Ginger....but no MaryAnn

Aloha!
My latest Gal to hit the scene is "Ginger" Yes, she too could be a "muu-vee star".

Ginger was born on January 17th making her a Capricorn. She is fashioned with luxurious ginger colored Thai silk for her exterior and adorned with Ring-neck Pheasant feathers on her front. There are three one inch pleats and two matte black buttons to finish off her front view.

Ginger's backside has one pocket accented with custom silk piping.

Her black faux leather handles are 13 inches long which makes Ginger a wristlet. Her straps will not fit over an average woman's shoulder.

The interior of this gorgeous bag is lined with a Laotian silk cloth. It is black with copper colored pinstripes. There are two interior pockets which are accented with custom ginger colored silk piping.

Ginger is, for the most part, a quiet woman. She enjoys a good book while sitting in the park. But I've heard that she does know how to let her hair down. Then look out! We all have our wild sides, now don't we girls?

Size:
10" tall
6" wide

Bridget

Why is it that I always seem to be sewing on "football Sundays"? Some of my best creations have come forth on Sundays! And this one is no exception. Please help me to welcome Bridget into this world! She is part of my spring and summer line with the bright colors I promised you.

Bridget was fashioned from a mango colored dupioni silk. This silk is actually a two-toned fabric made from weaving both hot pink and flaming orange silk threads together. The result is amazing. I chose to put only one exterior pocket on this one to allow more room for embellishing the front. But since we girls like to look good both coming and going, I custom made a thick silk piping to accent her "rear" pocket. I lined it with the same fun polka dot fabric that adorns her interior.

On the front there are two pleats about an inch or so wide and two 24kt gold plated metal buttons. These buttons have a buttery gold tone to them and an interesting design on them.

The 16 inch handles are padded, for comfort and structure. They are made to wear on the forearm or wrist and will not fit over most women's shoulders.

The lining is a cotton fabric. It has a jet black background with various sized polka dots in lime green, orange, fushia, purple, blue, light pink, yellow and lavender. The two interior pockets are lined with the same fabric and accented with custom silk piping to match the exterior.

Bridget was born on January 13, making her a Capricorn. She is a warm-hearted idealist who can be found scouting out flea marts and craft bazaars on her weekends. She loves sushi and micro brews. I know she would look great on YOUR arm!

Alexis

Please join with me in celebrating the birth of my latest Diva, Alexis! She was born Saturday, December 22, making her a Capricorn. She enjoys quiet evenings and long walks. Her style is simple elegance. She is a wonderful companion and knows how to keep a confidence. Alexis is reserved, but once she gets to like someone, she will be their friend for life.

Alexis is made from thai silk in a taupe color. She has one exteror pocket lined in a peacock colored thai silk and accented with custom silk piping. Her beauty is highlighted by the gorgeous blue almond pheasant feathers she wears so well. They have shades of grey, peacock, gold, black and a multitude of other colors.

Her interior has one pocket and a gold-tone magnetic snap closure. Her handles are 16" long making her a perfect wristlet. She has two 24kt gold plated buttons on her front with a filigree design on them.

I am very proud of this young lady. I'm sure she will go far in life.

Mapping the World!

Well, if you read my earlier blogs about getting permission from ITMB to use their maps to make my map bags, you know that the President of that company requested a map bag for his wife. She is Vietnamese so he even sent me a map of Hanoi, Vietnam and put post-its near where their house is located and other points of interest to include in her bag. Yesterday I finally got the silk painting I ordered from ebay that I planned to use in this bag. It is by a vietnamese artist and is basically a silk panel that has been painted on. It had a lovely scene of fishing and women in a village field. So being brave I just cut the painting up to use as fabric panels for Mrs. Joyce's bag. The fabric panels are on either side of the bag and the map panels are on the front and back sides. I lined this bag with a golden silk fabric that I bought at Jim Thompsons in Bangkok, Thailand. There is also a magnetic closure and two pockets inside. I had some Laotian silk I wanted to use for the lining but it just didn't go with the bag. I hope she likes this as a reminder of home. There's no place like home.....

Another Diva Bag

So this is the bag I have been working on and waiting for her to tell me how to finish her. She is made from a vintage Obi that I imported from Kanazawa, Japan. the Obi hung in my studio for quite a while because it was so beautiful that I hated to deconstruct it. This Obi is 100% silk...front and back and is exquisite! The colors are delicate mauve, lavendar and sage green with creamy white lotus blossoms and gold metalic threads making up the stems and vines.

The lining I am using in this bag is silk that was lining from a Haori in its previous life. A Haori is a Japanese coat, if you will...much like a Kimono but only shirt length. I have had this bag 1/2 finished for a couple of weeks and am waiting to insert the lining. (thus the pins that you see sticking out the top of the bag)

I have had a challenge locating wholesale suppliers for my magnetic clasps, o-rings, d-rings, purse feet etc that ship to Hawaii and do so at a reasonable shipping rate. So my mom to the rescue. Yesterday she called me from Idaho and found magnetic closures for 50cents each. I had her buy over 100 of them for me and that made it possible for the coupon queen. aka "MOM", to use her coupon and save me and extra $15. Thank you so much mom! (I am hoping that atleast my mom reads my blog!)So now I can quit being stingy with my clasps. Here at the fabric store they want to charge $4.29 for each clasp! Sorry, just can't pay that!

But once I get the clasps, I can put the lining in. I have a name picked out for her already but will wait to introduce her formally until she is completely dressed.

Its back to my sweat shop....
have a great day!