Commissioned Bags (Part 2)

Last week I shared about how fun it was for us to make our bags out of fabric provided by customers.  We kept being surprised by how different a bag can look just with a change of fabric. 

 Do you remember this?

Yup!  It's Petit Bucket, a very dainty bag, well-suited for CNY visitation.  Really!  I managed to put 4 oranges, a stack of ang-pows and my personal effects in it.  All in this petit-looking (key word being "looking") bag.   Don't you think the print is reminscent of the coming of spring?

Anyway, we got commissioned to make Petit Bucket with another fabric and this is the result.

 

Very different look, right?  Although the main motif are still flowers, this bag has a rather antique look.  It's more suited to a woman of sophistication.  See?  even the fabric inside is more muted.

Same bag pattern, different fabric, different look but same fine workmanship, courtesy of Tinkerbelle.  Next week, we'll show you yet another Petit Bucket, with an entirely different fabric. You'll be surprised!

Doing commissioned bags isn't always about using different fabric.  Sometimes, our classic bag patterns get a whole revamp.  Remember our reversible totes (the very 1st bag made for sale here)?  This was recently re-made with a special girl in mind.

Remember her?

 She's Anne of Green Gables.  HSH made a lap quilt based on her motif last year (link).  This quirky and optimistic orphan had inspired many with her adventures.  So, we got an order to make a Anne of Green Gables tote.  It was a tall order as I wanted to do justice to such a charming girl.  It would not be an ordinary tote.  It would have to be one-of-a-kind, as unique as the girl who's featured on it and the girl who'll be carrying it.

We managed to find complementary print fabric to match it.  The boy on the top right corner is Gilbert (Anne's childhood nemisis-turned-teenage-good-friend).  I wish he and Anne will just get together - I'm reading the 3rd Anne book now and she's still fighting shy.  I heard that they eventually do end up together.

Hey, did you notice the lace I've added?  I think it's detail like this that gives a nice touch.  See?  even the floral trimming at the top gives this bag a rather boho look.  I decided to use denim as the main material so that this bag doesn't end up too girly. 

I know the picture is a bit crooked and the trimming is not even in width, but that adds to the charm of this handmade bag.  If you want a perfect bag, go buy it from the many pushcarts selling cheap bags factory-made en masse in China.

Besides making bags based on our classic designs, a customer challenged us to make a bag based on a famous design.  This, is the Sanibel bag, a design by the famous Amy Butler (I love her fabric designs too!).

 

It's a huge tote, with many, many pockets.  The last we counted, there were 16 pockets in this bag, 3 on the outside front, 3 on the outside back, 2 on each side of the bag, 3 on the inside front and 3 on the inside back.  While we always relished a challenge, we were rather intimidated by this bag.

Luckily, this customer referred us to several crafters who managed to make this bag.

 

Armed with their instructions, we attempted to make a prototype of the Sanibel bag.  And this is the result...

Hmm, I think we did quite a good job, if I may say so myself.

You've got the pockets on the inside.  Besides this one pocket featured, we've got 3 more pockets on the other inside. Then, there were all the pockets on the outside and the sides.  Really, we were quite overwhlemed with pockets by the time we were done.  I would be losing all my stuff in so many pockets!

Pockets are not the only distinguishing feature of this bag.  It is also expandable.

All in all, we think it's a very cool bag.  Something I'll be proud to carry around.

Hey, maybe it'll become HSH's nex "IT" (as in "popular/trendy" and not "information technology", duh) bag!  You say?