The other day I stumbled upon this beautiful bag DIY by Persia Lou and I decided I needed it. My friend had just given me two massive spools of cotton yarn that she was trying to get rid of, and I decided that this bag would be the perfect project to start chipping away at that yarn!

I made a few changes to the pattern for my own version: For me, the number and length of tassels were a little too much, so I only made a few short tassels for the bag flap. I also used a gold braided belt that I've had for a long time because I didn't really want to purchase a leather strip and all the supplies to go with it. I lined it with some gray fabric that I had purchased two years ago for a Doctor Who weeping angels project that I never ended up doing (maybe someday it will happen, but for now I've finally used up most of that fabric!).

 For the belt / strap, I ended up being super cheap and lazy - I didn't even bother sewing it! I attached two D-rings (I would've preferred round rings but I couldn't for the life of me find them at Michael's) to the sides of the bag. I then belted the belt, cut it near the buckle (I did this because I wanted the buckle to be intact on the strap), and used E6000 (my trusty all-purpose industrial glue) to wrap the belt around the flat part of the D ring. I then used some extra yarn and wrapped it around the "joints" to secure it further, just in case!

The finished bag! I'm super happy with it :) I added a snap clasp at the front for extra security but I don't actually use it that much, oops.

close up! I like how you can kind of glimpse the gray under the white yarn - I think they pair super nicely together!

A close up of the belt and how I joined it to the bag

And here's me looking like a dork with the bag! I also made the dress I'm wearing - look out for that post soon!

If you like the bag, you should definitely try out the DIY! It was a super easy, super short project - took me about two nights after work, so maybe around 7 hours tops. It's the perfect summer bag, plus now I don't have to go choose between the ridiculous number of semi-identical crochet bags on the market now! This one's homemade and much cheaper ;)