How to Make Crochet Bag Handles

Today I”m going to show you how to make crochet bag handles – the easy way! There are no extra loose ends to weave in, and you can use this technique on any bag, regardless of the size and regardless of the stitch pattern.

These handles are crocheted in one piece with the bag, so there is no fastening off, unless your last working stitch ends up in the middle of the opening for the handles. With this technique, the handles are worked in single crochets, so you can make these regardless of the stitch pattern that you’re working with.

Simply work your final round of your bag in single crochets and then you can go ahead and do the math to mark off your handles.

How to Make Crochet Bag Handles

Here is an easy technique that can be used on any stitch pattern and any sized bag.

5 from 3 votes

Pin Pattern Share on Facebook

Instructions

Formula to Calculate the Spacing for the Handles

• Take your stitch count of the last round and divide by 2.
• Then take that number and subtract the amount of stitches you want to leave unworked in the middle.
• Then divide the remaining number by 2, to give you the number to count off on each side of the bag.

So in the first example here, we had 96 stitches in our last round.

• 96÷2=48

  48-20=28

  28÷2=14
  

In the second image we had 112 stitches in the last round.

• 112÷2=56

  56-20=36

  36÷2=18
  
• So then you simply place your markers as shown and crochet along the sides, leaving the 20 marked off stitches unworked in the middle. You can adjust the amount of stitches in the middle to suit your bag… it does not have to be 20, but that seems to be a good number for most of my shoulder bags.
• In the image below, the first round of the handles is done. You can adjust the length of the handles by adjusting the number of chains that you make. Then for the following rounds, you simply work one single crochet into stitch and/or chain around.
  

Video

So now that you got that down, here is my collection of free crochet bag patterns. You might also be interested in how to line a crochet bag.