How to make a knit bag

Items you will need:
1 Knit piece of fabric at least 10” wide x 20” Long

2 a pair of 5 or 6 in Diameter Round Bamboo Handles

3 lining fabric, same size as your knit piece

Recommened tools to have on hand:
1 Sewing machine

2 Scissors

3 Straight Pins

4 Thread to match fabric

5 Big eye needle

Item 1, Knit fabric:

You will need to follow the directions on the yarn label and knit a piece of fabric at least 10” wide by 20”Long.
The wider your fabric the more you have to gather onto the circular handles. The longer your fabric the deeper your bag. So you have some design flexability here.

Item 2, Bamboo Handles:

You will need to purchase a pair of 5 or 6 in Diameter Round Bamboo Handles. This size handle matches the size of the knit fabric piece, to make a small bag.

Item 3, lining fabric:

You need to cut a piece of lining fabric the same size as your knit fabric piece.


knit your fabric:

Choose any yarn you would like, it will all work as the bag will be lined for strength. You will need to do the math to figure out what needle size you need, and how many stitches wide by how many rows you will need to knit.
Example: If your label says that with a Needle size 8 you get 17 Stitches and 23 Rows for a 4 x 4 inch square - Divide the 17 Stitches by 4 - to give you the number of Stitches per inch 4.25 then multiply this by the width of your fabric 10 inches - this will give you your cast on 42.5 - you can’t do the .5 so you will either choose to go up or down the .5. in this case I would do 42 to keep it even.
Then Divide 23 by 4 to figure out how many Rows per inch 5.75 and multiply that by the Length of your fabric 20 inches this will give you the total number of rows you need to knit 115.

Prep lining fabric

Cut a piece of fabric the same size as your knit piece
Serge or zigzag all the way around your fabric.




attach lining to knit fabric

Place fabric with right sides together. Fold in side seams seam allowance. Pin and stitch ONE side.

insert bamboo handles

Slide lining into bamboo handles.



Fold in side seams seam allowance.

Stitch seam along 2nd edge.

Turn right side out.



sew handle casing

Turn lining pocket in and put handles in place along the top seam.
Stitch a seam just under the handles. You can stitch this seam by hand or with your sewing machine.


Warning: If you use your sewing machine make sure that your handles are to the outside of your sewing machine, if you put them to the inside - your needle shaft will hit the handles and lock up, because the handles are to thick, you don’t want to know how I know this!



sew lining side seams

Find center of lining.
Fold up to the top, moving bamboo handles and knit fabric out of the way
Stitch from the lining from center to 2 inches from the top. repeat for the 2nd side seam.



sew knit side seams
With the same yarn as your knit fabric piece, seam the knit fabric side seams from center to 2 inches from the top.



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