Big stash bag: TaDah!

Its been great seeing all the retro granny stash bags appearing on Facebook and Instagram. Loads of people have been making them, and making more than one. They are definitely addictive… which is why I’ve been working on my fourth bag…

So far I’ve made:

• The original retro granny stash bag – the one that started the Bagalong – see quick links to the patterns and tutorials here
• A smaller project bag – see the taDah post and tutorial here
• A giant seaside themed stash bag…

And here it is…at the seaside in Robin Hood’s Bay, on the Yorkshire coast.

I decided to make a seaside themed bag to take stash and crochet projects away with me when I went on this short seaside holiday in mid June. I wanted it to be big – but it turned out to be MEGA!!! I love it though and I learned from it.

The squares used in the bag are exactly the same retro granny design but the handles are long and rope-like. I think these are a great improvement over the original stash bag – and they are made just like the shorter handles in the retro granny project bag.

See the rope handle tutorial here…

But let’s go back to the beginning and look at the colours and the construction of the bag.

The squares in the big stash bag

The first two are described in more detail here and here. I used Stylecraft Special Chunky yarn for all the squares and for the joining and handles.

These form the front and bag of the big stash bag. The side squares are a mixture of the sea colours and the sand colours:

The fifth square, which forms the base of the bag, is mainly denim. This idea came from the Facebook Bagalong group that I set up for the Bagalong event – and that has become a really lovely supportive group. Why crochet different colours when you aren’t going to see them? And why not save yourself some sewing in of ends? Two very good reasons…

The big bag lining

This is proving a bit of a trial for a lot of people like me, who can’t sew that well. I have put a step-by-step about how I did it here. This was the easiest way I could find and that involved the least sewing and gave the smallest chances of getting a wonky box lining.

The crochet squares were joined together to form a box in exactly the same way as the original retro granny stash bag – see the detailed tutorial here.

Finally, the bag comes together

After the trauma of the lining, it was finally time to add the blanket stitch with Stylecraft Special DK Parchment around the edge and join to the crocheted bag. I used Stylecraft Special Chunky in Parchment to add another round of dc stitching (UK terms) sc stitching (USA terms) around the top of the bag and through the loops of the blanket stitch.

This joined the bag lining securely and  neatly to the crochet bag.

I then continued the top and made the rope handles as described in the more detailed tutorial here.

The final touch was to sew large press stud fasteners onto the inside of the bag, in the centre of the front and back squares and the two side squares, allowing the bag to be closed but in lots of different ways.

The big seaside bag TaDaH!

Wow its BIG!

This bag is a cubic foot – possibly a tidgy bit bigger and it can hold a lot of stash! I took it on holiday with my small project bag inside with all my hooks, scissors and small bits, the yarn I was taking, my ipad and three crochet magazines, which fit nicely into the larger pocket. I love it!!!