Diaper bag for K

This one is for my little sister's friend, K ;). I love her color combination!

Another diaper bag!

I realize that when I find the time to post I've been posting diaper bags....which isn't a bad thing because babies are awesome! This one is for my friend "S". She has always been a good muse for bag making. She seriously has a bag for everything. I remember when we had our first kids and her husband bought her the most gigantic Kate Spade diaper bag I had ever seen. It had so much room in it and "S" was a walking baby station....she is always prepared ;).

It's kinda hard to make a bag for the girl who has 200 bags but I told myself she could surely find use for just ONE more.

What I'm really dying to do is let "S" design her own super-duper-diaper bag and me just make it for her....but little boy #3 is coming soon so it will have to be after his arrival.

I sure love you "S"!! Your friendship means so much to me!

xoxo-
holly

Diaper bag for the cutest mom in the universe made with stunning fabric by Iman

I bought this fabric (designed by Iman, her work is amazing!!) from a Calico Corners store that was going out of business over a year ago. Usually this stuff is so expensive that I would never think about buying it but the going out of business sale was HEAVEN!! I bought as much as my minivan could carry ;).

Naturally, I've been hoarding this fabric because I couldn't bear to use it on just anything. But when a friend of mine needed a new bag for the arrival of her darling little girl (her 4th child!) I was hoping it would be a great fit for her. My own bag is made out of the same line of fabric and it is STURDY so I know it will hold up to 4 kids and it is so unique!

You are so cute "A"! I know you will make this bag look fabulous....as you do everything that you wear!
xoxo,
holly

Diaper bag for my little sister....

I hope you are not sick of this fabric yet since this is the third post with it. I have been saving the last of it to make my little sister a new diaper bag for the arrival of her second child- a baby girl named after me ;) ;) :). My sister lives in Texas so unfortunately I haven't been able to hold baby Holly yet but we leave in November to visit for a week. She was a fabulous 10 lbs 3 ounces and looks strikingly like my sister. My mind is preoccupied with thinking about her often- I cannot wait to finally meet her!! In the meantime, I'm going to keep on sewing for her ;).

xo,

Holly

Owl Diaper Bag preview for "K"

Super fast posts tonight- I want to get these previews up but have little time to write. Hope all of you are well!!

xoxo,

holly

Summer Tote-preview for "H"

This is the Summer Tote style that I make for Blossom and Poppy but this particular bag is for "H"!! I drool over these fabrics together- I hope you do as well "H". Thank you so much for everything!!! I really enjoyed seeing you!

xoxo-

holly

Crossbody and shoulder strap on the Multitasker style

This bag I actually made over the summer for a client named "M" who wanted both a shoulder strap and a messenger strap. She enlarged the Miss Karen's Multitasker so this is almost but not quite the diaper bag size and the messenger strap is removable. I adored her adventurous sense of color!

The Miss Karen Multitasker with these specifications and size is $58

Jana's Barbie Bag

This was one of my favorite items that I made for Christmas- one amazing Grandmother (their family lived in Germany so her grandma name is "Oma") called me and asked me to make a custom bag/purse/carrier- whatever- that her granddaughter could use to carry her Barbies to her house to play with. Seriously- the plastic, standard Barbie case from Target is cool and all......but handmade bag made just for you at 6 years old for your Barbies??? It doesn't get much more thoughtful than that!

I know this little girl very well and I love her to pieces- I also know her style well (and yes, even though she is 6 she still has her own style, trust me!) so picking fabrics for her was great fun for me. For the main fabric I went with my favorite designer, Anna Maria Horner, using her flannel that is insanely soft and yum, yum, yummy! I want to make everything out of it but I'm kind of hoarding it so finally using it in a piece was pretty satisfying.

Inside are 8 elastic pockets to place Barbies in.....a couple of them I made a teeny bit bigger in case there are some Kens in a collection since his shoulders are a touch broader. I used my daughter's Barbie arsenal to get all of the measuring correct! The front of the back has a nice, amply spaced zipper pocket for any of Barbie's shoes or clothes that need to come along. The bag has a flat, oval bottom so it will stand nice and very upright (kind of like luggage) for maximum playtime ease. There is still some space in the middle of the bag for any other accessories (like a Barbie scooter for instance). I made a sling handle for the easiest carrying possible.

Oma- Jana is one luck girl to have you as a grandmother for many more reasons than just your thoughtfulness! What a blessing for her to have you!!!

If any of you want to spoil a little girl in your life the Jana Barbie bag is $48

xoxo-

holly

The Marcy Satchel (in laminated fabric)

Ok- THIS bag takes the cake as the hardest bag that I have made as of yet ;). That being said- I was thrilled to have the chance to make it because it taught me a lot and I was super happy when it finally came together.

Marcy is a stunning girl who has her degree in fashion design (gulp) so she is more than handy with a sewing machine (double gulp). She has gone back to school- this time medical school (did I already mention that she is stunning as well?!! How can you be pretty, creative, driven and smart all in one? Not fair!!) and she had a great bag that she carried a CRAZY amount of text books in. She could stuff herself into her bag and it wouldn't be as heavy as those books. She loved her bag but wanted it to be a messenger strap style so it would be easier on her to carry and since she is well versed in fabric designers she already knew she wanted it done in Amy Butler's laminated Love fabric.

So I looked over her bag, took a ton of notes, made some sketches and set off to try to recreate it with her new specifications......all with the nervousness of making something for her when I know darn well that she can sew it herself.

This thing has pockets- lots of them. There is a big snap pocket on the outside and on the inside is a really cool flap that contains a small, zipper pocket and two little pockets for a cell phone or camera for example. There is another large inside pocket on the opposite side of the flap and the bag zips closed. This bag is wonderfully huge!! It is about 15 inches high and 18 inches wide at the top.

I was more than relieved when she was pleased with how it turned out ;). I am so excited that I have this large, wonderful bag to offer now as well!

Thank you Marcy!! Xoxo-

Holly

The Marcy Satchel is $75

More Yvette slings and a preview for "A"

I am still getting orders for a ton of these slings lately and sadly, still have not had the time to make on for myself :(. Is it normal to be jealous of the person who is getting the item that you are making for them?? The bottom one was for Jen A- who has inspired me to make her own travel line because her ideas are so phenomenal (see the right side of my blog posts for the pieces I've done so far)! I have finally settled on and made the pattern for her weekender bag and I'm hoping to have some time to see it come together soon! Jen let me pick fabric this time and I was nervous!! So glad that she loved it- I miss seeing you more often Jen!

The top sling is for "A". Sweet "A" worked with me through my stint with walking pneumonia and some tough times in our family life these past few weeks.....needless to say when I was almost finished with her purse....just putting the completed lining in- it hit me that I may have made the wrong style! I frantically sent her an email asking what style she had really wanted (totally professional) and thank heavens I made the correct one but.... whew! I promise I am not usually this scatterbrained ;). As for all of you that have dealt with me lately- thank you as well!!! ;) You are very kind "A"- I'm so thrilled with the fabrics that you picked and love how you defined your style sense for me.....I hope it is exactly what you were thinking of!

Xoxo to all of you-

Yvette New York Slings are $55

The Christiane Tote

Don't have much time to write tonight- my husband has been really sick for the past several days (is FINALLY on the mend) and I have realized that me teaching, sewing, raising three kids and keeping us all functioning is NOT something that I can do on my own for very long! My hubby is SUPER helpful and this has been a little smack in the face that I need to recognize that more ;).

So, as always- I'm playing catch up right now.

My sweetheart of a girlfriend who I could not live without just had her birthday on Tuesday. I remember when I first met her at church a few years back it was just a month or two before her birthday. By the time her birthday came that year I was already glued to her and I love her more every day! God bless her, she STILL carries around that old beat up purse that I made her the first year of our friendship!

Christiane is the friend who will seriously move mountains if you need her- she is comfort personified. When I made this for her I got really sappy thinking about her qualities.....as my 5 year old describes tie dyed Silly Bandz.....this one is really RARE.

I start looking months in advance for fabric when I am making a birthday gift- my jaw hit the ground when I stumbled onto this one because it is SO "Christiane"!! I wanted to do something new for her so I played around with the edging structure, I ruched the handle casing and I braided that gorgeous handle because I knew she would eat it up! Christiane is knock out and is super model tall. Making purses for her is a sewing lover's dream because she makes everything she wears look incredible (yes, I am selfishly using her for advertising as well- I can't help it!) and I certainly wasn't let down when she threw this one over her shoulder. I love you so much honey!!! Happy, happy birthday!

This tote is roomy, sturdy and sleek all in one. I lined Christiane's inside with one large pocket on one side and a line of three smaller pockets on the other side but they can be customized to your needs, as always. Christiane loves a long handle but it can be made shorter or longer as well.

My goodness, I write much longer than I intended- I'm off to sew!

The Christiane Tote is $58

Jen A.'s Toiletry travel bag

I'm making my sweet friend Jen A. a new purse tonight and it is making me think about how much I like her! I really adore working with her and it got me thinking about her toiletry bag that I made for her ski trip months ago. It lands in a long list of things that I still need to post about/offer for sale but keep getting put off because time is never on my side (hello, my baby just turned 16 months old and it doesn't seem possible that time has gone by that quickly). It's a shame that I haven't posted about this bag before because it is seriously cute!

The bag has 3 zippered pockets for all of your beauty items and rolls up nice and tidy so you can stay organized and stylish while on your trip. I need to make one for myself for my paintbrushes....note to self.

My favorite part about making this bag was when Jen sent me a text message photo of it while on it's travel escapades! I EAT it up when clients share that with me- thank you so much for those of you who have sent me photos before- it makes my day!!

My next project for Jen A.'s travel line is a weekender bag, yummy.......I can't wait to hammer out the details of the design.

I love you Jen! Will send you a preview of your new purse tomorrow- xoxo, holly

Jen A.'s toiletry travel bag is $50

Preview for "J"!! and gushing about Rainbow's End Quilt Shoppe

Forgive me for these dark photos- the sky has been grey here all day!

The Yvette New York sling is hot, hot, hot for me right now! I'm super in love with this one- made for "J" who I found out happens to live right next to the owners of my FAVORITE fabric store, Rainbow's End in Dunedin! They just launched a new, stunningly gorgeous website and you can even order online now (http://rainbowsendquiltshoppe.com/). As beautiful as the website is- there is nothing for fabric addicts like walking through their store......so, so pretty, well placed and organized but still totally appealing to creative people who need all of the aesthetic bells and whistles and huge punch of color to get us inspired. I could blog about Rainbows End for a long time- it's amazing! I told "J" that my hubby takes the debit card from me when I visit because once I walk through those doors....I'm done. Please open a store in Tampa Rainbow's End owners!! I promise I will spend my kids college fund in there each month!!

I just got this sling out in the mail to "J" this afternoon (hopefully no one I knew spotted me in the post office because I was not happy with how my kids were behaving ;)) but I wanted to post a preview for her. She has been a great client and was adorable as she decided what fabric to go with. She is getting ready to go on a vacation soon and I hope this sling carries everything for her nicely.

Remember that the sling has a front panel of pockets and a little hidden cell phone pocket inside one of them. You can see all of the specs on the Yvette New York sling post.

Hope you love it "J"!!

Yvette New York Slings are $55

The Yvette New York sling

Ok- so I have been an awful blogger lately.....I was adding it up and I think I've made close to 40 items since I blogged last. I was already behind on my posts so now I'll be lucky to get a quarter of them up ;)!!

Yvette ( http://yvette-unedited.blogspot.com/) is one of those people that has a plethora of ideas. I remember the first time I heard of Yvette was when Autumn (http://mommyista.blogspot.com/) was out to lunch with her and Yvette had an awesome idea about camera bags (will post about those next) so Autumn texted me about it. I thought it was fantastic and from then on the good advice has kept coming and I cannot get enough of it!! So this is "our" newest creation and I was so excited about it when it was done that I couldn't wait to get her reaction.

Yvette is up with her children and husband in New York for a month and she wanted a bag that would fit her trip perfectly. She wanted a Summer sling but wanted outside pockets so when she was on the subway she could reach for things easily. She also needed it to snap close. These sound like super easy requests but on the Sling both of them took some figuring out. I didn't want to lose the integrity of the slings gorgeous shape so I basically mimicked the front panel (pleats included) and made two spacious outside pockets on the front. The only problem was that the pockets were pretty large and I was worried she would lose her phone in such a big pocket. My solution was to make a little, hidden cell phone pocket inside the outside pocket (tongue twister). See the picture of the inside where the little grey pocket is peeking out.

The inside of the bag is also lined with pockets for Yvette's needs. Please remember that when I make a custom item I LOVE to make pockets that fit your "stuff" perfectly! As far as the snap, it was easy peasy- I just had to make another pleat in the band and I love how it turned out.

If I ever have time to make something for myself THIS is what I am making next. Seriously love, love, love it.

Yvette- as always, thank you for being so terrific! I miss you up in NY! xoxo

The Yvette New York sling is $55.