the EASIEST way to crochet a phone bag with cardholder - beginner-friendly tutorial

For this project, I'm going to be using a 4.5mm hook and yarn size that's appropriate for your hook. We're going to start off by making a slipknot. To make a slipknot, you wrap your yarn around your fingers in kind of like an X shape. Insert your hook and grab the yarn and pull. And there you'll have your slipknot. We're going to start off by chaining the width that you want for your bag. So we're going to be starting off with this width over here. So chain the length you want it to be. To chain, make sure you have some tension here. Grab onto the yarn, twist and pull it through. Make sure you keep tension by moving your fingers up as you're chaining. So I'm going to go with this width over here. It's completely up to you. I would recommend making it slightly bigger than the width of your phone so your phone can comfortably fit inside it. Now we're going to be doing our turning chain. I think this chain won't add anything to the width. But it's just going to help us start our first row of single crochets. So you're going to skip this turning chain since it doesn't count. Then we're going to go into this second chain over here. And we're going to make a single crochet. That is how you do a single crochet. You insert your hook into the chain. Pull up a loop. And then yarn over, pull through both loops. And you're going to be inserting a single crochet in all of the chains all the way down. I've reached my last chain. The one near your slip knot. And once you're done with that, you basically have your first row. Now, typically what we do in crochet pieces is that we turn our work and start working on top over here. On top of our previous stitches. But to make this much easier for you and much faster so you won't have to do any joining. What we're going to do is we're going to be working in rounds. So first we have to make this into a round. And to do that we're going to be working on this edge over here. So not on top of your stitches. But on the other side of the chain that you started with. So what we're going to do first is we're going to be inserting an increase in this chain over here. So go into that same chain and insert two more single crochets. So that's one. And two. So you'll have a total of three chains over there. If you've done my love letter book sleeve with me, then you're probably already familiar with this technique. But once you're done with that, you're going to go into the next chain. So you see these loops? Those basically count as your chains. You're just going to go in the loop. And you're going to be inserting one single crochet in each of these loops over here. And what this is going to do is it's going to start making a round. And then you can just keep inserting one single crochet all around the round and you'll be done in no time. That's what makes this such a quick project to complete. There's no joining or slip stitching. You just crochet round and round and round until you're done. So what I'm doing right now is I'm just going in the loops and inserting one single crochet. I'm almost at the end. And I also worked over my end over here so I can cut it off later. And now we're back to the very last chain. So this is where we did our first single crochet when we started. And in that same place where you have your first single crochet, you're going to be inserting two more single crochets. To make it a total of three in that chain. So we've got three here and three here on both ends. Now we're going to be starting working in our rounds. You don't have to do any slip stitches, any joinings. You just have to insert one single crochet in each stitch. So now we have our base and now we're going to be starting our rounds. You're going to find your stitches. Make sure that you're aware what your stitch looks like. You're just going to be inserting your hook into every stitch and inserting a single crochet in it. We're just going to be going around and around and around, inserting just one single crochet. Hopefully that makes sense. It can be a bit confusing if you've never used this technique before, but it's super simple. You don't have to keep track of anything. You just have to keep going round and round, inserting one single crochet. I'm going to do this without speeding it up so you guys can really see that I'm not doing anything special. I'm just going to be going round and round and you're going to see my work increase in length. This is basically how we make our bag bigger. It's just one single crochet in each stitch. Once I come back over here, you're going to see that you can't really tell where you ended. I'm just going to keep going round and round and this is what's going to be building this length that you see here. It's all just continuous rounds. I also want to say that I am going to be making this into a scrap piece. I'm not actually going to be making this so I can use it. I just really wanted to get the tutorial posted today so I'm going to be making a quick scrap piece. It is the exact same technique that I used to make the finished pieces that you saw in the beginning of the video. I'm just going to be making a smaller version of it. Of course, the length, the width, everything is completely up to you. I always make sure that my pieces aren't following a super specific pattern so you can obviously customize them to any size that you want. I keep letting go of my loops but basically do you see that? It's going to start growing in length as you keep going around. I'm just going to give you guys a few tips and tricks while you're watching me do the rounds. You can do the rounds with me and just listen along. Basically, once you reach the corners of your rounds, please make sure you're not accidentally skipping some stitches or adding more than one stitch. As you can see, the stitches actually curve inward so it's easy to miss some of them. Just take your middle finger and stretch it out like this so you can see your stitches more clearly and then work into them. It's just a little trick. If you're still a beginner, then it might be a bit hard to keep track of the stitches you've gone into or ones that you haven't gone into. Let me show you what I have so far. This is what it looks like. I've done around 4-5 rounds. As you can see, we had our chain that was a bit smaller. When we added those increases on both corners when we were making our base, this gave it that nice little round shape. But don't worry, it's not going to be going inwards unless you're accidentally skipping stitches. So please make sure you're not skipping stitches or adding too many. Otherwise, you're not going to get a nice straight edge like I did over here. Once you have the length that you want for your bag, we're going to be starting the flap. Again, this is a scrap piece. I'm just making this for the tutorial. I'm not actually going to be using it. That's why it's so small. But for my original piece, I did make it as long as my phone. We're going to be starting the flap over here. Before we start the flap, there are two ways of doing it. The first depends on whether you're using titch buttons. These are titch buttons. They just snap on and off. If you're going to be using these to close and open your bag, then I would recommend the first method. If you don't have titch buttons, if you can't find them and you want something that's easier and doesn't require that much sewing, we are going to be making a hole in the flap. Then you can sew a button or clasp on the body of the bag. Let's pretend this is a button. There's nothing here. There's just a little hole. You would take it and slide that hole on the button, keeping your flap closed. Hopefully that makes sense. I would recommend getting some titch buttons. This is what they look like. They come in packs. You can get them from any craft store or sewing store. This is how they work. You have one snap-on piece that looks like this and one with a hole. Then they just snap on together like that. If you're using titch buttons, here is how to do the first method to make the flap. You just stop at any corner. You're going around. Just stop at any one corner and then turn your work. Then insert your hook back through the stitches. Now we're going to be working in rows instead of rounds. I'm inserting one single crochet in each stitch. I'm going to do this until I reach over here. I've reached the end. This row that you just did is basically how big your flap is going to be. Instead of working in rounds, you're going to turn your work again. You're just going to be inserting one single crochet in each stitch until you reach the end of this row. One single crochet in each stitch until you come over here. Once you reach the end of your row, let me just show you the flap. It's going to look something like that. Once you reach the end of the row, just keep doing rows until you have the length that you want for your flap. Once you have that length, then I'm going to be showing you how to do the curved edges like over here. Starting from here to here, do as many rows as you need to. Then the last two rows will be the curved edge. I did four rows and this is what my flap looks like. I'm ready to start the curved edge. To do the curved edge, we are going to be single crocheting two stitches together. Turn your work to start your next row and then insert your hook. Pull up a loop, but don't complete the single crochet. Instead, go into the next stitch, pull up a loop. Once you have three loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through all three. That is how you single crochet two stitches together. Now just insert one single crochet in each stitch until you have two stitches left at the end. Here I've got two stitches left and we're going to be single crocheting them together as well to make that nice curved edge. There you have your first row of the curved edge. You're going to turn your work and then we're going to do another row to give it more of that curved shape. Once again, you're going to be single crocheting two together to make the curve. Insert your hook, pull up a loop, but don't finish the single crochet. Go into the next stitch, yarn over and pull through all three to single crochet two together. And now once more, you're just going to be inserting one single crochet in each stitch until you have two stitches left. I've got two stitches left, let's single crochet them together. And there you go, there is your flap. My scrap piece is really small so you can barely see it, but there is the curved edge. This is what the flap looks like. And I'm so sorry about the noise, there's just someone walking very, very loudly outside my dorm room. And it's super annoying, I'm really sorry about that. But yeah, this is what it looks like. And once you're done, you're just going to be chaining one, two, and then cut over here. And then just pull and then tighten the chains to secure. And that is how you're going to be doing it if you're using titch buttons. Now I'm not going to be showing you how to sew this on because you should probably already know how to sew. You're going to be taking your decorative charm. So you could use a charm, you could use a button. And you're going to sew that on first over here. You don't need to of course, you could leave it plain. But if you want to add like a decorative piece, I recommend sewing this on first. And then you're going to take your titch button. Sorry, let me just open this up. And what I recommend doing is taking the snap-on piece. Sorry, the whole piece. And sewing it on at the body. And then taking your snap-on piece and then sewing it on here. Like that. And then you can basically open and close it. If you're not using titch buttons, I'm going to show you what to do next. So you're going to do the same thing that you did for the first method. And you're just going to stop before you start the curved edge. So I did two rows of the curved edge. I'm just going to unravel those so I can show you what to do instead. Okay, so I'm left with only the regular rows of single crochet that I did to give the length of the flap. I hope this isn't too confusing. But for the second method where you have a hole that you can slide on your button. I would recommend sewing on your button first so you can see how long your flap needs to be. And where you need to make this hole that can go around your button. But you're basically going to be sewing the button on. And then in the rows where you're making the curved edge, you're going to be inserting a hole. So let's make the curved edge by single crocheting two stitches together. Like that. And I'm going to insert one single crochet in each stitch until I come maybe over here. Like that. Is that the middle? 1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay, what I'm going to do. So you need to find the middle of your flap and then leave a hole there. So I'm just going to chain the number of stitches that you're going to be skipping to make the hole. I'm going to be skipping two, so I chain two. And then single crochet into the stitch afterwards. So I skipped two, so I chain two to make the hole. And I'm just going to be inserting one single crochet until I reach the end. And then I'm going to be single crocheting these two stitches together to make the curved edge. Like that. And there you have your hole. So, let me do another row of the curved edge to build some length. So turn your work and then single crochet two stitches together. Insert one single crochet in each stitch. Oh, and I'm going to show you what to do. So over here you have your chain two. You're just going to be inserting two single crochets in that chain two space. If you chained three, you're going to be inserting three single crochets. If you chained four, four single crochets. It just depends. Just please make sure that you don't make your hole too big. It should be tight so your bag can stay secure. So don't make it too loose, otherwise it might just slide off your button or charm that you're using. So again, chain one, two to fasten off. Let me show you how this is going to work. So let's pretend that you have sewed on your button on the bag. You're just going to take this hole and you're going to be sliding it around your button. Like that. Does that make sense? Hopefully that makes sense. Here's how to fasten off your work. So you just chain one or two and then you cut and pull and tighten. That is how you fasten your work off and then you can weave this in or however you like to conceal your ends. And now we're going to be starting the strap. So take your yarn, make a little loop with it. It's just a regular loop. And then insert your hook into the stitch that is closest to your flap. So I'm going to insert it here. Slide your loop through like that. I'm going to hold on to the end over here and make it tight. And then chain the length that you want for your strap. And this method of making the strap will make sure that your strap doesn't stretch because the chains cannot stretch. If you've made the heart bag with me, I have a tutorial for it up on my channel. If you've made that with me, then you're already familiar with this technique. But basically, I'm so proud of coming up with this. When you chain the base of your strap, the chains don't stretch. So when you put something heavy in your bag, it won't stretch and become so long. It's going to stay roughly the same length that you make it. Okay, so I'm going to go with this length. Once you have the length that you want, you're going to be going into the other side of your flap, right next to the stitch that's next to your flap. Insert your hook. And then you're going to be slip stitching. So grab onto the yarn and pull it through like that. Okay, I'm going to do it again so you guys can see it better. You have your chain over here going to the inside. Insert your hook. Pull it. And then you're going to slip stitch. So that means you're going to slide this through your chain as well. Like that. And then slip stitch into the next stitch. Like that. And now you're going to be building, well, the width of the stitch by just doing one single crochet in each chain. So turn your work so it's facing like that. And this is what it'll look like. This is the front of the chain, but you're going to be working on the back side of the chain. So insert your hook into each chain and just do one single crochet in each chain. I'm going to show you a close-up of exactly where I'm going. This is one chain, two, three, four. I go in like that. This is just a neater way of doing it. You can, of course, insert the single crochet in the front of the chain like you normally would. But I found that this gives me a nicer finish for my strap. And yeah, that's it. Just single crochet until you come back on this side. I'm at the end over here. My piece is so small it's kind of hard for me to show you, but I'm basically going to do my last single crochet in that very last chain over there. Oops. This is happening a lot. I don't know what's wrong today. And now we're going to be ending the strap by slip stitching into the stitch that is next to where you started your work. Like that. And that's it. You're basically done. You can chain one, chain two. You can fasten off like we did over here. And you're basically all done with the body of your bag. This is what it looks like. I've got a really small one. But yeah, I think this would be such a cute little present. And now we're going to be doing the card holder in the back. Now, for the card holder, I'm going to be making it the size that I made over here so you can really see how I did it. And yeah, let's get started. So keep the card that you want to make this for over here. I am going to include the measurements of my card holder in case you want to look at that in the description box. You're going to start off by making a slip knot. So just like how we did it before. And now you're going to chain the length that is slightly bigger than the card. Mine is kind of like a standard card. And if you make it this size, it can also fit Polaroids. So yeah, it's pretty versatile. So you're just going to chain the length that you want your card holder to be. Now, of course, the card holder is open. So if you have like a metro card or something, you don't have to take it out. You can just scan it while it's in the bag. And this makes it super convenient. For example, if you have your credit card or like a wireless card, you can just scan it. You don't have to worry about taking it out or anything. Or you can just put a cute little Polaroid, a few family or cats. That would be super cute. So this is how long I'm going to make my chain. As you can see, there's like one chain on both sides that's going slightly out of the card. And then we're going to do our turning chain. This won't count towards your stitches. Then we're going to single crochet into the second chain from our hook. And now you're just going to insert one single crochet in each chain all the way down the row. Here's what it looks like. And now we're going to be... So don't chain one. Usually, as a beginner, you might have seen the technique where you chain one and then turn your work. But to get really straight edges, don't chain one. Just turn your work. And now we're going to be doing another row of just regular single crochets. So insert one single crochet in each stitch until the end of the row. Now the next part is going to get a bit confusing. So please make sure you're paying attention and really focusing on how I'm explaining it. You have your card. And now we're going to be working on these borders over here. But we're not going to be working on the borders in a continuous way. Basically, we're not going to be working on the borders in a continuous way. We're going to do one border first. Start the other border. And then on top of the second border, we're going to make this and then connect it over here. So what's going to happen is when we make this first border, we are going to make it one less row than we want it to be. So if you want the border to be as tall as this, you're not going to make it as tall as this. You're going to make it one less. Then when we do the second border, we're going to make it the length that we want it to be. So one more than the one we did here. And once we have that, we're going to chain and connect it here by doing single crochets, which will then make both the lengths the same. And then we're going to do two more rows on top and then we're going to be done. So hopefully that gives you some context on what we're about to do. We're going to start the first border now. So turn your work and decide on what width you want the border to be. I'm just putting single crochets in and I'm going to do three single crochets because that is how wide I want the first border or both my borders to be. And I'm just going to turn my work and then I'm going to do another row. Just one single crochet in each stitch. For me, I've got three single crochets. Turn my work and keep doing rows until I have the length that I want. But remember, it should be one less than the actual length you want it to be. And this is going to make more sense once I've finished mine and then shown you what I'm doing. Here I have done ten rows of the single crochets. Three single crochets. And now you're just going to fasten off and cut the yarn because you don't need this anymore. So just chain one, two, fasten off and cut. And tighten. Now we're going to be starting the other side. Please make sure you keep count of how many rows you do. If you do an even number, for example ten is an even number, then you're going to start your second border from this side. If you did an odd number, like for example nine, then you will start your border from here and work like this. So I did ten, an even number, so I'm going to attach my yarn here and work like that. So let me just show you how I'm going to do that. You're just going to make a loop and then attach it depending on how many rows you did. So even number, you're going to attach it over here. Let me just pull it through. So that's just how you attach it. If you did an odd number, then I would like you to turn your work. Let me just show that really quickly if you did an odd number. So you count three stitches. Okay, I keep apologizing, but I'm so sorry. I tried to tell the girl to be quiet. She's just not listening and now she's just being obnoxiously loud. So if you did an odd number, you're going to attach it there and then do one single crochet, one single crochet, one single crochet. I know this is probably really confusing, but hopefully you get the gist of it. And yeah, once you attach the yarn, you're just going to chain one. Then you're just going to do three single crochets like you did before. And then you're going to do rows of single crochet. Just tighten this. So just like how you did the first border, you're doing your second border now. So I did three single crochets, which is the width that I want for my border. I'm going to do my other rows. So here I have done ten rows. Let me just lay it flat. I've got ten rows in my first border, ten rows in my second border. But this is not the size of my card. I need to be adding one more row. So you know that you're on the right track if your tenth row or whatever row you ended with is ending on this side. However, if your hook and your last stitch are over here, then you should probably restart. Maybe attach your yarn on this side or that side. Because we are going to be doing that row, that one less row that we didn't do here. So we need a total of eleven rows, right? But we've got ten, so we need to do one more. So I'm going to turn my work. And then I'm going to do my eleventh row to make this the same size as my card, but only on the second border. And now we're going to be doing this eleventh row in the first border. And to do that, we need to first join the pieces. Make sure you remember how many chains you did. I did twelve chains. Now we're going to do a bit of math. So we have twelve chains in total. And you've got three here, three here. So twelve minus three minus three, twelve minus six, that leaves six. So we have three stitches here, three stitches here, so a total of six stitches. Now we need to make the stitches here so that the total will be twelve, just like over here. So since we've got six, we just need to do six more stitches here, and then it'll be a total of twelve. The same as over here. So what you're going to do is you're just going to chain six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Or the number that you need. So do that bit of math and then find out how many chains you need to do to make it the same number of stitches. And now you're just going to be doing your eleventh row on this first border that you made. You're just going to go into that single crochet. So you just go into that single crochet in the first border and then you make another single crochet. Then you do two more to complete this eleventh row. And there you go, this is basically what you have. This is how it works. Make sure that the number of stitches you have here is the same as what you started with. And yeah, that's it. Now you're just going to turn your work. And then insert one single crochet in each stitch. And you're going to do two more rows of regular single crochets. And then you'll be done with the card holder. So I did three and now I have to work into my chains. Make sure you're keeping count. It should be six single crochets in each of the six chains. And then three single crochets in both your borders, making a total of six. Six plus six makes twelve. So we have the same number of stitches as what we started with. Okay, I'm almost done. And once you're done with your first row, you're just going to turn your work and then do your second row the same as before. I finished my second row and there you go. There is your little card holder. And then you're just going to fasten off by chaining one, two, and cut just like we did before. And then you can sew this piece onto the back of your bag. I'm not going to show you because it's sewing. You can do it with a tapestry needle. You can do it with a regular needle. You can use thread. You can use yarn. Just sew it onto the back of your bag. And then this is how it should look like. Your card can go in and come out. So make sure that you're sewing only these corners and leaving this part open. So don't sew this. And this is how your card or Polaroid basically slides in and out. And there you go. That is how you make this cute little bag. It's so amazing to give as little gifts in the coming holidays because this is something everyone will find useful. And yeah, I hope you like this tutorial. Let me know what color you're doing in the comments and what I should do next.