Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Custom Made Bags






Mary's bags!
This one was made from her Dad's old Army shirt along with some cool cherry fabric I had. The strips across the sides where the buttons are was made from the shirt collar and the inside pocket was made from the shoulder patch.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Custom Made Bags









Mary's Bags!
I am probably most proud of the bags I made for Mary Van Note out of all the ones I've done so far. She gave me a shirt that was embroidered by her Grandmother with writing over the front pockets, a rooster on the back and a big rainbow above it. She also gave me a pretty plaid shirt that she wanted to go along with it. (She didn't realize that the 2 shirts happened to have the exact same pearl snaps on them which worked very well for me!)
This was so fun to do, it was like putting together a fabric puzzle!

Custom Made Bags

This was the first bag I customized for someone else. My friend Morgan's father passed away a few a years ago, and he gave me 2 of his shirts to turn into a hand bag for his mother, Carol, for her birthday. I used the front shirt pockets and them on both the inside and outside of the bag, and took the strip of of buttons from down the front of the shirt and put them at the base of the bag as detailing.
I was nervous about this one and took it very seriously as it was going to have such emotional impact. Here's what Carol had to say!
"I was so overwhelmed by the bag you made for Morgan to give to me. It has touched my heart to see both of Frank's favorite shirts made into such a beautiful keepsake.
Strange how I kept the shirts because he wore them very often.......even when they were getting old and should have been thrown away.
I think you have a great talent and hopefully you can make this into something very unique for lots of people, i.e. a prom dress, bridesmaid dress.......the list can go on and on.
Thank you for something I will keep forever. It is extremely special."
www.UnderWingDesigns.etsy.com