The Blog: Updates from the studio

Look how great these look together!

Wore my Sunny Side Up bag with some Prada sunglasses today. When I noticed them hanging from my bag I knew they belonged together. I just adore these fun, circular shapes. 

Want to see my studio?

I upgraded my studio (or atelier, as they say in the fashion world). I love it so much! I've finally gone up the walls, getting everything off the floor and table surfaces, into bins and up on shel...

Hand dyeing alligator skin

I've cut and skived all of the pieces for my alligator leather bag. Now it's time to dye it. If you saw in my last post, I'm coloring it to look like a beautiful sunset and I want to dye each scale...

Making a hand-dyed alligator bag

I've had this idea in mind for over a year that I want to dye an alligator skin like a mosaic. So that each scale of the skin is a different color. I think my new hobo handbag design would be the p...

Orange hobo bag complete

Here's the second bag I've made from my circular hobo pattern. All finished and I love it! I shortened the strap to a shoulder length which feels better than the too-long crossbody strap I made on ...

Second hobo style bag underway

I'm making another version of my new round hobo-style bag design. This time, I'm building a more structured rigid style with no piping. I'm also experimenting with a hidden internal magnetic closur...

Test Bag Complete!

Here's how my first test bag turned out from the pattern I was working on. I'm really happy with it. I purposely made the strap very long so I could wear it as a cross-body. But, after carrying it ...

Creating my first-ever sewn bag pattern

I feel like I've done enough practicing on other people's patterns, and I'm raring to work on my own design. I haven't gotten to play much with curved shapes yet, and I had an idea for a curved hob...

All finished

And here's how that tote bag turned out. What do you think?  

Building a tote bag

I've been working on another practice project and thought you might like to see what's happening and some of the elements that go into it. After cutting out all of the pieces of leather, reinforcin...