Fashion doesn’t have a track record of being hung up on practicalities, step forward the latest hot product – the chic but holey net bag. The type you may get at a farmers market (if you ever went to a real farmers market) Every IT girl is carrying her minimalist possessions around in one of these babies. Case in point, blogger Damsel in Dior rocking her Moreau Bucket Bag. It’s now sold out on Net-a-Porter but would have cost you an eye watering £290. The Maison Margiela string bag will set you back £816.
Granted, it might not be where you want to keep your loose house key, but our mini bag is perfect for your beach necessities – a book, sunnies, snacks and sun cream. We made our ‘net’ sections as small as possible, so your valuables won’t slip through.
Better yet, we created this baby for £4. Four pounds people! I hear you non-believers saying, ‘That looks too hard to make…’ It is essentially a series of one simple knot. So if you can get two strings together, trust us - you’ve got this!
You’ll need
-
Wool, £4 Hobbycraft have a great selection of colours, they even have ombre and multi coloured striped wool – who knew?
-
Scissors
-
A large bowl
-
A tape measure
How to
-
Measure twenty 14 inch strands of wool.
-
Gather the ends of all the strands together and 4 inches down, make a large knot. This will create a tassel.
-
We found it easiest to knot our bag around a large bowl, to keep our wool from getting tangled. Turn the bowl upside down, and place the tassel in the centre.
-
Separate the strands of wool outwards, bringing two strands together, to make 10 ‘arms’, as pictured.
-
Once inch down from the central tassel, hold and loop both strands together, making them into a knot. (You’re knotting them as a pair, not separating and trying to tie them together.) Knot all of your two strands together in this way, all the way around your bowl.
-
With your strands laid out as before, pinch together the inner strands from the knots you created. 1 inch down from your last knot, knot these two strands together. Do this all the way around your bowl.
-
All you are doing to make the bag, is continuing to knot the two inner strands together, around your bowl template. We stopped at 10 rows of knots, or 10 inches from our tassel’s knot, for the perfect sized mini bag.
-
To keep the shape of the bag’s top opening in a circle, cut a new 16 inch strand of wool. Weave this in and out of the top layer of diamond holes, all the way around. Tie this strand in line with one of your knots, to finish. Cut off any excess.
-
Cut off all excess strands at the top of your last row of knots.
-
For the handles, cut twelve 15 inch strands of wool. Knot these together at the top, leaving some strands out at the end of the knot
-
Separate these into three groups of four strands, and plait the three bunches. Knot at the end, leaving some strands out at the end of the knot.
-
Cut off all but two strands from both ends of your plait. Lay your bag flat on a surface, so you can see the opening at the top. There should be five knots on each ‘side’ of the bag, from the final diamond shapes created.
-
Attach the bags handles by taking the two strands hanging from the plait’s knot, looping them under, then tying them around the last knot on the side of the bag. Do this for the opposite side, then flip over the bag, and repeat for the second handle.
If you want, you can separate one strand of wool to create a thin thread, thread it into a needle and secure the ends of the handles with a few stitches.
Finished! That’s you #beachready
Liked this? You might also be interested in:
How To Set Up The Vanity Table Of Your Dreams Thanks To Pinterest
Update Last Seasons Coat With A Colourful Collar Diy For Under £10
Follow Jenny on Instagram @jennybrownlees
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.