New Beginnings Clutch Pattern

I am pleased to introduce the New Beginnings Clutch. It’s a simple tapestry crochet bag that looks as good in ten colours as it does in three. And it ties in beautifully with the fact that 2021 starts the LAWIM family on a brand new adventure. It also celebrates the VERY detailed tutorial I recently posted about tapestry crochet.

Photo courtesy of @leannejadephotography for Inside Crochet, Issue 110

If you feel like having a cup of tea with me as I waffle on about the sentimental bits, you are more than welcome to settle down and read ‘The Chatty Bit’ and ‘The Original Column’. If, however, you are too eager to get to the pattern, you can skip to the ‘New Beginnings Clutch Pattern‘ below.

Index

The Chatty Bit
The Original Column in Inside Crochet (January 2019)
New Beginnings Clutch Pattern

The Chatty Bit

When I designed this bag for Issue 110 of Inside Crochet in January 2019 (that feels SO LONG AGO), I wrote a column about change and adventures. At the time, and for a long time, I believed that I didn’t ‘do’ change very well, even though I know that change is one of the most important factors in growing and ‘becoming’.

In October last year, after 15 years at Charing Cross Hospital in London, I applied for a job at The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter. Mr LAWIM and I have been talking about moving out of London and closer to the sea for years, but in my heart, I just knew that I was too comfortable to move and that starting somewhere new would be too scary. When the job came up, I thought: “Wow, they never come up! What a pity that I won’t go for it.” And then a friend echoed the next thought that popped into my head: “Well, what if you did?”

So I did. And I got the job!

Fast forward sixish months of paperwork, bureaucracy, stress, packing, house-hunting, working away from my family and living in shared accommodation, and I find myself in gorgeous Petrol scrubs, in a new department, in a new city, in a new house, reunited with my boys/men.

We already love Exeter. And YOU are going to love it right alongside us.

I know the blog has been quiet. ‘Real-life’ has been all-consuming, and I have learned to enjoy being consumed by it. It has been good to have a creative holiday.

Anyhoo… here is to New Beginnings!!!

The Original Column in Inside Crochet (January 2019)

It is a sad fact that the beginning of one adventure often means the end of another. I have been writing this column for two years now (where has the time gone?) and I have enjoyed every single moment of it. There is something extremely comforting about having a little safe corner of the world dedicated solely to sentimental ramblings about yarn and crochet.

I have loved the challenge of thinking up new and colourful patterns each month, and I have found such satisfaction in sharing my journey with you.

A new year, however, brings with it new things, so as I write this last column for Inside Crochet, I thought we could chat about embracing the unknown!

I would love to think that I know everything there is to know about crochet, but that isn’t the case at all. One of the reasons I love teaching workshops is that I invariably end up learning something new. Sometimes it is as simple as a trick for better beaded crochet. Sometimes it is as complex as how to create the perfect bullion stitch – I’m still not too sure about that one!

Of course, it is comfortable and safe to keep making the same stitches and patterns we have always made, and there is no shame in enjoying the mindfulness of creating without the stress of learning.

But if we always do the things we have always done, we miss out on so much! Two of my favourite stitches are back post stitches and the crab stitch (reverse single crochet). When I first started using them, I HATED making them. I couldn’t imagine using them voluntarily. Now I include them in almost everything I design and love both the look of them and the making of them. What was once ‘daunting’ has become safe and mindful through familiarity.

When I was deciding what to design for this last column, I sat down with a nice cup of tea and made a list of all the techniques I have never used in designs but have always wanted to. It wasn’t a very long list as I tend to be quite adventurous. What remained was: slip stitch crochet, third loop crochet, broomstick lace, Irish lace, and tapestry crochet.

I decided to tackle tapestry crochet.

I have to say that it was a bit of a steep learning curve! How do you minimize the inevitable and quite steep right-ward creep of the design? Can you do it in a spiral (I couldn’t figure out how)? How tight does the resulting item need to be in order to be neat? How do you work over all those ends??

Needless to say, there was a lot of stopping and starting, with endless referrals to tutorials along the way.

I am very happy with how my first attempt at a tapestry crochet design turned out, and I am pleased as punch that I could end this journey with you by learning a new technique.

From next month, Matt from A Boy and Bunting* will be taking my place. He is engaging, funny, humble, and so talented. I cannot wait to see what he shares with us.

May crochet always bring you joy and healing.

Dedri

*Boy and Bunting is now @crojolife on Instagram.

New Beginnings Clutch Pattern

Resources

Add to Your Ravelry Queue
UK Version: A UK version of this pattern is available in Issue 110 of Inside Crochet HERE. The pattern below is the US version.
Hashtag: If you share photos, please use #newbeginningsclutch so that I can find your projects and have a gleeful look.

How to Crochet: Tapestry Crochet in Rounds – this tutorial contains everything I have learned about tapestry crochet and is worth a look if you get stuck with any element of this pattern.

Materials

Scheepjes Cahlista (100% cotton), 15g/25.5m/28yds
- Yarn A: 517 x 1 ball
- Yarn B: 222 x 1 ball
- Yarn C: 249 x 1 ball
- Yarn D: 280 x 1 ball
- Yarn E: 241 x 1 ball
- Yarn F: 401 x 1 ball
- Yarn G: 397 x 1 ball
- Yarn H: 511 x 1 ball
- Yarn I: 113 x 1 ball
- Yarn J: 251 x 1 ball
4mm hook
Zipper (20cm)
Needle
Cotton thread

Gauge

22 sts and 16 rows in a 10 cm (4”) square.

Size

18cm (7”) x 15cm (6”)

Abbreviations

US Terminology

BLO – Back loop only
Ch – Chain
Sc – Single crochet
Sc2tog – Single crochet two together
Sl st – Slip stitch
St/sts – Stitch/stitches

Notes

Slip Stitches: Slip stitches are made through both loops. They will form a visible ridge in your work, but this ridge will be on the side ‘seam’ of the clutch and therefore won’t be obvious.

Changing Colours: When changing colours, do so on the last yarn-over of the last stitch before the colour change. When the first st of the next round is a different colour to the last st of the current round, you will change colours when making the sl st.

Yarn Ends: You will be working over your yarn ends. When a colour is no longer needed, cut the yarn. You can work your ends away as you go, but I find it much easier to work away the ends when I have completed the project.

Chart

Instructions

Ch 41 to start. If you want to make a wider clutch, add stitches in multiples of 10.

Round 1

Working into the top loops only, sc in the second ch from the hook {arrow in Photo 1} and each ch until one ch remains {Photo 3}. Make 2 sc in the last ch {Photo 4}.

You will now continue working into the other side of the foundation chain until you get back to the first st.

Locate the two unworked loops of the second-to-last ch {arrow in Photo 4} and make a sc through both these loops {Photo 5}. Working into both unworked loops of each ch, sc in the next 38 ch {Photos 6 and 7}. Join to the first sc with a sl st {Photos 7 – 9}. {80 sc}

Round 2

Change colours as indicated in the chart.

Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st throughout). Sc in the BLO of the st at the base of the ch-1. Sc in the BLO of each of the remaining 79 sts around. Join to the first sc with a sl st. {80 sc}

Rounds 3 – 24

As Round 2, remembering to change colours as indicated in the chart. {80 sc}

Fasten off at the end of Round 24 and work away your ends.

Adding the Zipper

Use a zipper that is about 2.5cm/1″ longer than your bag and sew it to the second to last round. I find it helpful to overlap the open edges of the zipper and catch them with a few stitches before I start. I also find it helpful to use the dotted line formed by the front loops as a guide, inserting my needle just below them as I sew.

If you do not feel confident sewing the zipper to the bag, THIS TUTORIAL by Loops and Love Crochet is brilliant. Please note that she sews her zipper to the last round whereas I prefer to sew mine to the second to last round. The little bag she uses to demonstrate on is her Zig Zag Zipper Bag (Free Pattern).

And there you have it… one tapestry crochet clutch/bag completed.

When I was writing this pattern up, I decided to make another version to double-check the instructions. The result was the blue and grey version you can see in the photos above.

Unfortunately, I was in a highly excitable state (sitting in Birmingham for the first time, waiting to organise paperwork for my new job YAY!) when I was working on the middle of the bag. I was SO excited, and so cold, that I misread my own chart and ended up with extra repeats and a more square version. I know! The most important thing about a pattern is to READ!

Anyway, this thing happened, so I will share the details of the Blue Version with you below.