I was floored and amazed to find out a couple of weeks ago that a freeform purse I’d designed for Lion Brand back in 2006 has been published.   Floored and amazed because, after I’d submitted the pattern, I searched and searched for it in LB’s free pattern catalog, but never found it.  So I just kinda forgot about it until someone in my freeform Yahoo group posted a link to the pattern.

The pattern is called Outside the Lines Purse (Pattern # 60304AD – you have to register to use the pattern finder).

Lion Brand Found Me Through My Crochet Blog

How did I get to design a pattern for Lion Brand?  I have to thank my blog for that.  Someone from the company saw some of the freeform work I’ve done in one of my blog’s photo albums.  Also, at the time, I was writing a lot about Lion Brand’s Homespun yarn that I was using a lot to make Christmas throws.  So perhaps that attracted her attention as well.

Creating a “Freeform” Crochet “Pattern” – Not an Oxymoron

In any event, I really struggled to create a freeform piece that not only looked nice, but was relatively easy to make.  The purse is made up of four motifs – a flower, a leaf, a spiral and a mitered square.  You make 3 of each motif, using LB’s Woolease, Homespun, and Microspun yarns.  The four unique motifs are then sewn together to make one big motif.  You then make three of these big motifs and sew them together to create the purse body.

The purse gets its name from the fact that you follow the outline of the motifs when sewing up the sides of the purse, resulting in an irregularly shaped body.  It’s good for carrying a little Ipod or cell phone.  Designing it was definitely a learning experience.  I made a few mistakes here and there, but, in the end, it turned out well.

Lion Brand’s TOTALLY FREE Pattern Catalog

By the way, Lion Brand recently announced that they have made ALL of their patterns available for FREE.  That’s 2,713 crochet, knitting, and “yarn craft” patterns. It’s a great place to find some really nice patterns.