Here’s the tutorial I promised a while back for the little drawstring pouches.

These little crochet and leather drawstring pouches can be used as coin purses, notions bags, dice bags, or given to a child as a place to keep special collected treasures like rocks, leaves, shells, etc.

They are a fairly simple project that only require a few tools. They’re a great way to use up leftover yarn and leather from bigger projects, so feel free to give it a try and experiment with different yarns and materials. You could even swap out the leather for a sturdy fabric.

(Sorry some of the pictures are a bit blurred, I have a new camera and I’m still getting used to it.)

Here we go!

Supplies (pictured above):

– leather (or suede, canvas, or any thicker fabric would do)
– scrap yarn, I’m using a soft worsted weight
– suede lace (for the drawstring, but you could use any type of cord or even a length of crochet chain)
– a size E/4-3.50mm crochet hook
– scissors
– something to punch your leather with, I’m using a leather punch, but an awl or even using needles of bigger and bigger size to puncture and widen the holes would work, too
– a darning needle
– something to mark your leather with, I used a Sharpie of similar color to the leather, since the marking won’t be seen on the outside of the finished pouch, but a fabric pencil would work, too
– a template, if you plan to make more than one of these

Crochet Stitches and Skills:

All you need to know crochet-wise for this project is how to slip stitch, chain stitch, single crochet, and possibly how to switch colors (I provide a link and a few tips on that below if it’s new for you). If you’re wanting to experiment with combining crochet and other materials, this project is a great way to get started.

Directions:

Note: I crochet lefthanded, so that’s what’s shown in the pictures, however, if you let your mouse hover over the crochet pictures below they will flip so that righthanders can follow along easily.

To make the pouch base, I simply traced around the bottom of a water bottle. The diameter of my circle is 7 centimeters. Mark 20 holes around the edge of your circle, making sure to not get too close to the edge so the holes don’t rip open. I leave just under a centimeter of space between each hole and the edge of the circle. Since I’m making more than one of these, I made a template from a piece of cardstock. I’m tracing it onto the back of my leather here using a Sharpie, and also using it to mark where the holes will need to be punched.

I have a manual leather punch that I use to make the holes. It has interchangable hole sizes, but I will say that not all of them work so well. I knew this might be the case when I bought this thanks to reviews online, but for my purposes it works well enough. You can find these at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, and of course online if you’d like to get one. For my holes I used a punch size close to the size of my crochet hook (although you can go a little smaller with your holes since the hook can be used to widen them).

To begin crocheting into your leather, start off with a slipnot and make a loop, but leave it a little loose. Put your hook through a hole in the leather and pull the loop through to the other side.

See how leaving the loop loose allows the top of it to sit just along the edge of the leather? This is what we want for each loop pulled through the leather. Secure this first loop by making a chain. You have the start of your foundation row.

To continue your foundation row – ch 1, sc into the next hole (leaving your loop loose and pulling it’s height to the edge of the circle as shown), *ch 1, sc into next hole* repeat until you come to the end of your row and join with a slip stitch (sl st) into the chain at the top of your starting loop.

When you’re done with the row it should look like this.

Row 1: do not chain to start here (feel free to use a stitch marker here if it helps you), but instead begin with a sc in the ch you joined with, and continue by working one sc in each stitch around. I work these into the back loops only as it’s much easier and looks nice and tidy. When you get to the end of your row join with a sl st into your first sc. You should have 40 sc around total.

Rows 2-15: sc into stitch you joined with, sc in each stitch around, join with sl st into first sc.

There are several techniques around for changing colors in crochet. One issue with doing so when working stripes is having a jog at the seam, meaning the ends of the stripe don’t evenly match up. Planet June offers a couple solutions to this here, but feel free to try out other techniques as well and choose what you like best.

You may also want to change to a new color for several rows then change back to your original color. Don’t worry about cutting and fastening off your first color and rejoining with a new piece when you switch back to it, instead just carry the yarn behind your visible work. As you work your first sc over the top loops of the stitch you’re working into, hold your unused yarn beside those top loops and work your stitch around it as well. Do this only for your first sc of each row, and continue until you’re ready to switch back to that color. Then your yarn will be ready for you. Hopefully the picture above helps make that clear.

Carrying your yarn up this way also makes the inside look much neater.

When you finish your rows fasten off and weave in any ends using a darning needle.

Cut a piece of suede cord about 18 inches for you drawstring.

To figure out where to weave in your drawstring, you don’t have to be exact with this project. I like to pinch folds into the top of the pouch and work to make them roughly the same size.

Use a darning needle to weave in your lace. Again, you don’t have to be exact with this. Unless you want to, then go crazy! :)

Tie a little bow, and once you’re done it should look like this!

Hopefully that was fairly clear. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask me! Hope you all are having a wonderful day! Remember you are loved, and God bless!

(PS. Check out more free patterns and tutorials from tales of butterflies here!)

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