The Boho Circle bag by Albtme Crochet

I am so excited to present my fist attempt to a crochet bag and let me say I'm pretty pleased.
There are things that I know now that I would do differently but overall it was a fun project and I wanted to share it with you.

I used a circle pattern with nice #4 cotton yarn and a 5 mm crochet hook.
I used a smaller 3.75mm hook for the strap to keep it tighter.

Once I made my two circles (that measured about 12" wide) I had to think about a way to join them together...So, before I finished the second one I continued a new row of SC (single crochet) in the back of the last row (not in the back loop but the the actual back where all the loops from the fan row seems dense, I SC grabbing every 2 loops and continued all around. I fastened off. I did the same with the other side and after I finished the the SC round I change yarn to my accent color (brick color) which would be my joining row to put my 2 sides together. I did the row in SC grabbing  1 loop from one side while gabbing another one from the other side making sure they were aligned. (I matched the fans stitches to make this easier.) This would create a ridge, kinda cool looking.

CIRCLE PATTERN.

Start with a magic circle.
1.  Chain 3. Make 1 DC + ch 1 in the magic circle. (2DC tog +ch1) Repeat 7 times. (8 clusters)
Ss to ch 3 to finish round.

2.  Ch 3. 1 DC in same st. Ch1. Make another • 2DC tog + ch 1 next ch space and top of cluster•  repeat from {•} on top of every cluster and ch1 space. (16 clusters) ss to top ch 3.

3.  Ch 3. 1 DC in same st. Ch2. Make another • 2 DC tog + ch 2 • next ch space, repeat from {•} on top of every cluster and ch1 space. (16 clusters) ss to top ch 3.

4.  Ch. 3 . • 3 DC in ch space, 1 DC on top of cluster •. Repeat all around. Ss to ch 3.

5. Ch 3. Make 2 DC in same st.• Skip 1 st, SC into next, skip 1 st, 5 DC in next st. • REPEAT FROM [•] TO [•]. Finish round by making 2 DC in the beg. chain to complete fan. Ss to ch 3.

6.  Ch 1. SC in same st. • Ch 6, SC into 3rd DC of the next fan • repeat from /to [•]. SS to SC.

7.  Ch 3. Make • 7 DC in the next ch. space • and every ch space around. SS to ch 3.

8.  Ch 1. SC in same st.• Ch 7 + SC between clusters of previous row • repeat. SS to SC.

9.  Ch. 1 . SC into same st. • Make 9 DC in chain space and SC into SC • repeat. SS to beg. SC.

Chain 2 (this is to help you reach the back of the clusters) and SC in the bottom back loops of the clusters. That will give you 9 SC + 1 SC to repeat in every cluster and SC from the last row. When the round is finished, change yarn to the contrast color ( or keep the same if you prefer) and make another round of SC. This round is the one that will join both sides.  Do not fasten off.
If you are changing yarn color, do it before finishing the last SC, and join the main color to use for joining both sides together.

Method of joining 2 circles:
Ch 1 to start. Make sure and align the clusters to make it easier to join. Make 1 SC in every st, grabbing the matching loop from the other side. Work around every st. leaving 5 clusters without joining -of a total of 16 clusters- (That's the bag opening)

At this point the first circle is finished. Make another circle  for the other side with the extra row of SC in the actual back loops of the last circle row.

Once you have both circles ready: Circle #1 (the 1st one you made, with the back loops row, and circle #2 also with the SC in the back loops, to get them ready to join with the contrasting color.
You will join circle 1 to 2 by first joining the contrast color yarn to either circle and making SC all around grabbing both circles while doing so.

BAG FLAP.

Round 1-5.
I started the flap in a SC st from the edge of one of the 5th cluster working DC for 4 rows. I changed colors, you may keep it solid.  I made 5 rows of DC and then I started a fan pattern.

Round 6.
To start the fan pattern, ch 1. SC in the same st. Make 3 DC tog. in same st. Next, skip 2 st. Make a fan of 5 DC in  next stitch,  skip 2 stitches, make 3 DC tog in  next st. Repeat and finish with a 3 DC tog.

Round 7.
Chain 3. Make 2 DC tog. in same stitch. Now make a 5 DC cluster in the center DC of the next cluster. After that, make 3 DC tog. on top of the 3DC tog. from the previous row. Repeat.

Repeat rows 6-7 until you have the length you want. I made 5 rows of fans.

Then make tassels and attach where you  like.

The lining was the one that I had to figure out. It took me a couple of tries.
I cut 2 circles larger than the crocheted ones (about 3/4") plus a long strip for the center (about 1 1/2"-3/4" wide).

First I folded the top of the circle twice (see pic below) to have a straight edge with a round bottom (about 1" folded in half) and machine sew it to secure it. Then I went  to sew the first circle to the strip (the strip was also folded-over on the short side to have a clean edge at the end. Make sure you do the same folding at the other end of the strip, before joining to circle).

Because the raw edges were on the outside and were slightly visible through the pattern, I used my glue gun (yes, I know!) to glue cotton rope around to make it sturdier and hide the edges. Of course you can just serge the edges, but I chose the longer route... :D

Strap.

With the strap I dipped my toes into tapestry crochet, so I'm not gonna pretend its perfect but then again, that was my first try and my own idea and I'm pretty happy with it. My suggestion: Make it plain in with SC. Mine was started with 6 chains wide but because I used the tapestry crochet technique I had to carry over one more yarn, and so the yarn was doubled throughout which made it stronger. If you choose to do it that way you may choose to do a simple alternating stripes or simple double the yarn in a solid color.
I'm not gonna go into details about the pattern I used since it needs to be perfected.

Make the strap as long as you want, but remember that it will stretch out, so keep that in  mind before going too long. I finished the sides by SC all around it.
I sewed the strap with good old needle and thread to the sides of the lining (mine was canvas, so it was very sturdy), then I hand sewn the lining to the sides of the bag.

At this point, sew the lining to the bag. I used the last cluster row of the circle to join to the lining.
Finish with tassels in flap and sides and you are done!