Faux Leather Paper Granny Square Tote

Yes, this is a papercraft project. Well, papercraft plus. I love to crochet, - so I grabbed the opportunity to combine both. The crochet skills required for the bag are pretty basic, so beginners can have a go.
The granny square centres are cut from very lovely Silhouette Faux Leather Paper. There's a double layer of paper for each square - the cut-out motif plus the contrast backing - makes a nice "peekaboo" effect. The Faux Leather Paper works well with the cotton yarn.

I'm not a trained crochet pattern writer (not yet, anyway) - but you should be able to follow my how-tos, especially since I've done a photo tut for you. 

Here is your Granny Square template:
FauxLeatherCrochetSquares.pdf
FauxLeatherCrochetSquares.studio3
FauxLeatherCrochetSquares.svg

Faux Leather Granny Tote

You will need:

Silhouette Faux Leather Paper in Natural and White

Yarn: Rico Creative Cotton Aran, 3 - 50g skeins of Cherry 65; 2 skeins of Brown 58; 1 skein of Powder 61

Crochet Hooks: 2.50; 3.00

1 Large button

Tapestry needle

1 Cut out the following from Silhouette Faux Leather Paper: 12 flower squares and 12 backing squares in Natural; 12 flower squares and 12 backing squares in white. Wet the leather squares, scrunch them up (not too much around the cut-out flowers), then smooth them out on a protected flat surface. Let the squares dry naturally (this might take a day or two).

2 Make sandwiches of the squares with edges and holes aligned. Natural-coloured flower on top of plain white square; white-coloured flower on top of plain natural square. Set out twelve of each type.

3 Thread tapestry needle with 85cm (33in) of the cherry yarn. Work blanket stitch around the square, through both layers. Take two stitches in the corner holes.  Knot the join firmly.(See pic above.)

4 First round of all granny squares: with 2.50 crochet hook, work two half-treble stitches (USA half-double) in each buttonhole stitch compartment. At the corners, work one half-treble, ch2, work another half-treble. Continue around until the square is complete.(See pic, above.)

5 Round two: one row of double crochet (USA single crochet) all around the square in Powder – ch2 at corners. (See pic, above.)

6 Round three: one row of double crochet (USA single crochet) all around the square in Brown, ch 2 at corners. (See pic, above.)

7 Sew the squares together using brown yarn. Make two tote sides, each with 12 squares – alternate the square colours as shown (four rows, three squares each).

8 With the Cherry yarn and 3.00 hook, double crochet (USA sc) all around the edges of each tote side. 

9 With the Powder yarn and 3.00 hook, work 3 rows of double crochet (USA sc) along both long sides of each tote panel.

10 Strap: with the Cherry yarn and size 3.00 hook ch 9 stitches. Sk one ch and go into the next ch for the first stitch. Work 8 double crochet stitches (USA sc) for a length of 200cm (79 in). Seam the short end to make a continuous loop – take care not to twist the strap.

11 With wrong sides facing, and with Cherry yarn, oversew the strap to the tote sides, placing the strap join at a top edge of the tote panel. (Tip: pin the strap to each panel using safety pins or yarn markers, marking the corners and distributing the space.) When you have stitched both sides to the strap, turn the tote right side out.

12 Sew the button onto the tote, going through the centre of the flower on the top centre front square. 

13 Make the button loop. With Cherry yarn and 3.00 hook ch 5. Double crochet (USA sc) 4 for a length of 6cm (2-1/2in). Continue dc (sc) over two stitches for 8.5cm (3-1/2in). Join the two-stitch length to the top of the tab to complete the button loop. Sew the button loop onto the centre back of the tote. 

All done now. Good to go.