Embellish it With Ropes--Faux Cabling 3

We will now make two braids, each with three ropes. These are the simplest kind to make, especially when you want to add "something" to a project in the spur of the moment or are in some hurry to finish it. (By the way, the names for these braids are my own, and the way I make them is also my own, they don't come from any book or publication like this.)

Undecided Braid- Materials: Ropes of colors of your choice crocheted in advance. Pins Blunt needle to sew finished braid in place Yarn or embroidery yarn to sew through side loops of braid Measuring tape This is a 3 strand braid that goes from side to side, chaging from a right side braid to a left side braid on purpose, to make it a bit fancier.

To work this braid proceed as follows: Arrange three ropes at the top of your project, pinning them to the top, but leaving a portion of the braid unworked so that you can later on sew it underneath the lining of the bag. Center them well, use a measuring tape, if necessary to make sure they are centered. To braid do this: 1- Take the rope on the right and bring over the middle rope. 2- Take the rope on the leftt and place it over the new middle rope. 3- Take the new left rope and place it over the middle rope. 4- Take the rope on the right and place it over the middle rope. 5-Take the new rope on the left and place it over the new middle rope. Tighten the rope a bit. Tighten a bit. Repeat these 5 steps once more. Now comes the change: 6- Take the new middle rope and place it UNDER the rope on the left. 7- Take the rope on the right and place it OVER the new middle rope. 8- Take the new rope on the right and place it over the middle rope. 9- Take the rope on the left and place it over the middle rope AND the rope on the right. 10- Take the new rope on the left and pass it over the middle rope. 11- Take the rope on the right and plass it over the middle rope. Continue this way indefinitely. You can also make a longer braid that will encircle the middle of the bag and disappear behind the sewn sides, but for that, you must make your braid before you completely sew the bag.

Wanna Walk Down the Middle Braid- Materials: Ropes of colors of your choice crocheted in advance. Pins Blunt needle to sew finished braid in place Yarn or embroidery yarn to sew through side loops of braid Measuring tape This is a 3 strand braid that goes from side to side, chaging from a right side braid to a left side braid on purpose, to make it a bit fancier.

To work this braid proceed as follows: 1- Take the rope in the middle and place it over the rope on the left. 2- Take the new rope in the middle and place it over the new rope on the right. 3- Take the rope in the middle and place it over the rope on the left. 4- Take the new rope on the middle and place it over the rope on the right. Continue this way indefinitely until you get the length of braid you need for your bag or purse.

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Embellish it With Ropes--Faux Cabling 2

Let's start with the faux cabling. As I said before, instead of making the cables with dc or tr sts, you will be making them with previously crocheted ropes which you will then sew to the purse, tote, bag, etc., using the little loops the ropes have on the side of them. Using these ropes as stems of plants is often used in Russian Irish Crochet, but we will use them here in the form of Aran cables. They are easier and faster and can be an after-the-fact embellishment to aproject nearly completed which needs a little "something" to make it prettier.

Things to remember:

1- You should make your ropes twice as long as the braid you want to make, since
the braiding process shortens the ropes.

2- You can leave the end of your rope unfinished so that if you run too short, you can crochet the number of rows that will complete the length you need and then continue braiding.

3- Complete your braid by pinning it to the bag before you sew it up. Make sure you're happy with the results before you make them permanent!

We will start with a really easy 4 rope cabling: Rusty's Cable

Make 4 ropes in a color of your choice.

Pin the ropes to the front of the bag as follows, (leaving a little bit extra rope loose which you will sew to the insde of hte bag under the lining of it):

In our example, 1 made 2 ropes with Carrot and 2 ropes with Pumpkin.

1. Pin 1 rope at the edge of where you want to start your braid. Pin the other ropes beside one another.

2. Pass the 4th strand of rope over the third strand of rope, under the 2nd and over the 1st strand of rope. Consider now the third strand the 4th strand, now repeat the procedure you did before, pass that strand over the strand that is now the 3rd rope strand, under the 2nd and over the one that is now the 1st, continue in the manner until you have braided all your cable.

Note- If you do not have enough, rope, pin what you have done carefully and crochet some more until you have completed the length you want. If you have ropes that are too long, unravel them to fit. Remember to leave a little bit of an excess so that you can sew the ends of the braid to the inside of the bag under the lining to secure it well. Secure well to the bottom of the bag as well.

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Embellish it With Ropes!---Faux Cabling 1

I have been so busy that I had not had the time to continue with the tutorials but I'm back! We will begin a series of lessons dealing with faux cabling. We will be using crocheted ropes as the basis of the cables, which will be sewn to the purse, bag or tote you have already made, BEFORE you add the lining to it. The edges of the ropes will disappear under the lining and curve gracevully towards the bottom of the bag. This is, as our theme has been, an after-the-fact form of embellishment which you will add after you have completed the shape of your bag up to the point where you would start adding the straps, lining etc. You will be adding these ropes to decorate the front of a very simple bag, preferably with a squarish shape that will lend itself to a sewn rope without bulging or pulling. I don't know what would happen to a more difficult shape. You would have to make a sample to test. You can add the braids horizontally around the bag, or vertically down the front. You must make each cord twice as long as the bag you are going to braid. We will make a series of sample braids to give you an idea of how to do it. Testing will give you the results you will want. This is a wonderful embellishment alternative to make a run-of-the-mill-looking bag really special! We will start by learning the basic cord that you will be using to make these wonderful ropes. Notice that the ropes will have little loops on the side edges, those are the loops you will be using to sew the braids to the bag with a blunt needle. Basic Cord-Ch 2. Row 1- 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Turn Row 2- Insert hook in little loop that formed on the side of the sc and pull up yarn, you and complete sc. Turn. Continue repeating row 2 for the length of the rope you want to make.

Craftybegonia’s Crossed Cord This is my own cord, which I came up as I was just playing around with the basic cord. Ch 2. Row 1- Insert hook in second ch from hook and pull up loop, yo, make 1 sc as usual. Ch 1, turn. Row 2- Look at the side of your stitches, the very side edge of them, you see a loop that has formed there, Insert hook into that loop, pull up yarn, yo, pull up yarn through all loops on hook. Ch 1, turn. Row 3- Now you see a loop has formed on the side of the cord, insert hook in that loop, pull up yarn, yo and pull through all loops on hook. Ch 1, turn. Rep row 3 for cord pattern. First pactice making the cord until you have an even rope that you can braid and we'll start braiding!

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Read FREE online, the beautiful book on the life of Christ, The Desire of Ages see the comforting love of God like never before in these tough times!