Pesky Cat Designs

I've been busy working on new applique designs for my handbags this past week. I'm expanding on some of my original designs and creating completely new images. Expect to see lots of floral designs and more nature inspired creations! To make an applique I start with a free hand drawing done directly on a piece of medium weight cardboard. Once I am satisified with the final image I cut it out to create a stencil. When I am ready to make an applique, I use the stencil to draw the image onto a product called HeatnBond. See this great tutorial for more information on how to use HeatnBond for you applique work.  Improvised cherry blossoms and daisies are just some of the new applique designs you'll be seeing in my shop very soon!

H ope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. For those of you outside of the United States I hope you had a wonderful day as well! Thanks to Candyragz I had my Wayfarer Purse featured on the front page of Etsy yesterday! Check out her shop for handmade cards, vintage goodie packs and many other sweet items.

                           The Wayfarer in Hemp                               The Downtown Bag in Hemp                               The Downtown Bag in Corduroy C heck out the new bags in the shop!   The Wayfarer Purse  is made from handwoven and hand dyed hemp and is perfect to take with you on all your journeys. I'm waiting for a shipment of a few more yards of this wonderful hemp to arrive. It has a linen-like weave and a beautiful natural raw quality.  I also used this lovely hemp fabric to make a two tone  Downtown Bag . I never worked with corduroy before so I recently purchased some in a couple of  yards to try out. It does have some similar qualities to velvet which I am familiar with although velvet is a lot more difficult to work with. Check out The Downtown Bag in olive green corduroy that is now available in my shop. More creations will be added to the shop very soon!

I t's Monday and I look forward to the day. Monday is the first day of the week that I get to concentrate on my handbag designs full time. I usually work in my studio Monday through Thursday, designing, cutting out fabric and sewing up my creations.  Since I work part time at an outside job Friday through Sunday I don't get much designing done on those days. If I have some energy after work I will cut fabric for new bags so they are ready to sew. I dream of the day I can do Pesky Cat Designs full time! Today I plan to create a few handbags with the new corduroy fabric that I recently purchased. I also have a Wayfarer  and a Downtown Bag in  Hemp to finish up. If time permits I will post some of my finished creations later in the day.  Have a great day!

I purchased some new fabric online a few days ago and it arrived today! I've never worked with corduroy before so I only bought a few yards to experiment with.  I love love love the colors! They are Legion Blue, Picante and Olive Branch. I like to buy fabric that appeals to me, either by color or texture, and then bring it home and have it inspire me to design something. I need to see the fabric in person to know what bag it should become. I'm definitely seeing some Downtown Bags in this new corduroy. Hmm..... I think I still need some more quality time with my fabric before I decide! 

                   The Wayfarer Purse in Cornflower Blue Hemp Y esterday I finished up a batch of new creations. The Wayfarer posted above is made out of a handwoven hemp fabric I purchased at a very nice shop on Etsy called Rainy Day Supply . This fabric is 100% eco-friendly and was grown, spun and dyed with natural plant dyes by a fair trade collective of Hmong hilltribe women.   The fabric has a linen-like look to it. I love its natural raw qualities. I can't wait to make more handbags with this unique fabric!

I didn't get to work right away as I said I would in my post below.  I was distracted by an invite to have breakfast at a diner. Several eggs later I returned home and began working on some new bags. I still have to sew linings for all the handbags posted above. They're already cut out and marked. I better get back to work. The only thing that will stop me now is one of my favorite TV shows, Ghost Hunters. Well, that's not until much later tonight so I should be able to accomplish quite a lot before then. Wish me luck!