Heads up! This post contains affiliate links which means I get may get a commission if you purchase something based on my recommendations here.
I was so intrigued when Knit Picks released their new recycled cotton yarn: Salvage this Fall. I’ll be honest… I don’t usually put a lot of thought into sustainability when it comes to my knitting, but when I saw this in the catalog, it made me pause to think about that and inspired me to take a different approach with the next pattern in my queue: the Gabis Echo Bag.
The Yarn: Knit Picks Salvage
I’ll start out with a little yarn review for you, since it was the whole inspiration for this project. Salvage is a sport weight, spun from 62-75% recycled cotton fiber. It’s lightweight with a rustic texture: I’d describe the texture of the final knitted fabric to be like a pair of well-worn jeans.
I am in love with the Salvage color selections! The collection has a playful, vintage vibe – and all the colors mix and match well – it was so hard picking just two for this project! I ended up going with two contrasting blues: Reclaim and Rain Barrel.
I always find Knit Picks yarn to be high quality with an accessible price point. Salvage comes in 50g balls at a list price $5.99. I’d definitely knit with Salvage again for another project that called for cotton yarn. I’m also going to explore the two other recycled yarns Knit Picks carries: Brava Recycle is a 100% recycled acrylic in 100g balls at a lower price point, so, yay! They also carry the Berroco Remix line of yarns now. Remix is spun from a whole cocktail of recycled fibers and comes in some beautiful colors – I may need to try the color called “Pepper”!
The Pattern: Gabis Echo Bag
The purse pattern is called Gabis Echo Bag by Katrin Kümmel – you can download it on Ravelry for €9.00 EUR, which was almost $10 USD when I bought it. Honestly, that’s a lot more than I’d usually pay for a single pattern, but I loved the design so much that I splurged.
This is a mosaic colorwork pattern, which means that you alternate your yarn color in every row and the design is created via slipping stitches as you go. The result is something that looks like it must have been incredibly complicated to knit, but it’s actually very simple.
My only regret is that the pattern instructions aren’t as clear as I would have liked. I had to fudge my way through some parts by looking at the photo and following my “knitter’s intuition.” I was using the English translation of this German pattern, so that may explain some of the confusion I experienced. I will say that I’m like 90% sure that the colors on Chart A got swapped. I didn’t think my work looked like the photo, so I frogged it and flipped the yarn colors. The rest of the charts seemed okay. Anyway, if you like this bag and you’re an experienced knitter, you’ll be fine if you want to give it a go. I may not recommend this pattern for beginners.
Finishing The Bag
The sample photo of this pattern uses a regular leather purse strap instead of a knitted strap, and I love that look, so I decided to copy it. I considered stealing a strap from another purse I own and switching it back and forth between the bags as I used them, but I just wasn’t up for that much hassle, so I bought a new strap on Amazon. (Sorry, sustainability gods!)
When I went to attach the strap, however, I realized there wasn’t any place to clip it! I examined the pattern photo but couldn’t see how they did it. I knew D rings would be part of the solution, but when I was trying to figure out how and where I’d sew them on, I realized that this purse desperately needed a lining, which meant it sat in the project bag for two months until I worked up the motivation to get our my sewing machine.
Where I lost sustainability points on the strap, I think I made up for them with the lining! Instead of buying new fabric, I repurposed fabric from a pair of torn pants. I wish assembling the lining was as simple as seaming up the bottom of one of the pant legs, but I wasn’t quite that lucky with my measurements. I ended up putting in a good amount of time prepping the legs into usable fabric.
To use fabric from the pants for the lining, I ended up snipping one of the seams open and leaving the other seam in place for each leg and used the markings on my cutting mat and a big clear ruler to do my best to square out the fabric. I knew I’d only have one chance to measure & cut for the lining, so I practiced on a muslin.
I’m glad I made the muslin because I underestimated how wide the lining needed to be. My bag is about 10” wide, so I made a 10” lining with the muslin, but I didn’t account for the stretch of the knitted fabric. For my final lining, I ended up cutting two 14” wide pieces from my pant fabric and sewed them together with 5/8” seams, which was a much better size.
To sew the lining, I put the two pieces of fabric right sides together and sewed up three sides with my sewing machine, leaving the top open (obviously). My pal Ryan, who is a fantastic sewist, told me to clip the bottom corners, as you can see in the photo. This creates a little flat surface on the bottom, which is a key design feature that I never would have thought of on my own! Yay for sewing friends!
Once I had all that done, I put it in the knitted purse to figure out the right height and ironed a top hem, then I attached the D rings to the sides with strips of fabric and hand sewed it into the knitted shell using a blind stitch.
I’m calling this purse finished for now but I may need to go back and add a zipper to the top. Or, could someone suggest another kind of closure that would be easier to add on at this point? I’d love to hear your ideas!
yarn details
Knit Picks Salvage in Reclaim and Rain Barrel
Sport Weight
95% Cotton (62-75% Recycled), 5% Other Fiber
50 g/155 yd skeins
Purchased in Fall 2024
materials
- Crossbody Purse Strap
- 3/4” / 20mm D Rings
- For lining:
- A garment to upcycle for fabric and matching thread (I also used some cotton muslin fabric in my stash to practice on before cutting my real fabric)
- A sewing machine and basic sewing supplies: I invested in one of those fabric cutting starter sets a long time ago with a gridded ruler, a cutting mat, and rotary cutter that I used, plus a marking pen. If you don’t have these things, I’m sure you can find a way to manage with whatever supplies you have access to – I wouldn’t go buy all that just to make this project.
project details
pattern: “Gabis Echo Bag” by Katrin Kümmel (purchase on Ravelry or on designer’s site)
size knit: Large – and I repeated the pattern twice to make it taller.
needles: Knitted the base on US size 4 (3.5 mm) and body on size 2.5 (3 mm) circular needles.
yarn used: 121 yards of Rain Barrel – the lighter color yarn, and 118 yards of Reclaim (the darker color) – around 75% of each ball.
finished size: 10” wide, 9” tall; the knitted base measures 2”, but I made the lining 3” at the bottom and the knitting will stretch around it if needed.
duration: October 5-26, 2024, for the knitting, plus a few hours later in December for the lining.
What a cool project!