Show Off Your Labels

How do you feel about labels and branding? The Coach bag with little C's all over it. The red Levis pocket tag, small, yet truly unique and obviously Levis. Labels can be like little pieces of art work. Some labels are simply the brand's name done in a very recognizable way. Some labels have unique graphics that make them stand out.

Since I re purpose a lot of clothing for the bags I make, I have a lot of different clothing labels on hand. (I do tend to keep everything from a garment that I just might find a use for.) I was looking at my stash of labels one day. Just admiring the different color combinations and the unique graphics. I was inspired to create a bag that wasn't a nod to just one brand or label, but a bag that would allow you to show off all your favorite labels and brands. A bag that would be a collage of labels that could be added to when ever a new or unique label just happened to be come available.

This is the first bag I designed this way. A great dusty chocolate brown. Doesn't it remind you of old luggage with all of the travel destination labels on it? A mini scrape book of a part of your life.

Spring Cleaning Time

I've not been very verbal lately. I decided that I needed to do spring cleaning. My house, my life, and if I could figure out how, my day job. I took an unpaid week off (hint, my day job no longer gives me paid vacations). I loved it, except the unpaid part. I washed walls, I painted, I cleaned out closets that haven't seen the light of day in a year. Clearing out the old to make place for the new can be very cathartic. This has not yet lead to anything life changing, but it does make me feel better that things are cleaner than they were. I'm not done. It's going to take more than a week of slave labor to clean a home that I have neglected for the last year. Like everything else in my life, it's a work in progress. At least I made a start.

The Back of The Perfect Bag

I love the front of this bag for it's beauty. I like the color combination of the denim combined with the gold of the khaki. These particular khakis are very golden mustard in color. I appreciate the back of the bag for it's function. I utilized cargo shorts for the major portion of this bag. I like the capacity and practicality of the pockets that are part of cargo pants. Most cargo pant pockets have pleats that allow for expansion when you want to really stuff them. A large pocket like this on the outside of the bag is a great place to keep things I might need to find in a hurry. My phone, ID, lip gloss, glasses. The fact that the pockets either Velcro or button shut to keep things secure is definitely a plus. This way I don't have to worry about losing things. If I drop my bag or set it down and it falls over, everything is safe. The cargo pocket on the back of this bag works to make the function of the back, as perfect as the beauty of the front. This bag will cart my "stuff" at flea markets, vacations, and perfect days off from work. It will do that, and show off my style to everyone who notices. Laid-back, casual, up-scale Bohemian.

The Perfect Bag

My journey began years ago, you are coming into it in the middle. Along the way I'll fill in bits and pieces that got me this far. I made my first cloth bag for myself when I was in high school. I was never big on "purses". I was the kind of girl that could go on a date with just my house key in my pocket. I needed/wanted a bag that would carry my books, my lunch, and whatever else I needed during the day. I wanted that bag to be something no one else would have. I dug through my mothers stash of fabrics and found a great tapestry she had left over from recovering the seats on the dining room chairs. I made a simple long handled messenger. The top folded over the body. It was fully lined using black linning fabric she also had left over from a different project. I loved that bag. It would hold anything I could shove into it. The handle was wide enough to be comfortable and allowed hands free carrying. When it got dirty I could simply throw it into the washer and wash it. It was for me, at that time in my life, THE PERFECT BAG. Somewhere over the years it was abandoned and lost. I've had a lot of bags. None have been that special since then. Just recently when I was making a bag for my shop I knew I had found my new PERFECT BAG. This is a picture of what is for me, this year, THE PERFECT BAG.