How to crochet the cutest mesh bag (any size!) _ beginner-friendly tutorial + easy V-stitch pattern

Here's everything you'll need to make the bag. Starting off with the yarn, you can use any acrylic or cotton yarn. I prefer using DK or medium bait yarn because it makes your bag sturdy, but the size won't make that much of a difference because you can always adjust the pattern to make the bag any size that you want. Then you're going to need a hook that matches up to the yarn that you're using. I'm going to be using a 4.5mm hook. And you're also going to need two stitch markers. If you don't have stitch markers, you can use bobby pins. And then another optional step is adding this cute bow detail on the strap. For this, you can use ribbon or wool or any thick yarn that you have. You can find the exact yarn and materials I used on my Amazon storefront and you can also find the written pattern on my blog. All the links are in the description box. But before we get into the tutorial, here's a word from today's sponsor. 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I hope you all have as much fun creating your dream websites as I did, and don't forget to leave a link to your Universe site in the comments. Happy crafting, everyone! We're going to start by crocheting the base of the bag. For this, go ahead and make your slipknot, that's how I like to make mine. Now you're going to chain the width that you want your bag to be. Make sure that your chains are not too loose, make them a little bit tight. If you're unsure how much to chain, I recommend getting something for reference, so I want my bag to be able to fit my favorite books. I'm going to chain the width of the book to make sure that my bag can fit it. I did a total of 36 chains. Now we're going to start building the oval shape for the base, so we're going to chain two more. These are going to be your turning chains, and in this third stitch from your hook, we're going to insert six double crochets. So you're going to yarn over, insert your hook into the third chain, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through two loops, and then yarn over and pull through the other two loops to make a double crochet. Now do this five more times to make a total of six double crochets inside this chain. So that's two, three, four, five. Now before you do the sixth and last one, you're going to notice that there's this really big hole over here, so we're going to try and close that up. To close it, we're just going to try and insert our hook into a little hole in between the chain and the stitches over there. So yarn over, and instead of going here, just go a little bit through like that, and do your sixth double crochet over there. And that is going to completely close up that huge little hole that you had. Now all you have to do is insert one double crochet into each of these chains all the way down. So yarn over, insert your hook into the next chain, which is over here, and you're just going to double crochet all the way down to make your first row. If you want, you can use some stitch markers to help you track the stitches that you need to be working in. So remember those two chains that we did? So you've got your chain one and chain two? The first double crochet that you made at the beginning, you can go ahead and mark that so that's the stitch that comes after your chain twos. Now just go ahead and insert one double crochet into every chain all the way down. It's completely normal for your work to curl like this, especially if you're using acrylic yarn, but don't worry about it, the curling is going to stop after we do a few more rounds. Once you reach your very last chain over here, we're going to repeat the same thing that we did on this side. We're going to be inserting six single crochets inside this last chain. So yarn over, insert your hook into that chain, and do your six double crochets. And then again, if you want, you can take your stitch marker and you can mark the very first double crochet that you did in the last chain. Now as you're working, pay attention to how you're holding your work, because we have to slowly start turning the chain so that we'll be able to work on the other side. That's three, four, remember you're inserting all of these into the same last chain, five. Now once again, we have this huge hole, and to close it up, I'm going to insert my hook in between these little double crochets over there, or maybe we can do it right here. And that is my sixth double crochet, and that's going to close up the hole like that. Now we have to work along this side of the chains and insert one double crochet into the backs of every chain over here. So you're going to yarn over and insert your hook into the backs of the chains, and you're going to insert one double crochet into each of them. So yarn over, insert your hook like that, and double crochet. I'm going to show you another close up, so you're just going to grab onto this loop over here, and double crochet. You're going to do this all the way down until you reach this part over here, so right before your two chains. Once you've worked into the last chain, that's what it'll look like. So this is my last chain, and then I've got my chain one and chain two that we did to start those six double crochets, so don't insert anything into these two chains. Now we're going to end our first round by slip stitching into the very first double crochet that you made. So insert your hook into that, yarn over and slide that same loop through to make a slip stitch. And there you go, you should have an oval shape. Now if your chains were too loose, you might have some big holes in between. Now we're going to start the next round, so you're going to chain two, these are going to be your turning chains, they don't count as a stitch, and in that same stitch over here you're going to insert two more double crochets. So yarn over, go back into that same stitch, that's one double crochet, then yarn over again, go back into that same stitch, and do another double crochet. So that's two double crochets in the same stitch. Now you have to do two double crochets in the same stitch for the next five stitches, so here, here, here, here, and here. So yarn over, insert your hook into the next stitch, and you're going to do two double crochets in there as well. Now we're going to do that same thing into the third stitch, and then the same thing into the fourth stitch, and the fifth stitch, so you're just doing two double crochets in the same stitch. And then, here we go, that's our last double crochet, so we're going to do two double crochets in the sixth stitch as well, and this is going to make your oval a little bit bigger on the side, like that. Now once again, if you want, you can place a stitch marker into that very first double crochet that you made, that comes after your chain two. Now you're just going to do one double crochet in every stitch until you reach the other side, so make sure you're only doing one double crochet into each of these stitches until you reach this stitch marker over here. This is what your work will look like once you're done. Now once again, we're going to repeat the same thing that we did on this side over here. So in the next six stitches, you're going to do two double crochets in the same stitch. So yarn over, insert your hook into that first stitch, that's one double crochet, then insert another double crochet into that same stitch. Now go ahead and do this in the next five stitches as well, so one double crochet, and then another double crochet into the same stitch. Once you're done, this is what you should have. Now once again, we're just going to do one double crochet in every stitch all the way back until we come back over here. So yarn over, insert your hook into the stitch, and once again, just do one double crochet in every stitch so we can end this round. This is what your work will look like, and now we're ready to end this round as well. So in the stitch where you have your stitch marker, or the very first double crochet that you did after your chain twos, you're going to insert your hook into that stitch, and once again, we're just going to slip stitch to end our work, and that is what your base should look like. Now we're going to start the mesh, or the body of the bag. If you're not familiar with the V-stitch, don't worry, I'm going to show you step-by-step. So we're going to start every round by making a chain three, and this chain three counts as your first double crochet. Now we're going to chain one more, and then we're going to insert a double crochet into that same stitch where we just started. So yarn over, insert your hook into that same stitch, and double crochet. This is going to be your first V. Here's the pattern that you're going to repeat all the way around. So you're going to skip two stitches, one, two, and you're going to double crochet into the third stitch, then you're going to chain one, and insert a double crochet into the same stitch. That's your second V. Now we're just going to repeat this all the way around. Skip two stitches, one, two, and into the third stitch you're going to insert one double crochet, chain one, and then insert another double crochet into that same stitch. Let's do this one more time. Skip two stitches, insert a double crochet into the third stitch, chain one, and insert another double crochet into that same stitch. And that's what your work will start to look like. You're going to repeat this all the way around till here. As you're going all the way around, you're going to notice that your work is going upwards. This is because we're not doing two double crochets in the same stitch anymore. So it's going to start making the body of your bag go upwards, so this is completely normal and you're on the right track. This is what your stitch will look like. Here's a look at my work after I've done a few more of the V stitches. Now I'm at the end of my work and I don't have an equal number of stitches. This might also be the case for you, but don't worry. So I can skip two, and I'm going to repeat the V stitch into this third stitch over here, so I'm going to double crochet, chain one, double crochet back again, but then I only have one chain left instead of two chains to skip it. So don't worry if this happens to you too, it won't affect the pattern or the look of your bag. So in whatever stitch you can do your very last V stitch, just stop there. Now we're going to end this round, and here's how you're going to end every round that you do. So we made three chains in the beginning, so count from there, one, two, three, insert your hook into the third chain. Now you're going to slip stitch to end the round. And that is your first round of the V stitch. Now you're going to chain three again, just like what we did before, and then you're going to chain one more, and insert a double crochet into this middle space over here. So that's your chain three, you just did four chains. And in this space right over here, you're going to insert a double crochet, and that is going to be your first V of the next round. Now take a second to look at your work and understand where you have to insert your stitches from now on. So look at this shape over here, it looks like a triangle, but then the next space looks like a V. So you always have to insert your hook into the space where it looks like a V. Look you've got your two double crochets, and wherever you see your chain one, that's where you're going to insert your hook to make the next V stitch. So let's see what this looks like together. So once again, we're going to skip two stitches, so these are the two stitches that we're skipping, and over here where we've got our chain one space, that's where we're going to yarn over, insert our hook, do your first double crochet, chain one, insert your hook back into that same space, and do another double crochet. Now you've done two V stitches, and we're going to repeat this all the way around. So once again, you're going to skip two stitches, one, two, and then you're going to find your chain one over here, so you're going to yarn over, insert your hook into that space, double crochet, chain one, double crochet back into that same space, and repeat all the way around. So skip two stitches, one, two, find your chain one, double crochet into that space, chain one, and double crochet back into that same space again. And that's what your work will start to look like. Go ahead and do this all the way around to make your next round. That's what my work looks like after I've gone all the way around. Now once you reach back here, you're going to have those four chains that you made in the beginning, and then you're going to have one more V stitch before it. So just go ahead and repeat the same steps to complete this round. So double crochet, chain one, double crochet into the same stitch. And now you're done with this round as well. Here's how you're going to end your work. Repeat the same steps as before. You're going to find those three chains, one, two, three, and into that third chain, you're going to insert your hook and slip stitch. Now please remember these steps as we're going to be repeating them to continue crocheting rounds for the body of the bag. So that's how you're going to end every round. Now here's how to start every round. You're going to chain three, which counts as your first double crochet. Then you're going to chain one, yarn over, and insert your hook into the space that's directly after, and you're going to do your second double crochet. And that is going to be your very first V of the next round. Now remember that you don't have to insert your hook into the space that looks like a triangle. You have to insert it into the space where you have a V formed by the double crochets. So right here under the chain one. Or another way to look at it is you skip two stitches, one, two, and right here you've found your chain one, so yarn over, double crochet, chain one, double crochet back into that same space. And there you go. Now you're going to continue doing these V stitches all the way around. Then you're going to repeat the same steps that I showed you to end the round, then the same steps I showed you to start a new round, and you're going to keep crocheting rounds until the body of your bag is the size that you want it to be. Remember that you can always replay any of the steps because they're all the same from now on. I'm done with the body of my bag. I did a total of 12 rounds, and I just wanted to note that in the place where you were starting and ending your round, you will notice a line like this. So I like making this the back of my bag, and whenever I'm using the bag, I'll just make this the front because it's more seamless. So if you do a total of 12 rounds and you're using the same yarn and hook size as me, your bag will be approximately the size of my hand. So now that you're done with the body of the bag, go ahead and end your last round, and now we're going to start making the straps. So I ended this with a slip stitch like we always do. Now to start the straps, we're going to chain four, three, four, and once again we're going to double crochet into this first space over here. And now the thickness of the strap is completely up to you. If you think it's too thin, you can keep going. If you think it's too thick, you can decrease it, but what I'm going to do is I'm going to do two V-stitches. So I'm going to do a V-stitch here and a V-stitch over here. So double crochet, chain one, double crochet, and I'm going to do the same thing in the next space as well. So double crochet, chain one, and double crochet again. So that's what I've done. Now I'm just going to double crochet into this last space over here. So I'm still going to skip two, just going to double crochet like that, but I'm not going to complete the V-stitch. So that's what I'll have on this side. It's going to be slightly curved. That's going to be your first row for the strap. Now to start the next row, you're going to chain two, turn your work. Now we're going to insert a double crochet into this same stitch over here. Now once again, we're going to do two V-stitches. So over here, double crochet, chain one, double crochet. That's my first V-stitch. I'm going to repeat that into the next space. Double crochet, chain one, double crochet. So that's what your work will look like. Now over here where we did our four chains, you're going to find the third chain. So one, two, three. And into that third chain, you're going to insert one double crochet to end this row. And that's how you're going to make the second row for your strap. So it's going to be pretty seamless going from the body to the strap. Now here are the steps you're going to repeat for all of the rows. First you're going to chain two, then you're going to turn your work, insert your double crochet into that same stitch over here. Then you're going to do two V-stitches. Or if you made it thicker or thinner than however many you did. That's my first V-stitch. And then my second V-stitch. And then to end the row, you're just going to double crochet into this last stitch over here. So look, you've got your chain twos at the beginning, and this is your double crochet right there. So you're going to insert your hook into the double crochet and not the chains. And complete the row like that. So let's do it one more time together in case you're still confused. So let's repeat the same steps. Chain two, turn your work, double crochet into that same stitch. Do two V-stitches, or more if you have them. That's my first V-stitch, I'm going to do my second. Now in the very last double crochet over here, so ignoring the two chains that you did, you're going to insert your hook into that double crochet stitch. And then you're going to do one double crochet. And that's how you're going to make the straps. Now continue repeating these steps. You can replay or rewatch the row that I just showed you, and just keep crocheting until the strap is the length that you want it to be, and I'm going to count and put how many rows I did. The next part is going to be a little bit confusing, but please bear with me. So I did a total of 39 rows for my strap. I'm going to put the measurements up on screen. The next thing you're going to do is just take some stitch markers and place them on the body of your bag on the side over there, just so that you know that you're attaching it in the right place. And then you're going to turn your bag inside out, so just flip it inside out, because we don't want the part where we attach it to show on the outside of our bag. And then from where you've got your yarn, don't fasten off or anything, we're going to work directly. You're going to insert your hook into the marked stitch over here, and then you're going to slide that loop through, attaching it together like that. Now you're going to insert your hook through the stitch of the strap, and then a stitch in the body of the bag, then you're going to slip stitch it to join by sliding the yarn through like that. So you're going to go through the stitch, and then the stitch on the body of the bag, and slip stitch to join. You're going to repeat this until you reach the other stitch marker. Now I've reached the last stitch marker over here, so I'm going to do the same thing, just remove the stitch marker. Then I'm going to insert my hook into the last stitch over there, as well as the last stitch in the body of the bag, slip stitch, and then we're going to chain one. That's what your work will look like on the other side. So you can chain one more, just to make it extra secure. Then grab your scissor and cut your yarn to fasten off, pull, and then tighten. Stretch the slip stitch out a little bit, and then you can flip your bag inside out once more. And there you go, you've attached the strap on this side, and then you have it on the other side as well. Now I'm going to show you how to thread a ribbon or wool or whatever yarn you have through the straps, and then you can tie bows around the sides. Now again, this is optional. Take whatever ribbon or yarn you're using and cut two strands, they have to be equal in length. They're pretty long, so my strand can go all around my bag, and there's some extra at the bottom as well. You're going to thread what you're using through the middle of the strap at the very end over here. Then pull, leave some at the end to tie your bow later on. Now using a hook, or you can even do this with your fingers, you're going to insert it through, and you're going to grab onto the strands that you're using, and pull them through the center of the strap. And then you're going to repeat. So you're going to keep going up and down, pulling the strands through the holes that you have, and it's going to thread the yarn like this through. So insert your hook, grab onto the yarn or ribbon you're using, and pull it out. Then do it the opposite way, so insert it from the back side, pull the yarn to the back, and you're going to do this all the way around the strap until you come back on the other side.