Stories

When Maggie and I create one of our custom totes, we love the idea of a story.  We choose a bag design beginning with one piece of fabric that tells us a story that we can build around. 

We sold this bag in the Plaza Festival.  It's definitely a bag with lots of stories that we hope people will ask and share.  The straps are either WWII or Korean War.  They have been through some type of wear which in turn gives the bag so much character and individuality.  The metal has a beautiful patina which we think adds to the richness of the bag. 

We've also used the digital military camoflouge, faded camo from a pair of men's pants and a vintage olive green fabric.  The orange fabric is from a vintage women's scarf.  We loved the interplay between the masculine military fabrics and colors with the feminie designs in the scarf.  And of course, our fused plastic always has a story.  We collect plastic bags from mostly friends and family.  This particular plastic was from some packing material from my husband's job.  Taking a piece of what most people consider trash and turning into an original piece of wearable art is what our business is all about.

We singed the scarf fabric to make a flower for the front of the bag and added a military button with the same color of patina as the metal in the strap.

This tote was a special order.  The client had a favorite demin mini skirt that she could no longer wear.  I immediately knew what type of design to do for this bag once I saw the skirt.  We pulled the warm, fall colors from the stitching in the skirt to carry out through the rest of the bag.  We used a men's brown and plaid tailored shirt to give it a little bit of a western feel.  But we added some shiny brown satin to give a girly flare.  We also added small hints of pearl buttons throughout the bag to the continue with the western theme. 

We usually do a 5" square pattern for these totes but I did a 7" square on this bag so that I could keep the large pockets from the skirt.

So, it is our hope and mission that this client will have some sort of story to tell with her new bag and hopefully it will carry more stories and memories as she wears it.