Keeping it Real: The Sunset at the Sea crochet tote bag

Hello, and welcome! As promised earlier today, I'm sharing here the tutorial for my new summer crochet tote bag

The Sunset at the Sea crochet tote bag - with tutorial

I've named it Sunset at the Sea mostly because of the colors, and also because I think this bag is just perfect to take to the beach.

I had an idea of how I wanted it to look like in the end and as I couldn't find a pattern to fit exactly what I needed, I made it up as I went along. So instead of a nicely written pattern, I'm leaving here a small tutorial that should give you good pointers in case you want to replicate this bag.

The Sunset at the Sea bag does not have a flat bottom, and the rows are worked out individually (meaning you'll slip stitch at the end of each row and then start a new one, as opposed to working continuously).

To start, chain 51 and then work one double stitch in each chain (starting from the second chain from hook). When you get to the end, work one double crochet on the opposite side of each chain. Slip stitch at the end. You should have 99 stitches all around. Repeat this for the next six rows (add more or less rows depending on how you prefer the bottom of your bag to look like).

I then switched to orange:

for the first orange row, add two double crochets over a stitch from the previous row, chain one, skip two stitches and add two more double crochets. Repeat until the end of the row and slip stitch to join.
for the second orange row, add two double crochets over each chain from the previous row, with one chain in between
the third orange row is similar to the second one

Alternate three orange rows with a row of blue double crochets until you reach the desired height for your bag.

The strap is worked out directly into the sides of the bag (and now sewn afterwards). It's a long chain of 85 stitches, to which I then added six rows of single crochets:

Maybe one of these days I'll sit down and write a full pattern for this bag, but for now this simple tutorial will have to do. If you're trying to make your own Sunset at the Sea bag and have questions just drop me a comment and I'll be happy to help you to the best of my abilities.