Emilie's Bag

My friend Emilie asked me if I could make her a bag out of some of her favorite old clothes. She gave me 2 t-shirts and a tennis dress. She wanted her personal items to be on the inside of the bag and the outside to be black, and she wanted to have "Citius, Altius, Fortius" embroidered on the inside of the strap. so I put my thinking cap on and started creating. This is the final product!

The black parts are made from a pair of shiny textured dance pants, the gray parts are made from a shrunken wool skirt, the inside of the strap is from Emilie's tennis dress.

I used Emilie's cute pink t-shirt as a large inside pocket and then installed a ruby snap to help keep the pocket closed, the white fabric behind the pocket is part of the tennis dress.

The star fabric on the inside flap is from a cute apron! The little alligator pocket is made from 3 different pieces of Emilie's tennis dress, and the blue pocket is made from her Nike tennis t-shirt. I used the neck of the shirt to give the pocket a unique look!

First Craft Show

Well, we did it! Our first ever craft show, the Appleumpkin Festival in Tecumseh. It was really fun and I definitely learned a lot! My sister-in law Rayleen sold 5 of her adorable Halloween costumes and a ton of hair clippies, and I sold 14 purses and some bracelets. So it was a pretty good weekend! The best part was on Saturday when Ava came to visit her mommy at the craft show and modeled some of the costumes! She was so cute, people were stopping and waiting to see her and taking pictures on their cell phones lol! I am sure Ava is all over the internet now. She also modeled one of my purses for a little bit. She is such a sweet, beautiful girl! I just love being an aunt!! I have the best nephews and niece and I can't wait for more to come!

Ava modeling the purple butterfly

Ava modeling a fruitpants purse

I don't think this was the best show for fruitpants, but it did help me to realize what kinds of shows I would like to do in the future as well as which ones to avoid. I would love to do more craft shows and try different display techniques and I really hope that in the next year or two, I can add more items to the fruitpants lineup, I would love to start making skirts and have some quilts to display, and who knows what else, maybe my famous t-shirt pillows lol! I have a lot of ideas in my head, its just a matter of finding time to make them a reality. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and encouraged me to do this, its really fun and I think that I am getting better and better each time :)

Appleumpkin Festival 1 week away!!

Well, only one week to go before the Appleumpkin Festival, I have 19 bags made, I have ideas for about 5 more, and I want to put together some cute kids bags, so hopefully I will be close to 25-30 bags before the festival. I am very nervous and excited about it! I hope that people like the bags!!! I will be posting new pictures to the fruitpants facebook page soon. :)

Getting Started

I have been crafting for a long time but I am just now getting serious about it! I will be selling my handmade bags and purses at the Appleumpkin Festival in Tecumseh on October 9th and 10th. I am nervous, scared and excited all at the same time. I have a lot of work to do since I literally only have 1 purse made to sell at this point. I get some sort of creative block when I know that I have to make something for someone else. When I just make bags for fun or for myself its like no big deal, I can whip it out in no time. But when I have to make it for someone else it is much more difficult for me to get motivated.

I always feel like my creations are not good enough or need something fixed or something is wrong with it, I am very good at finding flaws in my work. But I just have to think positive and know that the flaws are part of the fun. Most of my bags are made from upcycled materials. I get a lot of fabric from clothes so the pieces are not perfect shapes to begin with, everything needs a creative flare to make it work and sometimes that leaves imperfections. But I love getting a second use out of materials and making earth friendly bags! And the best part is, all of the bags end up being completely one of a kind, funky and original.