Escher Bag (Tapestry Crochet)

With tips on how to do Tapestry Crochet
Hi there!

Great of you to view my Escher bag! I hope you like it! Sorry for the long text. If you are looking for tips on how to Tapestry Crochet, skip the ‘Why?’ and read ‘How to Tapestry Crochet’.

Why?
My stepmom asked me if I could make her a bag after seeing my Bargello bag (which you can see here: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/modern-vintage-purse-2). It took me quite some time to know what to make for her, but I knew that it had to have to do something with Escher. My parents have paintings and even holograms by Escher in their living room.
After my parents got married, she gave me a purple ribbon from my stepmoms brides bouquet. I knew I wanted to do something with this too.

How to Tapestry Crochet? (with tips about tapestry crochet and how to avoid mistakes and having to redo everything! See difference between the different methods in the last picture)
I found a pattern with Escher’s lizards and I started to make them using tapestry crochet.
With tapestry crochet you carry along your colours by crocheting over them and changing colours.
If you’d like to know more about tapestry crochet, you should visit the website of the tapestry crochet queen: Carol Ventura (www.tapestrycrochet.com) or just search for it, and you’ll find it.

I thought that couldn’t be that hard.. Well, I was wrong!
I started and quickly noticed ugly colour changes. I thought I could fix it by embroidering over it when everything was done.
When I finished, I tried that trick, no luck there! It didn’t make things better and it took a long, long, long time!
I E-mailed Carol, she told me I didn’t do anything wrong. She suggested I could try to use a pattern with more stitches, a tighter tension, less colour contrast and/or fuzzier yarn, but I didn’t wanted to do any of that, to be totally honest. But they are still great tips for when you haven’t chosen your pattern yet.

So I knew I had to redo it. But I didn’t know how. On http://threadyarknot.blogspot.nl/2013/09/tapestry-crochet.html I saw Evelien de Brouwer’s tapestry crochet work. Absolutely gorgeous! It was as I wanted to have it too! So I E-mailed her for some tips. She told me to really keep the tension and to use a smaller hook! I used the smallest hook possible I could use for my yarn. It totally worked!
For working in the round she suggested using the method Esther Holsen learned Carol Ventura, as you can read here: http://www.tapestrycrochet.com/blog/?p=1171 and here: http://www.tapestrycrochet.com/blog/?p=1260 But since I didn’t worked in the round, it was hard for me to keep it up on the way back.

I also didn’t like the ‘v’s when I crocheted white on black or visa versa. I saw this website, where Rina from Oomanoot explains ‘The perfect crochet colour change’ (visit the website for a picture tutorial, explanation and the difference between the two methods: http://www.blog.oomanoot.com/the-perfect-crochet-color-change/) . The trick is to crochet through the back loop if you crochet on a different colour. I tried it and that worked for me too.

After I finished the tapestry crochet, I crocheted black on the left and right side. I did this by inserting my hook in the (not so big) holes at the sides of the tapestry crochet. This way the tapestry crochet is horizontally orientated and the sides are vertically orientated.

How to make the bag?
I made the rest of the bag with fake leather. I had an idea of how I wanted it to look and I just went with it.
I made everything by hand, except for the handle (thank the universe that I found it in a closet while I was looking for something else. Hoarding sometimes has its positive side ;) )

When you want to make your own bag: make sure you have your whole lining ready before you insert it in your bag. This way you won’t have to put in a zipper, while fighting the outside of the bag.
The same goes for the outside of the bag. Make sure everything is in, before you insert your lining.

I hope you can make pretty things with the tips I gathered. If you want to have more tips, just let me know. We’ll figure it out together ;)

Greetings,
Cindy