Olympic Countdown - 7 Weeks to go - Union Jack Knitted Purse Pattern and Tutorial

This week's project has been a little bit of a labour of love! Testing my knitting skills to the max, I have been working on the knitting portion of the project for several weeks! But I am so pleased with the result - it was worth it.

For this project you will need to knit multiple colours on the same row. If you are a newish knitter but want to give this a go, don't be daunted, with a little patience this is definitely achievable! The only downside with knitting in this way is that you spend most of your time untangling the wool!

In order to make this project, you need to use a fairisle knitting technique. I muddled through and worked this one out using videos such as this one so I will link you to this rather than explain (badly) how to do this type of knitting. If you already know how to do fairisle knitting...

Here is the pattern for the union jack - I used aran wool and the finished panel was 16 x 12 cm. You will need three colours of wool - red, white and blue. The pattern is 37 stitches along and 32 rows down.

Written version of the pattern...

Cast on
Knit 37B
Purl 37B
Knit 4R 3W 6B 3W 5R 3W 6B 3W 4R
Purl 1W 4R 3W 5B 3W 5R 3W 5B 3W 4R 1W
Knit 2W 4R 3W 4B 3W 5R 3W 4B 3W 4R 2W
Purl 3W 4R 3W 3B 3W 5R 3W 3B 3W 4R 3W
Knit 1B 3W 4R 3W 2B 3W 5R 3W 2B 3W 4R 3W 1B
Purl 2B 3W 4R 3W 1B 3W 5R 3W 1B 3W 4R 3W 2B
Knit 3B 3W 4R 6W 5R 6W 4R 3W 3B
Purl 4B 3W 4R 5W 5R 5W 4R 3W 4B
Knit 5B 3W 4R 4W 5R 4W 4R 3W 5B
Purl 6B 3W 4R 3W 5R 3W 4R 3W 6B
Knit 16W 5R 16W
Purl 16W 5R 16W
Knit 37R
Purl 37R
Knit 37R
Purl 16W 5R 16W
Knit 16W 5R 16W
Purl 6B 3W 4R 3W 5R 3W 4R 3W 6B
Knit 5B 3W 4R 4W 5R 4W 4R 3W 5B
Purl 4B 3W 4R 5W 5R 5W 4R 3W 4B
Knit 3B 3W 4R 6W 5R 6W 4R 3W 3B
Purl 2B 3W 4R 3W 1B 3W 5R 3W 1B 3W 4R 3W 2B
Knit 1B 3W 4R 3W 2B 3W 5R 3W 2B 3W 4R 3W 1B
Purl 3W 4R 3W 3B 3W 5R 3W 3B 3W 4R 3W
Knit 2W 4R 3W 4B 3W 5R 3W 4B 3W 4R 2W
Purl 1W 4R 3W 5B 3W 5R 3W 5B 3W 4R 1W
Knit 4R 3W 6B 3W 5R 3W 6B 3W 4R
Purl 37B
Knit 37B
Purl 37B
Cast Off


 Once you have two knitted union jack panels, you are ready to sew them together into a simple zip pouch.

Materials

1 zip at least 18cm
16x24 cm of lining fabric - I used a calico style fabric

Instructions

1. Measure your finished patches,  Mine were 16cm x 12cm.

2. Cut out two rectangles from your lining fabric 16cm x 12cm

3. Lay a lining piece right side up on your work surface. Line the zip (right side up) along the top of the lining. Finally lay one flag panel on top, pin the three materials together on the lining side. See picture...

4. Using zipper foot, sew along the top edge of the fabric

5. Repeat with second lining piece and flag panel

This is what it should look like when you open it up

 

6. Bring two lining pieces together and pin, repeat with flag pieces (making sure that your zip is halfway open and the seams are pressed down towards the lining

7. Sew a rectangle around the lining and knitted pieces, leaving a 2-3inch gap in the lining for turning out

8. Turn right side out

9. Whip stitch the gap shut.

That's it! You are finished and now have a very patriotic purse!

This is my first knitting pattern so let me know if I have missed anything or you have any questions!

Have a great weekend!

Love Rebecca

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