Crochet Basic Tote Bag Tutorial Step By Step Tutorial

Hi everyone! On today's video, I'm going to show you how to crochet this basic tote bag. So before we start, let me tell you guys the materials you need to make this bag. To make this project, I used 100% cotton yarn and it's a weight 4 yarn and I used about 180 grams of yarn. You can also make this project with acrylic yarn, but it is going to stretch out. With that, you're going to need a 5 millimeter hook and we're also going to use a couple of stitch markers and a darning needle to weave in our ends. So this is pretty much all you need to make this project, so we can now get started with the tutorial. To start, we're going to make a slip knot. So to do that, grab your yarn and roll it two times on your fingers like this, making an X shape. Then grab your hook and pass it underneath here and grab the yarn over here, turn your fingers and take them off and pull. And then you can pull again to adjust it to your hook. We're now going to chain 38. So to chain, you have to yarn over your hook and pull through. So this is one chain. The loop on your hook does not count as a chain. So yarn over, pull through two, yarn over, pull through three, yarn over, pull through four, so on and so forth until you have a total of 38 chains. So here I have all of my 38 chains. What we're going to do now is work on the base of our bag. To do that, we're going to crochet in the back bars of the chains. So this is the front of your chain. If you turn it around, you're going to see little bumps and these are the back bars of the chains. So what we're going to do is skip the first back bar and insert our hook in the second one. So skip this one, insert your hook in the second back bar and make a single crochet. So yarn over and pull through. You have two loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through two. So here we have our single crochet and now we're going to make single crochets all across. So we're going to go over the next back bar and insert our hook. Then we're going to yarn over and pull through. We have two loops on our hook. Yarn over and pull through two to make a single crochet. Next back bar, insert your hook, yarn over, pull through, pull through two. Next back bar, insert your hook and make a single crochet. So go ahead and make single crochets in the back bars all across and I'll see you guys when I reach the end. Alright, so here I'm done with row one. When you're done with your first row, you're supposed to have a total of 37 single crochets. And so to make the base, we're basically just going to be making eight rows of single crochets. So now what we can do is chain one and turn our work. And now what we're going to do is skip the chain we just made and insert our hook in the first stitch of the row and make a single crochet. So skip the chain, insert your hook in the first stitch of the row and make a single crochet. And continue by making single crochets all across. So insert your hook in the next stitch and make a single crochet, next stitch, single crochet. And you're going to do that all across, so go ahead and do it and I'll see you guys when I reach the end. Alright so here I'm done with row two. Again when you're done with your row you should have a total of 37 single crochets. So as I said earlier we're going to be making eight rows of single crochets. So next we have to chain one, turn our work, skip the chain we just made and insert our hook in the first stitch of the row and make a single crochet and continue by making single crochets all across. We're now done with two rows so go ahead and crochet six more rows of single crochets to have a total of eight rows and once you're done doing that come back to the video. Alright so here I'm done with my eight rows so we're now done working on the base of our bag and we're now going to start working on the body of the bag. What we're going to do now is take a stitch marker and place it in the last single crochet we've made just like this and to start working on the body of the bag we're going to crochet all around the base and so we're going to start by crocheting on the side over here. So what we're going to do is chain one and now if you pull on your work a little bit you're going to see that there are little holes and we're going to crochet in those. So if we count we have one, two, three, four, five, six and seven holes. So now what we're going to do is start working with double crochets. So what we're going to do is yarn over, we're going to insert our hook in the first hole, yarn over, pull through, we have three loops on our hook, we're going to yarn over, pull through two, yarn over, pull through two to make a double crochet and when you're done making your double crochet you're going to take a stitch marker and place it in that stitch. Just like this. We're now going to go over the next hole and make a double crochet. So yarn over, insert your hook in the next hole, yarn over, pull through, here's our second double crochet, yarn over, insert your hook in the next hole and make a double crochet, here's three, yarn over, insert your hook in the next hole and make a double crochet, here's four, yarn over, next hole, make your double crochet, five, next hole, six and your next hole here, seven. Now that we're done making our seven double crochets here, we're going to turn our work a little bit and make 37 double crochets all across here. And we're basically just going to have to insert our hook in these stitches on the bottom where you see the little braids, like this. So we're going to yarn over, insert our hook in the next braid and we're going to make our double crochet, like this. We're going to yarn over, go over to the next braid and insert our hook and make our double crochet, yarn over, next braid, insert your hook and make your double crochet. So you're going to have to make double crochets all across until you reach your last braid over here on the corner. Alright, so here I'm done making my 37 double crochets. So now what we're going to do is start working back again in the little holes and we're going to make seven double crochets. So again we're going to pull on our work to see where the holes are. Now what I suggest you to do is start counting from the left. So here's one, two, three, four, five, six and seven. So you should really not insert your hook in this hole over here but rather start on the hole right after. So this would be one, two, three, four, five, six and seven. So I'm going to yarn over, I'm not going to insert my hook in this first hole, I'm going to go over the next hole over here and make my double crochet here. So this is one, yarn over, next hole, two, yarn over, next hole, three, yarn over, next hole, four, yarn over, next hole, five, yarn over, next hole, six and yarn over, next hole, seven. So here we have our seven double crochets. So now that this is done we're going to start working on this side over here and we're going to make a total of 37 double crochets and we can simply start crocheting in these stitches like this where you see the little braids. So like this, next in here, next in here, so on and so forth until we reach our stitch marker over here. So you're going to yarn over, insert your hook in the next stitch and make your double crochet, yarn over, next stitch, insert your hook, double crochet and you're going to repeat that all across until you reach your next stitch marker. Alright, so when you reach your stitch marker you can take it off and make one last double crochet in there and when you're done making your last double crochet, take back your stitch marker and place it in that last stitch. So to finish this round we're going to have to make a slip stitch in the first stitch, so insert your hook in the first stitch of the round, yarn over, pull through and pull through all the loops on your hook. So now we're done with round one. To start round two we're going to chain one, so yarn over and pull through. After chaining one we're going to turn our work. Turning your work is optional but it is going to give the best results in my opinion, but again if you're not comfortable to turn your work you don't have to do it. As you can see I have my purple stitch marker on my left and I have my yellow stitch marker on my right. Now I'm going to turn my work and as you can see I have my purple stitch marker on my right and my yellow on my left. What we're going to do now is skip the chain we just made and skip the slip stitch and make a double crochet in the first stitch where the stitch marker is. So we're going to take off the stitch marker, we're going to yarn over, skip the chain, skip the slip stitch and insert our hook in the first stitch of the row and make our double crochet. And once you're done with your first double crochet you're going to take back your stitch marker and place it in that first stitch. And now all we have to do is make double crochets all around until we reach our next stitch marker. So we're going to yarn over, insert our hook in the next stitch, make a double crochet, yarn over, next stitch, double crochet. And so you're going to go ahead and make double crochets all around and I'll see you guys when I reach the end. Alright so here I'm almost done with my second round. I'm going to remove my stitch marker and make a last double crochet in that stitch. Now that I'm done with my last double crochet I'm going to take back my stitch marker and place it in that last stitch. And I forgot to mention this earlier but at the end of every round you should have a total of 88 double crochets. Now to finish this round we have to make a slip stitch in the first stitch of the round. So insert your hook in the first stitch, yarn over, pull through and pull through again. So here we're done with round two. To start round three we're going to chain one, so yarn over and pull through and now we're once again going to turn our work. So here I have the yellow stitch marker on my left and my purple on my right. I'm going to turn my work and I have my yellow stitch marker on my right and my purple stitch marker on my left. What we're going to do now is skip the chain we just made and skip the slip stitch and make a double crochet in the first stitch of the round. So I'm going to take off the stitch marker, I'm going to yarn over, skip the chain, skip the slip stitch and insert my hook in the first stitch and make a double crochet. I'm going to take back my stitch marker and place it in the first stitch of the round and now we're just going to make double crochets all around our work until we reach our next stitch marker. So go ahead and make double crochets all around and I'll see you guys when I reach the end. Alright so here I'm almost done with my third round so I have one last double crochet to make here and I'm going to take back my stitch marker, place it back in that last stitch and to end round three we have to make a slip stitch in the first stitch of the round just like this and now we're done with round three. So I'm going to show you guys one last time how to do this. So you have to yarn over and pull through to make a chain and then we have to turn our work. Then we're going to skip the chain we just made and skip the slip stitch and make a double crochet in the first stitch. So we're going to take off the stitch marker, yarn over, skip the chain, skip the slip stitch and insert our hook in the first stitch of the round and make our double crochet, take back our stitch marker and put it in that first stitch and continue making double crochets all around until we reach our next stitch marker. So you can go ahead and do that and I'll see you guys when I reach the end. Alright so here I have one last double crochet to make and then I put back my stitch marker and now I'm going to make my slip stitch. So insert my hook in the first stitch of the round and make my slip stitch. So we're now done with round four and we have a total of 19 rounds to crochet which means we have 15 more rounds to go so you can go ahead and make all of your rounds and once you're done you can come back to the video. Alright so here I have one last double crochet to make before I'm done with my 19 rounds. So I'm going to remove my stitch marker, make my last double crochet of the round, take my stitch marker and place it back in that last stitch and make my slip stitch. So once you're done with your 19th round, you're done with the body of the bag and now we're going to start working on the straps. So to be able to make the straps and make sure that they're even, we're going to place some stitch markers. Go over to the last double crochet you've made and count five stitches. So we're going to start counting on the double crochet where the stitch marker is. So this is one, two, three, four and five. I'm going to take my stitch marker and place it here. Now we're going to skip 27 stitches and put a stitch marker on the 28th stitch. We're going to start counting on the stitch after where the stitch marker is. So this is one here, so one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven and twenty-eight. So here's my 28th stitch. I'm going to take my stitch marker and place it here. Once that's done, you have to skip 15 stitches and put a stitch marker on the 16th stitch. So we're once again going to start counting not on the stitch where the stitch marker is, we're going to start counting on the stitch right after. So here's one, so one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, just like this. Now we're just going to turn our work a little bit like this. We're now once again going to skip 27 stitches and put a stitch marker on the 28th. Again, we're not going to count the stitch where the stitch marker is, we're going to start counting on the stitch right after. So this is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and we're going to put a stitch marker on the 28th just like this. Alright, so now that we're done placing our stitch markers, we can remove the stitch markers we had here on the beginning on our first and last stitch. So I'm just going to remove these stitch markers like this. And now you can verify that from this stitch marker to this stitch marker, you're supposed to have 17 stitches and same thing on the other side. From this stitch marker to this stitch marker, you're supposed to have 17 stitches. So what we're going to do now is just fasten off the yarn we have here. So we're just going to chain one, pull some yarn and cut it. Now that all of our stitch markers are placed, we're going to start crocheting the straps. We're first going to start by making a slip knot. So again, I just roll my yarn on my two fingers like this, making an X shape. Then I grab my hook, pass it underneath here and grab the yarn over here, turn my fingers and take them off and pull. And then I pull again to adjust it to my hook. We're now going to insert our hook in this stitch over here where the stitch marker is. So I'm going to insert my hook in that stitch. I'm going to remove my stitch marker. And here we're going to make a stacked single crochet. So we're going to yarn over, pull through. We have two loops on our hook. Yarn over, pull through two to make our single crochet. And so to make a stacked single crochet, we're going to insert our hook in this little loop here and we're going to make a single crochet in that loop over here. So insert your hook through that loop, yarn over, pull through. Yarn over, pull through two. So here we have our stacked single crochet and this counts as one double crochet. Now we're going to make double crochets all across, which means we have 16 more double crochets to make. So you're just going to have to yarn over, insert your hook in the next stitch, and make your double crochet. Yarn over, next stitch, double crochet. After you've made your five double crochets, you're just going to have to skip this slip stitch here and the chain and make a double crochet in this stitch right after in here. And continue making double crochets until you reach your stitch marker. So here I reached my stitch marker, I'm going to take it off and make a double crochet in that stitch. All right, so here we're done with our first row. We're supposed to have a total of 17 double crochets. Again, the stacked single crochet counts as one double crochet. All right, so once you're done with your first row, the next thing we're going to have to do is turn our work. We're always going to start the row with a stacked single crochet. So what we're going to do is insert our hook in the first stitch of the row and make a single crochet. And then we're going to make another single crochet in this loop over here. So insert your hook through that loop and make another single crochet like this. Now what we're going to do is make a double crochet decrease. To do that, we're going to yarn over, insert our hook in the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two. Now we're going to yarn over again, insert our hook through the next stitch, yarn over, pull through. We're going to yarn over and pull through two. And now we're going to yarn over and pull through all the remaining loops. So here we have our double crochet decrease. We're now going to go ahead and make 11 double crochets. So go ahead and make 11 double crochets and I'll see you guys when I'm done doing that. Once you're done making your 11 double crochets, you're going to have three stitches left. We're going to make a decrease in the next two stitches and then we're going to finish the row with a double crochet in the last stitch. So here we're going to make a decrease again. So yarn over, insert your hook in the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two. We're going to yarn over again, insert our hook through the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two. And we're going to yarn over again and pull through all the remaining loops. So here our decrease is done and we're going to finish the row with a double crochet, yarn over, insert your hook in the last stitch, and make a double crochet. So at the end of row two, you're supposed to have a total of 15 stitches. So now that we're done with row two, we're going to turn our work and we're going to repeat the same steps. We're going to start with a stacked single crochet. So we're going to insert our hook in the first stitch and make a single crochet. And then we're going to make another single crochet in this little loop over here. Now that this is done, we're going to make a decrease. So we're going to yarn over, insert our hook in the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two, yarn over, insert your hook in the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two, and yarn over, pull through all the remaining loops. We're now going to make 9 double crochets, so go ahead and make 9 double crochets and I'll see you guys then. Once you're done making your 9 double crochets, you're supposed to have 3 stitches left, so now we're going to make a decrease, so we're going to yarn over, insert our hook in the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two, we're then going to yarn over, insert our hook in the next stitch, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two, and pull through all the remaining loops. And now we have one stitch left and we're going to make a double crochet. Yarn over, insert your hook, and make your double crochet. So here we're done with our third row. When you're done with your third row, you're supposed to have 13 stitches all across. Alright, so we're going to basically repeat the same things over and over again until we have 5 stitches left, so now we're going to turn our work to start row 4, we're again going to start with a stacked single crochet, and we're going to continue by making a decrease. Now we're going to make 7 double crochets, so go ahead and do that, here we have 3 stitches left, we're going to make a decrease, and we're going to finish the row with a double crochet. Alright, so here we're done with row 4, at the end of row 4 you're supposed to have a total of 11 stitches, so you can go ahead and continue these steps over and over again until you have a total of 5 stitches left. Alright, so here I'm done with my 7th row, and I have a total of 5 stitches here, we're now going to make 10 more rows, so from row 8 to row 17 we're going to be making 5 double crochets. So, what we're going to do is just turn our work, we're once again going to start our row with a stacked single crochet, and we're going to make double crochets all across. So here I have my 5 stitches, so I'm done with row 8, then we're going to turn our work again, start with a stacked single crochet, and continue by making double crochets all across. So here I'm done with row 9, so go ahead and make 8 more rows. Alright, so here I'm done making my 10 rows of 5 double crochets, so if we do a little recap, we have our first row with 17 double crochets, then row 2 to row 7 is decreases, and then row 8 to row 17 is just 5 double crochets in every row. Alright, so once you're done doing that, you're just going to pull some yarn and cut it. I was running out of yarn, so I don't need to cut my yarn. And now we're done with our first drop, so now you can go ahead and repeat the same exact steps on the other side, so you can turn your work and repeat the same thing on this side over here. Alright, so here I'm done making my second strap. Now what you need to do is pull about 3 cm of yarn and cut the yarn. We're now going to take our darning needle and pass it through the long tail we left, and we're going to join the two straps. So the way I join them is that I pass my needle through this loop over here, and the other loop on the other side like this, and pass the yarn through. Then I'm going to pass my needle through this loop, and the other loop on the other side, and pull the yarn through. Next loop here, and next loop on the other side like this, pass the yarn, and do that for the 5 stitches, like this, and like this. Now what we're going to do is just flip our work a little bit, and repeat the same thing on the other side, so we're going to pass our needle through this loop, and the loop on the other side, and pass the yarn through. Next loop here, and here, pass the yarn through, next loop like this, like this, and once I'm done doing that, what I do is I just take my yarn, and just randomly pass it like this, and pass the yarn through. And I did this just to be able to make a knot with my other tail, so I'm just going to take this other tail and bring it a little closer to my other tail, like this. Now I'm just going to make a knot with these two tails and weave them in. Alright, so once you're done sewing your strap, you're officially done with your project. So I really hope you enjoyed crocheting this bag, if you did, please give this video a thumbs up, and subscribe to my channel for more crochet tutorials. Thank you so much for watching, see you next time, bye bye!