Easy Jack Skellington Nightmare Before Christmas bag crochet pattern

Needed a bag for a Nightmare Before Christmas themed Halloween outfit so I made this one real quick! A great easy project for Halloween and good practice for working in the round! You can also easily make this bag bigger to suit your needs or make just one side and use it for an appliqué on a scarf! This bag works up quickly and an experienced person could easily make it in a day.



The following pattern was written and designed by me and is copyrighted. You may not sell or reproduce this pattern in any way. Do not claim this pattern or plush as your own design. You may not transmit or distribute this pattern by any means. You may not sell this pattern. You may not sell what you make from this pattern. Please respect this, I spent a very long time designing this pattern, there is a great deal of effort and love put into this. Thank you very much for your understanding.

Read pattern carefully before starting, particularly the instructions at the beginning of the pattern. There are also many tips throughout the pattern and in the assembly section that will help you when making different pieces, be sure to read those too!
 
 
Materials:
 
*White worsted weight yarn

*Small amount of black worsted weight yarn

*F hook

*G hook

*Yarn sewing needle

*snaps for closures

* sewing needle and white or invisible thread

I used 2 strands of yarn held together as one for most of this pattern (I take the strand from the outside of the skein and the one from the inside of the skien and hold them together and crochet like it's just one strand, this is an easy way to make the pattern bigger).
 
Note: there is no gauge for this pattern. The only thing that is important is that you have a tight stitch when crocheting. If you use the recommended hooks it should be fine but if you are someone who crochets more loosely you may want to reduce the hook size accordingly.
 
 
This pattern is worked in rounds (unless otherwise noted) and may use any the following techniques/abbreviations:
Sc- single crochet
inc- increase, put two sc into one stitch
sc in each sc or work even- single crochet in each single crochet, don't add any increases or decreases
R- round or row
Ch- chain
# sc or sc #- for example 5 sc or sc 5 both mean to crochet in the next 5 sc, with one single crochet in each.
Repeat (*)- repeat what is between the asterisks * until you come to the end of the round, unless otherwise indicated
ring- magic ring. If you cannot do this technique then you may substitute this: ch 2 and sc however many were supposed to go in the ring into the second ch. However this will leave a small hole in the piece, this is why the magic ring is preferred, it leaves no visible hole. Many tutorials on how to do the magic ring are available online.
 
The numbers in parenthesis at the end of each row are the number of stitches you should have when that row is done. Mark the start of each round with a marker and move this marker as you complete rows/rounds.

Bag is about 7 inches across, I made it just big enough to hold my phone and a small wallet, if you have a bigger phone you may want to make it slightly bigger (mine is a iPhone se so it’s pretty small). Directions for making purse bigger are included.


Sides of bag (make 2 with 2 strands of white yarn held together and G hook)
Round1- 6sc in ring (6)
R2- inc in each sc (12)
R3- *sc, inc * (18)
R4- *2sc, inc* (24)
R5- *3 sc, inc* (30)
R6- *4sc, inc* (36)
R7- *5sc, inc* (42)
R8- *6sc, inc* (48)
R9- *7sc, inc* (54)
R10- *8sc, inc* (60)
R11- *9sc ,inc* (66) If you want to make the bag bigger continue this pattern (i.e. next row will be 10sc, inc then 11 sc, inc). You would also need to adjust the size of the eyes in the same way.
R12- work even (66)
Weave in your ends on the wrong side of the piece so they will be inside the bag and not show.

Eyes (make 2 in black with one strand of yarn and F hook)
Round 1- 6 sc in ring (6)
R2- inc in each sc (12)
R3- *sc, inc * (18)
R4- *2sc, inc* (24) (If you made the bag bigger then increase the eyes until it looks good to you, next row would be 3sc, inc and then 4 sc, inc etc)
Finish off and leave long tail for sewing onto bag.

Strap
For the strap I just took 2 strands of yarn and G hook and tightly chained until I had the length I wanted. It’s important to do so tightly so that the strap doesn’t stretch much. If you made your bag bigger then you might want to make a chain then sc in each chain to make a wider strap. leave a long tail at each end to sew onto the bag later.

Assembly
*Sew on eyes (it’s important to do the face first before sewing the bag together, it’s much easier!)
 
*embroider nose and mouth, for the mouth I do the long part of the mouth then go back with another strand of yarn to do the stitches. 
 
*Take the front and back of the bags with wrong sides facing each other and crochet through both and sc around until you have an opening size you like. I started at the middle/side of one eye then went all the way around to the other. If you can’t sc through both or aren’t sure how you can also just sew them together, crocheting them together makes it much stronger though!
 
*sew the strap onto either side of the bag, be sure to do so very well since it will support the weight of your bag
 
*sew a snap on inside for a closure. Use white thread and small stitches so they don't show up or use invisible thread if you have it.