Crochet Motifs: Putting It All Together

If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

Benjamin Franklin US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

I've always wanted to crochet a top or skirt or handbag using motifs so I picked a motif pattern from a Japanese book I have called 300 crochet motif, edging.  I thought "This is going to be fun and easy and is going to look gorgeous."   An investment in knowledge would have been the better way to go, but not me.  I think I know what I'm doing.  Ha.

Let me tell you, it's not as easy as it looks!  Making the motifs was easy enough and went along quickly.  As soon as I had enough - or what I thought was enough - motifs to make a handbag with, I started sewing them together. 

This is what I ended up with because I didn't have a good plan in mind to begin with....

I mean, YIKES!  So I went on a search on the internet to see if I could find a pattern for putting all these together without having to ruin what I've already started....

I found several patterns that would accommodate what I already had laid out and sewn together...

This one looks very similar to what I had going so I'm working on following the lay out that was pictured on this blog:
Stitch And Chat. 

I've learned a lesson by all this, that I can't just crochet and expect everything to turn out easily.  I have to have a plan in mind besides just picturing something in my head.  I think in the future I'll make paper motifs and put them together first, making a pattern outline for my crocheted motifs.  Taking out the stitching after motifs were already sewn together was very difficult and nerve wracking.  I was fearful I would cut the wrong thread of yarn and ruin a motif or two.  A few times I pulled on the wrong loop when trying to take out a stitch and had to work the yarn back into the motif so it wouldn't hang like a dead leaf about to fall off a tree. 

I'm going to finish this bag, even if it kills me and it might do just that.  lol.  It's been a headache but once I'm done with this one I'll be able to make the next one (for my daughter) in no time at all.  I found crocheting the motifs was fun and easy and went along very quickly.  I'm really looking forward to the next motif bag because I know what I need to do now.  **take the time to check a pattern before just sewing motifs together and hoping I'm doing it right**  duh.

Will post the finished product as soon as I'm done (which at this rate could be in a year or so!  lol)