Faux leather messenger

As I promised in my last post, I tried something new and made a messenger bag from a piece of high quality upholstery faux leather I had bought recently. Sewing was smooth as butter and I was surprised at how naturally the pleather looks and feels - definitely worth trying!

I decided to make this messenger a bit taller than my usual cross body bags (3 cm) but otherwise the same, with extra metallic zipper pocket in the back. Soft grey strap complemented the metalware and I decided to add a simple freefoot embroidery in front - with a bit of silver metallic thread for additional shine.

The messenger bag has four interior slip pockets for phone, tissues, pens and paper notebook (yes, I still use one of those for quick sketches or for entertaining children while we wait at the restaurants and such) plus one zippered pocket for smaller items. A swivel hook and another D-ring on the side of the lining hold my keys and a foldable shopping bag.

The leather is lovely dark brown shade, one that goes equally well with brown, grey or black accessories. I needed a bag that was a bit more neutral than my lively red velvet with turquoise starfish I have been wearing for this past year - I never even posted that bag on blogger so here it is:

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

August news

August has been a slow month on Etsy and also in my studio since I have both children at home which means more play and less work... But I did manage to add four new messenger bags to my shop these past days - they are all made from gorgeous upholstery fabrics in vibrant autumn colours of olive green, deep purple, red and burnt orange.

All the bags have adjustable straps made from butter soft nylon webbing - I am so delighted with their rich colours and elegant texture that I immediately ordered more so you will be seeing these shoulder straps on all my cross body bags.

And I felt like making a few new house brooches as well, they always cheer me up! I will be adding zipper pouches next, getting ready for back-to-school, so stay tuned!

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Avgustovske novičke

Augusta je na Etsyju zatišje in tudi v mojem studiu je bolj mirno, ker imam oba otroka doma, zato se čez dan bolj igramo in manj delamo... Sem pa vseeno uspela v trgovino dodati štiri nove torbe za čez ramo, vse v bogatih jesenskih odtenkih in z nastavljivimi naramnicami iz mehkega najlonskega traku, ki se krasno nosi in barvno tako lepo dopolni torbico, da sem ga takoj naročila še v drugih barvah in ga boste zdaj videvale na vseh mojih torbicah za čez ramo. 

Zašila sem še nekaj novih hišk brošk, naslenje pa so na vrsti puščice in etuiji na zadrgo - kmalu bo šola!

A gift for Sabine

The bag measures 23 x 29 cm (9" x 11.5") with 45 cm (18") handles

This is a small boy tote I made for Sabine, my lovely friend who has bought two Loddelina bags last week. We had a mamas-only dinner on Wednesday and to thank her for the purchase I've included this little bag for her son, Timo (although she liked it so much she might keep it for herself! Girls and purses, what can you do...)

Bird lover's birthday bag

Another birthday invitation for Gaston, another gift project for Mom...

The bag measures 23 x 29 cm (9" x 11.5") with 40 cm (16") handles

This time the invitation came from Fabio, a quiet boy nexdoor, who just turned 6. I was planning to go to town and find a nice book on nature, his favourite subject. But in the few days I had before the party there was no opportunity to go book shopping so I ended up making another tote bag.
Yes, I know, Fabio is a boy, but if Tinky Winky from Teletubbies can have a bright red feminine purse (vintage even), then a boy can have a nice book/gym shoes tote.

Unlike my son, Fabio doesn't care much about dinosaurs, robots or big construction machines, but he does like birds. I used the printed canvas with birds and branches from Ikea and cut the pattern out so that I got a bird on the front and solid black colour on the back (I used another bird print on cotton for the lining). I then machine embroidered his name in red thread and used red cotton rope for handles. At the end I hardly had time to take some pictures before I had to wrap the gift and off we went.

Fabio loved the bag. And he got enough books from other children...

My newest listing: Ola 'Christmas' bag

Ola tote bag is now available in my shop

I made this large wooly bag a few years ago, just after I've moved in with my husband (to live in a small town in Borgundy, France) and was trying to get into the Christmas spirit in my new town, new country and new life.

At the local fabric shop I found many inspiring pieces and this lovely wool melange in green&brown made me immediately think of some sort of ethnic embroidery in red, green and brown. I sewed it into a large A shaped bag with a doubble front pocket, a pattern that had been very popular among my friends (or, shall we say, pre-etsy costumers).

The red corduroy shoulder straps and inside pocket give this bag a very christmasy look and that is why I decided to list in now, before the holidays...

Yey, another Front Page!

I was casually checking my Etsy shop yesterday evening when I noticed my Love Hope Peace tote on the front page! It was Etsy admin that chose the items and as far as I could tell my tote had a different tag keyword in common with each of them.

The exposure made views and hearts of this item multiple six times and my other purses also got some love from the viewers...

Thank you, Etsy, you have made my evening!

Ada on Etsy

I've just listed my new city tote bag on Etsy. Ada is quite a roomy bag with comfortable shoulder straps long (or rather short) enough to be carried also as a handbag.

I took it for a test spin the other day and it is very "user friendly", easy to reach in and get your buzzing mobile phone out before it's too late...

By the way, did you know Germans call mobile (cell) phone a "handy"? Well, most of the times it is anything but that so I've sewn a big enough interior pocket on Ada to put all the gadgets safely inside.

Totes for kids

When Gaston left his nanny or Tagesmutter, as Germans call it (meaning "daytime mother"), he got some beautiful going away presents from all of her family, like a photo album of the months spent in their home and a handpainted callender, mostly done by his two "daytime sisters", nanny's 3 and 8 -year old daughters, who were very fond of him.

I wanted to give something to the girls to thank them for their love and so I've embroided their names (thanks to my new machine embroidery foot, see previous posts) and sewed it into small tote bags, just large enough to carry around some books, toys or crafting materials. The totes are 30 cm (almost 12 inch) wide and 22 cm (8.5 inch) tall, with a T-shaped bottom seam of 10 cm (4 inch) and handles measuring 35.5 cm (14 inch) from end to end. I have lined this beautiful striped canvas with bright red cotton and I think the black stripe with red embroidery gives it a nice touch.

Now all I need is to find a nice name for it and I can offer some in my shop...

New tote bag Ada

I've finished making this tote last night and have given it a "test wear" this morning to see how it feels....

Ada is a roomy everyday tote, 38 cm (15 inch) high, 33 cm (13 inch) wide with a 9 cm (3,5 inch) wide T-shapped bottom seam and two shoulder straps, 55 cm (21,5 inch) long from end to end. It is made of middle weight printed Scandinavian canvas (yeah, Ikea) lined with black light weight cotton fabric and has one interior pocket. The front is adorned with some trims and three vintage buttons.

I've only managed to snap these two photos of the bag before the battery on my camera went dead - so I will have to finish photographing it later...

Got-everything? messenger bag

After designing Ma-ma zipper pouch for nappy changing necessities (see earlier posts) it was time for Mama to get her own messenger bag.  A bag just for me and my most basic stuff: it has a metalic hook to fasten my keys, an interior zippered pocket for documents, a padded compartment for my cell phone and another one with a velcro closing flap for my ixus. Next to it is yet another small interior compartment that holds a lip gloss and a pen. 

On the back side is a zippered pocket for my tram ticket and a small sewing tape measure plus another zippered pocket, hidden under the flap in the front (the flap closes securely with two magnetic snaps).

I've used the same fabric as for my Ma-ma pouch, a printed cotton canvas from IKEA - I've seen it used by quite a few Etsy sellers but for some reason people are reluctant to give it's source. Well, the beautiful floral pattern was designed by Linda Svensson.

New: Ma-ma zipper pouch

Being a mom of two small children I got fed up with always having to carry around my big diaper/nappy bag whenever I left home for more than an hour. Yes, they can hold a lot of stuff, from nappies and bibs to extra clothes, milk bottles and snacks, but the bag just got too heavy for me to carry around in search of the changing station, with a toddler in my arms. 

So I designed this practical Ma-ma zipper pouch, just big enough to hold a coupple of spare nappies, a packet of wet wipes and some barrier cream. Its interior pocket can hold a toy or a small book to keep your baby busy while you change him. You can strap the pouch around your waist and carry the baby safely in your arms; store it in your diaper bag or hang it from the baby stroller when you are not using it. 

The pouch is 24 cm/9.5 inch wide and 28 cm/11 inch high with a removable strap 30 cm/12 inch around. The zipper is decorated with a porcelain bead on a leather string.

I will offer the Ma-ma zipper pouch in my Etsy shop soon - so keep following my posts!