leather diaper?

I have been trying out different totes.  I want to incorporate some give at the bottom because totes tend to sag there anyways.  i added what looks like a leather diaper to the bag and the shape seems to be working.  i have an idea on the way the leather can be seamlessly cut and stitched to the bottom.  i am a master with the binder clips and safety pins.  i'm excited about it but we'll see if i still like it tomorrow.

from the inside out

i almost forgot about the lining that i had worked on last summer. i worked on these bags from the inside out.  now that i'm almost ready to make bags, i have to dig everything back out.  i love the linen lining so much; the design was handdrawn first by my friend kyoko, and then silkscreened by hand in brooklyn.  i had the guys only run the ink over the fabric once so that it has a pencil drawn, faded quality to it.  

truncated hangtag + mock-up

i visited opening ceremony today and discovered that most hangtags are quite small.  that makes sense because the product should speak louder than the brand.  i decided to cap all the beautiful compliments i want to give my bag.  i will only list a few differentiating characteristics on the tag and let the product and website handle the rest. 

per usual, after paring the words down, i mocked it up to ensure that the tag will not overwhelm the bag.

hangtags and websites

working on hangtag verbiage with friends & family and so thankful for their advice. still a work in progress.

currently brainstorming fresh ideas for web presentation.

clean up sketches

as the fabric production is nearing completion, i took another look at sketches and reworked a few details. very excited to make samples within the next few weeks!

kind of sort of

i received the large production sample of fabric before i painted so i mocked up what part of the tote will kind of look like. i cannot wait to get all the coated material back and make a bag. no more mock ups!

Painting the apartment blue

buckets of paint

painting swatches for color

painting 50 24" x 34" pieces

done. hands and gloves at rest

Fabric - 1, Me - 0

Whew it has been a very long few weeks. I have been painting and ironing non-stop. This is me, on the couch, unable to move, lying on my ugly doll. Thankfully my husband made sure I was well-fed and taken care of during my painting rampage. Arms and shoulders are very sore, but strangely what hurts the most is my thumb! I never appreciate how useful the thumb is until it hurts.

But enough complaining, I have painted, ironed and shipped three colors so 150 pieces of fabric off to the coating manufacturer. Once I get the coated fabric back, it's time to make samples! In the meantime, I am waiting on more fabric to finish the final fourth green color and then I am done painting and ironing for a long while. Whew.