In the Beginning:

The story of my shop has no clear "beginning" to speak of. I could assign it an artificial start- perhaps it was when I made my first sale, or when my aunt introduced me to Etsy, or maybe when I bought my first sewing machine and made my first bag. It might even have been as far back as when I was learning to do needle felting at a meeting of the Black Sheep Fiber Guild of Southeast Missouri when I was 13. I have been creating things for as long as I can remember, and many of the important people in my life are creators as well.

I've always been around a variety of crafters. One of my grandpas does woodwork, my grandma hand quilts, sews, and cans, and my other grandpa made working chain mail. I have an aunt who makes fantastic renaissance garb, and another aunt who does wonderful things with paper. The biggest influence of all is my mother. She does everything: knitting, crochet, sewing, soap making, canning, spinning, and gardening to name a few. With all of the great creative influence of my family, it was only a matter of time before I got into some serious crafting.

Here is where the story of my shop begins, if I had to assign it a beginning. After college I moved out to Yuma, Arizona to be with my husband-to-be. At first I didn't have a job, so I was looking for something to do other than lay around sweating in the desert heat. I didn't start sewing as a way to make money or even with the thought of a business in the future. I was just looking for something to do. Creativity had always been an outlet for me, but since I'm terrible at drawing, I needed other tools to channel it with. I decided to dive in and try something I'd never done before- machine sewing, with a little Singer Simple.

Things picked up from there. I was reading lots of sewing tutorials, and making little simple things like totes, little bags, and a dress or two. It really started when I made a companion cube, from the game Portal, for my husband. I showed it off on Facebook and got so many compliments and friends saying they wanted one that I decided to open shop and see if sold it on Etsy. My experiment paid off and I sold several companion cubes in first couple of months that I had them posted. The success of my little companion cubes encouraged me to do more with my true passion, bags.

The Creative Process:

Most of the items in my shop are made from my own patterns. I don’t like using patterns made by someone else. It restricts the organic qualities of the creative process that I enjoy so much. I love the way an idea evolves from something abstract to something tangible.

I always start a new project by gathering inspiration. It can come from the fabric, looking at other bags, or seeing a need. Once I have a general idea of I want to make, I draw a sketch. I always sketch two things- the look of the finished bag and each piece of fabric I need to cut for it. All of the other work happens in my head; I visualize how the pieces will go together, the order they need to be sewn in and an special considerations that particular design needs. I write down very little beyond measurements and the original sketches.

Once the bag is planned out, I get to work cutting, sewing, and sometimes ripping seams and sewing again. That moment when the bag‘s outer part comes together and I can actually see how it’s going to look when its finished is magical. When the bag is finished it always gets a final check over for removing visible threads and making sure everything came out as planned.

The organic creation of my bags means that many of my bags are one of a kind. Since I enjoy the actual designing process, I usually don’t make the same bag more than once. However, it is time consuming, so I am heading towards a collection that I can repeat.

The Newest Addition:

I recently got an embroidery machine for use on many of the items that I sew for the lovely ladies over at Urban Collective (urbancollective.etsy.com, check them out if you’re planning a wedding). I’ve found that I really enjoy the many new possibilities that the embroidery machine offers, and already have several bags with embroidery on them in my shop. This also opens the chance for personalizing my bags.