More purses and bags

I’ve tried to sell a few purses and bags on ebay recently and it is amazing the amount of people watching them yet not bidding at the end of the auctions, I know that some are competitors just checking the competition but surely not all of them! Anyway, I was rather pleased to have been contacted by a prospective wholesale buyer, so I hope that some of those watchers are future buyers. These are the pictures of my latest projects:

The left one is a japanese sakura wristlet with a detachable purse, and the right one is a Liberty Betsy purse.

So, looking for another site where I can sell my handmade items, I finally opened an etsy account, hurrah! Why didn’t anyone tell me that etsy is a buyer’s paradise? Really, there are so many lovely things there and loads at a fantastic price, which is great for me as a buyer but then again it means how I am going to sell anything there if there are lots of sellers selling their items much cheaper than what I would like to sell mine for? Oh, well I guess it’s worth trying, at least the listing and sale’s fees are much cheaper than on ebay.

The bag below is reversible and made with a Kaffe Fassett romany and linen fabric, with a matching cosmetic purse.

And the result of my latest matryoshka dolls fabric hunt, a messenger bag with matching purse:

Craft sewing studio pictures

I finally managed to get pictures of my craft corner. I’m so happy and grateful to have such a space just for me. It’s a multi purpose room as it stocks all my sewing, jewellery making, candle making (kilos and kilos of soy wax), aromatherapy, packing materials plus paperwork for my voluntary jobs. So the storage had to be thought of carefully.

Most of the storage is from Ikea: there’s the Granemo glass cabinet which I love as it allows me to see all my fabrics and books, I got some cheap kitchen Faktum frames on top of it for more storage, and next to it on the left there is a Pax wardrobe with a mirror door (the one that is only 35cm deep) that stores bulky items such as interfacings, polyfill, batting and folders. On the right of the Granemo cabinet, I have all my gemstones in some Fira mini chest with drawers (still to be covered in fabric) and next to it there is a kids’ 3 door cabinet (it was in the bargain corner and came with hilarious animal fury doorknobs) that houses my candle making materials.

There are more storage under the table: on the front there is an Andy drawer unit on castors, on each side there is a Laxvik shelving unit with glass top (this is so cheap and perfect under my table), and on the back there is another kitchen Faktum frame with lots of colourful bags from Madagascar that stores more candle waxes and bits and pieces.

Spring flowery bag

I finally listed a tote bag on ebay (scheduled to be posted tonight at 8.30pm London time). As soon as I saw this fabric by Martha Negley for Rowan, my heart melted, I just love the profusion of bright colours and the flowers! I love this bag but wasn’t initially pleased with the creased look of the linen, I think that for next time it would be better to use linen in either a small amount only or with appliques to distract the eye from the crease if used for the whole back of the bag. This time, I used an unknown brand of interfacing (the seller calls it extra extra stiff and strong used by professionals) as I’m still playing around with different kinds/brands in order to see all the different looks you can get. I padded the straps as usual and used velvet folded into two for the little bag’s strap.

I’ve also got a fabulous new tool called SnapSetter. It makes snap setting super easy so I went like a happy kid making lots of little change purses/business cards holders using size 16 snaps. You can get it from Snapsource where you can also view the tutorial video by Nancy Zieman on how to use it.