Hey there, my name is Krystal Everdeen & I make crochet tutorials on my YouTube channel. I love Disneyland, & finally got an annual pass so I can enjoy all the magical moments the Happiest Place on Earth has to offer. While perusing through the Main Street shops, I was inspired by a number of Mickey Mouse themed bags, backpacks, & purses to make my own crocheted version. So here it is!
Also, since it is in my nature to share with you how I make my creations, I uploaded a tutorial on how you can make your own Mickey or Minnie purse as well! Additionally, this blog post will serve as a supplemental guide that will go along with the video tutorial. Sometimes it is difficult for me to explain or show certain steps in my video tutorial, and I find it much easier to explain these things using text & photos. I hope you find this helpful as well & have fun making your own Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse purse!
Materials
Black Yarn
Red Yarn
White Yarn (or white felt/ fabric)
Scissors
Cardboard
TIMEÂ
~ 9 hours – but that’s because I was filming & trying to figure out how to make this (lots of trial & error); but since you have this tutorial, it should take you less time(:
The first step is to cut out all the cardboard pieces you will need for this project. When planning to make this project, I knew that crochet pieces themselves wouldn’t properly hold the shape, or even be sturdy enough to serve as a functional purse, so I decided to use cardboard as a base.
I used the box that my milk came in! Sure, it’s not pretty, but we are going to cover it up with crochet, so no worries! You are going to need 2 large round pieces, 2 smaller round pieces, and one long rectangular piece.
After cutting each piece, it’s time to move on to the crochet portion! I started off by making the two halves of the front of the purse. For the first half, you will use your black yarn and chain a chain that is long enough to stretch across the diameter of your large cardboard circle.Â
Once the chain is long enough, go back on it using a single crochet. Make as many single crochets as it takes so that when you put the crochet piece onto the cardboard piece, it is as this point. This is the point in which you will need to start curving the crochet piece.
In order to start curving the crochet piece, all you need to do is decrease by one in each row. For me, at the end of each row I normally: chain one, go into the very first stitch of the new row, then continue single crocheting within all the single crochets of the previous row – that keeps everything even and rectangular. However, since now we want to create a curve, it changes to: chain one, single crochet into the very first stitch of the new row, skip the second stitch, single crochet into the third stitch, then continue on single crocheting into every stitch of the previous row as normal until you reach the end of the row. Skipping that second stitch will slowly pull your project inward and start making it look “curved” – even though it won’t be totally curved by the end, but close enough!
Continue with this process until you put the project against the cardboard piece and it covers half. Once it does, cut the yarn from the yarn ball and seal the project. The, get to work on the second half; which will serve as Mickey’s shorts or Minnie’s skirt. Therefore, grab the red yarn and repeat the exact same steps to make another semi-circle.
After you have completed crocheting the two halves, the rest of the crocheting is easy! Now all you have to do is make 3 large circles, 4 small circles, and one long rectangular piece. Because the yarn I am using for this project is black, it is difficult to see the steps I am taking in order to crochet the circles, so I have found this helpful tutorial on how to crochet circles just in case you were a bit confused on how I made them.
As for the rectangular piece, you can either crochet two pieces that are the same length and height of the cardboard and attach the two afterward, or you can crochet this piece to be the same length as the cardboard – but double the height; that way you could just fold the crochet piece over the cardboard and not have to make two separate pieces. This will work either way!
Once you have crocheted all your pieces, you should have a total of: 3 large round pieces, 4 smaller round pieces, 1 long rectangular piece that is double the height of the cardboard piece or 2 rectangular pieces the same size as the cardboard piece, 1 black semi circle, and 1 red semi circle.
Now that you have crocheted all your pieces, it is time to put everything together! First, attach the two semi-circles together using a slip stitch.
Then, align that newly formed circle with one of the large crochet circles and attach them from the outer stitches using a slip stitch. Go all around the circles, but not all the way. Leave enough room to stuff the cardboard in between the two crochet pieces, then continue attaching until it is sealed.
Repeat that process with the rest of the pieces. After you have completed attaching the various pieces, the next step is to form the purse.
Attach the front and back pieces to the rectangular piece using the same slip stitch method. Then, attach the smaller circles to the top of the front piece (the piece with the red) the serve as Mickey’s or Minnie’s ears.
Fantastic! Everything is attached & looking good! However, we still need to close this huge gap and only leave enough room for a zipper.
Therefore, crochet a couple rows of single crochet on each side of this gap and leave about an inch of space in between for a zipper/ button/ clasp/ etc.
You can now attach your zipper, of whatever you choose to use. I sewed in a zipper.
Now it is time to make the strap. It is up to you what type of bag you want this to be. If you want to make it a shoulder bag, you would make a strap that is shorter than the one I made. If you want to make a backpack, then you make two straps and attach them to the back of the bag. However, if you want it to be a cross-body bag like mine, then make sure the strap is long enough to reach across your body and sit right at your hip. You can simply crochet a chain and have that chain serve as your strap, but I personally like my straps to be a bit more sturdy, so I cut 9 pieces of very long yarn, separate them into 3 sets of 3, then braid the sets together.
After attaching the straps to the sides of the bag, we can finally move on to the finishing touches. This is where you much choose from wither Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse. In order to make a Minnie Mouse bag, you will need to either crochet some small white circles, or cut some small circles out of felt or fabric, for her polka dot skirt and also make a bow. For Mickey Mouse, all you need to do is crochet or cut out two white ovals. I decided to make this a Mickey Mouse bag, so I simply cut out two ovals from some felt I had, and glued them to the front piece.
And that’s how I made my crocheted Mickey Mouse bag!
