#53 judy bookbag

A week ago, I delivered my latest bag, #52 Judy Bookbag. This bag sold to a woman from Texas named Judy at a charity auction that was held at a friend's church. Judy was in town last weekend, so I had a deadline to finish the bag. Because I was rushing to meet this deadline, I didn't take many photos of the process. Fortunately, I took the time to have my friend, Gary Glasser, take photos of the finished product.

This bag has a braided strap that was quite a lot of work. The braid has three sections, each of which is made of two pieces of leather stitched back to back. Because of the complex shape of each of those pieces, each of them took 50 minutes to cut out. Next, 2716 holes were marked and punched out. After hand stitching the sections, they were braided together, and finally, the ends were anchored to the bag. The strap took a total of 22 hours to make. The complete bag has 7311 holes and took 51 hours to make. I'm very pleased with the result.

The strap in progress:



Finished product:





Thanks for checking in,

maureen

#52 large bookbag finished

Earlier this week, I shipped my latest creation, bag #52 Large Bookbag. I am very happy with the final product. It is by far the most beautiful bag I have made. The entire bag has 6540 holes and took 42 hours to create. The strap alone has 2172 hand punched holes and took 6 hours to stitch.

Bag in progress:



The strap itself is really very beautiful.




Finished product:



G had to try and get in on the action.



I love the softer structure of this bag. I wish it were mine to carry! I actually finished the bag in November but then proceeded to make handcrafted packaging, much of which required design work. I made a hand stitched, velvet pillow (not shown) and dustbag to stuff and store the bag, respectively. The box took approximately 6 hours to create out of mat board and construction paper. It took longer than usual because part had to be redone after a messy mishap with the "aggressively tacky" aerosol adhesive. (yikes!)



The certificate of authenticity includes the hand drawn stencil used to put the number on the nameplate, which is sewn into the lining of this bag.



I purchased very nice envelopes to put the certificate and a letter in. I put all the contents in the box to be shipped, but I just didn't feel right about having a single thing (or 2 actually) that was manufactured as part of my complete package. Those stupid envelopes had to go! So I scrapped them and made envelopes.

The combination of my loving the soft, new look and getting the design of all of the packaging fine tuned makes me really excited about this bag. I believe this bag will be the one that finally gets my work noticed. I'm hoping for great things to come. :)

Enjoy your weekend,

maureen

#52 large bookbag

I have ordered and received a large quantity of dark brown leather for my next bag. It is beautiful leather, but it is much softer than the leather I've used in the past. A lot of bags sold today are very soft, but I don't know if it will work for my designs. So now I've worked 25 hours on this bag, and I still have no idea if I'm going to like it. I'd say there's a 5% chance that it will be an incredible new direction for my work, a 45% chance that I will think it is o.k./tolerable, and a 50% chance that I have just wasted $300 on leather I won't want to use for anything! The annoying thing is, I won't know if the bag works until it is completely finished. Oh well, there is much to be learned from failure, right? So I'll keep moving ahead.

So far:


Wish me luck on the final product!

Thanks for checking in,

maureen

#51 bookbag finished

Last week, I shipped #51 bookbag. I didn't want to post this photo until it was delivered, because the box is a new design.


I shipped the bag with a dustbag and the box, both completely handmade. The box turned out pretty well, other than some adhesive issues. I had purchased the recommended pricey spray adhesive, which was virtually non-stick, yet I suspect it was killing brain cells as I used it.

I am now returning to the new bag design from this summer. I had started drafting the pattern, but the customer canceled the order. It will be a good man bag to add to my portfolio.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great evening,

maureen

#51 bookbag

My summer was full of distractions. I have finished bag #51, another bookbag.

My regular photographer, my 13 year old son, was at camp as I made most of this bag. So I had the added challenge of taking photos of myself.

Our cat Porsche was busy being cute as I marked the stitching holes on each piece. This bag has over 4000 holes. I tried to get an exact count this time, but I lost track. Hopefully I'll have better luck with that next time.



After the holes are marked, they must all be punched out of the leather.



I coat the canvas part of the bag with several layers of acrylic paint to make it stronger and stain resistant.



Each bag has a nameplate that says denver couture along with the number of the bag. For each number, I design a stencil by hand and cut it out.




After I trace the stencils onto the nameplate, the name and number are burned into the leather.



The finishing of this bag is the same as for the previous one and can be seen in my posts from May 16 and 23. I will now make a dustbag, and I am designing a box to be handmade as well.

Thanks for checking in with me. Have a great night!

maureen

P.S. Below are previous photos of the bookbag. I'll have new photos of this completed bag soon.


(above photo Brent Ward)

#51 detour

It's been too long since my last post.

My customer canceled his order. :( Then I spent a week with my family at my parents' house in Alabama. :)

I've purchased materials for my next project, which will be another bookbag (just like the last one).


My sister had a bag with her that I made.



I really liked the way the sunlight came through the stitching on the strap.

#51 materials and pattern drafting

Early this week I requested leather samples to be sent to me. This made me nervous because my salesperson in New York talks very fast with a heavy accent, and when I talk to her it seems like she's not listening very well. But on Saturday I got some really beautiful swatches in the mail. Three cheers for Ana!

I stitched some of the samples to show what they would look like on a bag. I also included a couple of pieces of canvas, which my customer had requested to see. I met with my customer, and he approved of my sketch from last week. In the photo below, he chose the bottom combination of materials for his bag. The small square piece on top of the swatch is the leather I use for the Denver Couture nameplate, which will be numbered 51. I will now order the leather and wait for it to arrive.



I also started the process of drafting pattern pieces. This bag is similar to the previous bookbag, but it will require new pattern pieces for the new size. All the stitching holes are marked on the pattern, and their placement is carefully calculated. This will be time-consuming and will keep me busy until I have acquired all the materials.

#50/51 between bags

I first created a dust bag for the bookbag I finished last week. I wanted the bag to be super posh, so I made it out of cotton velvet. Velvet is difficult to sew, so I hand-stitched all but a small part inside that doesn't show. It took hours to make. This might be a bit over the top for a dust bag, but it turned out really well.



Our cat Fifi thought I had made the perfect bed for her out of the leftover fabric. Now I'll have to clean it before using it on my next project.



Then I started on my next project, a bookbag similar to the previous one but larger and with different pockets. I sketched the new design and started the process of sourcing materials. I also battled my scanner to try to scan my sketch correctly. Apparently it has a feature that automatically "straightens" polygons it deems to be crooked. I have to admit the scanner won this battle, but I'll get it sooner or later.