We’ve had such fun in our blog series “Dishcloth Remix”, where we’ve re-purposed our popular 2014 dishcloths, available in our book 52 Weeks of Dishcloths: A Knit Picks Kitchen Spectacular. We’ve made a coaster and trivet set, a rug, a pencil or accessories bag, and a bread cloth. In our final installment in the series, we turned Emily’s Some Pig and Bear With Me dishcloths into an adorable shoulder bag perfect for your wallet and keys, or your crafting projects!
To make the bag, we knit up the Pig Dishcloth in Brava Worsted (color: Cotton Candy, nose in Rouge, eyes/nose dots in Umber Heather, using a 5.5mm crochet hook) and the Bear dishcloth also in Brava Worsted (color: Sienna, features in Almond and Umber Heather, using a 5.5mm crochet hook). We also knit an i-cord over 5 stitches for 36 inches. To insure an accurate fit, just measure over your shoulders to where you’d like your bag to hang on your hip and add an inch extra, for seaming.
Other materials you’ll need for this project include: 1 yard of material for the inside lining of your bag, a darning/tapestry needle, scissors and an iron. You’ll also need fusible webbing. Have you heard of this stuff? It’s genius. Think of it as double-sided sticky tape that gives your projects structure. It also means you can line your bag without much sewing! Here’s how:
First, put both dishcloths on your fabric, and cut around them leaving a .5 inch seam allowance at the top of the dishcloths, between the bottom of the animal’s ears. There’s no need to leave a seam allowance on the rest. Put your fabric lining pieces aside, for now.
Next, take out the fusible webbing. It will come in sheets, like paper. You might need to put two sheets next to each other if your dishcloth doesn’t fit. How it works is that you pull off paper on one side, and “glue” your dishcloth down onto it. Then cut out your dischloths, peel the remaining paper off, and “glue” the fabric lining pieces onto your dishcloths, tucking in the seam allowance along the top edge. You’re basically sandwiching the fusible webbing between your dishcloth and lining fabric, using it as you would double-sided tape.
Follow the manufacturer’s directions for the fusible webbing (they vary greatly in how they work with the iron) and secure the glue by pressing each dishcloth lightly. Now you’ll have 2 dishcloths lined with fabric, and you didn’t have to sew a thing! I mean…yet :).
Grab your darning needle and some extra yarn, and place the dishcloths with their wrong sides facing, as they’ll look for the bag. Sew (using any stitch you like) from the bottom of one ear to the bottom of the other, along the bottom. You may need to compensate for the slight differences in the sizes of the bear vs. pig, by easing your stitches as you sew. Secure the i-cord at the beginning and end of your sewing, and when you’ve reached the bottom of the second ear, you’re finished!
You’ve made a sweet bag to give as a gift or keep for yourself. Add a snap to the inside to secure your belongings, or wear it open to quickly grab what you need. Wear one animal for the world to see when you’re feeling one way, and the other when you’re feeling differently! We think it looks great, no matter your age.
We hope you’ve enjoyed ways we’ve used some of the patterns in 52 Weeks of Dishcloths: A Knit Picks Kitchen Spectacular, a bit differently. After all, this book isn’t just about knitting and crocheting dishcloths (thought we love doing that, too!). It’s a book of amazing stitch patterns that can be as diverse as your imagination will allow. Use it as reference for designing your own accessories for the home, or wardrobe! When you remix the stitches you’ll learn in these patterns, anything is possible. We can’t wait to see what you make!
