowers, Embellishments & Trims" and Lesley Stanfield's "100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet".

It was summer when I started, but due to A LOT of sewing and embroidering, I've just finished it.
But yay! - I love it!!!

What are you most proud of?

I'm really fond of the look the bag has got. I had never actually planned how it was going to look, it was just a general idea. All the time I kept my niece in mind, and knowing that she "likes colors" (as she once said) I think I managed to spread the colors all over the surface.

And the bast in the background (or rather as the basis or the platform for the whole thing) gives a "natural" effect, which in combination with the Tunisian crochet look almost "basket-weaved". I like that.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Oh, just let the creativity flow!