deer granny bag

a deer and granny squares project bag

It's always tricky trying to decide what to make crafty friends for their birthdays, especially when they are super-talented people. Inspiration came along in the form of a project bag ... with lots of  lovely pockets.

The faux deerskin fabric is a cotton canvas which gives the bottom half of the bag a nice firm, basket-like structure. Tracing around a plate gave me a perfect circle for the base - thank goodness for crockery.  

We do love pockets!

The pockets themselves were made from a strip of fabric folded over and sewn on the side strip of fabric before it was sewn onto the base. The pockets are different sizes, perfect for holding scissors, glasses, pen, crochet hook, phone ... there may even be space in those pockets for a chocolate or two, but don't tell the kids. 

To make it easier to crochet around the top, I used yarn to do a blanket stitch. Before doing the blanket stitching I sew a basting stitch ¼ " away from the edge. This line of long stitches acts as a guide for placing the blanket stitches. It's easy to remove when I've finished.

This granny square is a simple design and I had great fun playing with lots of pretty colours ...

lots and lots ...

of pretty colours 😊

A few rows of  crochet finish off the top of the granny squares neatly, and make it possible to thread through a drawstring to close the top of the bag.

Then I went a bit crazy adding rather voluptuous pom poms to the ends of the drawstrings.

And this is what I especially love about the finished bag ... and I didn't realise it was going to happen until it did.

The softer, crocheted, top part of the bag which holds the bits and bobs in when you're carrying the bag, folds downs comfortably to enable easy access to the "bucket" as you work! 

Time to wrap and send. I can't wait to see the gorgeous creations Megan carries in it,

xo