Recent custom orders

I guess it's been over a month since I last blogged.  I've had quite the selection of bridal and custom orders since then.  Here's a boatload of pictures.

Nautical orders continue to be popular.  I love when a bride picks something different for each purse.

 This was actually not an order, but a quilt for my newborn niece.  Kind of busy, with lots of appliques.  Choosing complementary colors for a quilt is always difficult for me.  The important thing was that my sister loves it.

 Some woven purses. Have I mentioned this is my favorite of my designs?  I've been making variations of it from the beginning and still enjoy making it.

 Ivory with orange and pink insides (another thing I love doing--can you tell I like it when brides find unique ways to personalize their purses?)

 I had a bride ask for a red cameo, and I was about to decline, when I actually searched around and found one.  I decided to go ahead and buy a few and add it as an option in my shop.  I haven't actually gotten around to that yet though! I think I may have a section in my shop simply for nautical purses of different variations.

 This customer sent me two different fabrics .

 Bright green gathered purse with keyholes and chocolate interior.

 The funny thing is, the fabric in the above order was so difficult to work with that I decided to only offer gathered purses in silk.  Polyester fabrics warp when exposed to the iron, which I have to do in order to fuse the interfacing in this style of clutches.  I had a bride ask for silver and white silk gathered clutches:

 After that I added these to my shop with a few different variations: flowers, keyholes, and plain.  This was a little over a week ago.  I've already had three brides order them!  One chose different embellishments for each bridesmaid, which will be fun.

 A customer asked for a silver anchor or something with rhinestones, and I was pleased to find a rhinestone anchor!  I've ordered some plain silver anchors to offer as an option, and am considering adding these rhinestone anchors too.  I also had to clear out a drawer just to use for nautical embellishments!  I needed them easily accessible so that I can see at a glance if I'm close to running out of a certain style.

 Champagne satin clutches with cascading ruffles.

 Coral interiors:

 Seven silk pleated clutches in gray:

 With a peach cotton print on the interiors:

 Three ruffled black clutches for bridesmaids and a fuchsia (a color I recently finally figured out how to spell correctly!) clutch for the bride, and a woven clutch for MOB.

 Four green silk clutches with couched embroidery and bead leaves.

 Silver and scarlet purses for the bridesmaids and silver and ivory for the bride.

Whew!  That's my July plus a bit of August custom order round-up!  Coming up in the next couple of weeks, I have several orders of gathered clutches, a fun nautical/bow variation, and a large woven clutch order.  My work is cut out for me!

More bridal orders

I've had a series of bridal orders on my schedule for awhile.  These were all ordered around the same time, but needed various fabrics and frames, so they aren't completed until now. 

First of all, these six woven clutches.  Five are ivory, one chocolate brown. 

 The interiors are all different.  I love when brides want to personalize their clutches like this.  She also chose teardrop clasp frames, which really are elegant.

 Last night I glued 13 clutches.  My poor fingers are still aching this morning. 

 These six plain clutches will be going to a bride who will be putting her own lace on them, from her mother's wedding dress, I think.  I picked a lacey neutral fabric for the inside to compliment the lace that will be going on the outside.

 And these three different purses for another bride.  That bird fabric in the back took about 6 weeks to arrive!  Nothing like shipping stress to make you bite your nails.

 So that was my evening's work last night.  I'm really happy to be able to get these orders off to their new owners!

Some recent custom orders

Wedding season is in full swing and I've been working on lots of fun custom orders this spring and summer.  I have several still to finish this week, but I thought I'd share some now and some later this week when I'm done.

First, I sewed these three velvet clutches in gunmetal frames. 

 I love the embroidered monograms.

 These flap clutches looked awesome, made out of black satin.  I wish they looked better in this picture, but I almost always have lousy lighting when I'm completed with orders. This picture kind of makes them look like trash bags!

 This bride picked four different colors of silk for her and her bridesmaids.  I love the teal gingham.

Today I finished my new largest order ever.  Twelve nautical clutches!  Four were bow clutches, and for the others she told me to use a variety of embellishments, and gave me the leeway to choose some new ones.  I had a lot of fun with that. The interiors are a mixture of blue, red, and gold.

 These two are my favorite new ones, a porthole and octopus.  I've decided to offer the octopus in my shop as a regular option.

 I've also decided to add pearl and rhinestone nautical clutches as a listing in my shop.  This idea came from a previous bridal order.  I love working with creative brides!

Giveaway winners

Thanks to everyone for participating in my giveaway!

The red clutch goes to Melissa Palmer and the black clutch goes to BlackAsphodel! Thank you everyone for entering, and I'll be contacting the winners!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!

***Giveaway Closed***

Today Sew, Mama, Sew is having a bunch of giveaways, and I thought I would join in.  Today I am giving away TWO items.  These cute little clutch wallets are some of the very first things that I made for my Etsy shop over a year and a half ago.  I now have gone in a different direction, but I still think these little purses are cute, and they are very convenient for storing everything in and tossing in a bigger purse.  I carried one myself for a long time before I started carrying around another prototype from my shop (that's what I allow myself to keep, just the prototypes!). 

First off, this little pinstriped clutch with embroidery.  Yes, I was having a bit of fun with my new embroidery machine!  I like the juxtaposition of business-like pinstripes and girly flower.

It closes with three little snaps.

 This clutch is made of a soft red suede-like fabric.  I quilted it heavily to create the criss-cross pattern.

 The interior of both has a zippered pocket,

 and six credit card slots.

So, rules for the giveaway!  First off, this giveaway is open to both U.S. and international entrants!  The giveaway goes from today through May 25 at around 8:00 Eastern, or whenever I remember to close it down!  The winners will be picked at random and then emailed and announced in this post. 

To enter, just leave a comment.  If you have a clutch that you prefer between the two that I'm offering, let me know which one you like best.  Make sure I have a way of contacting you, whether through your blog, your email in your profile, or your email in your comment.
To get a second entry, visit my shop and let me know what your favorite purse or wallet is.  Do this in a second comment, please.

So that's it!  You have two chances to win.  If you would like the chance to enter more giveaways for all sorts of handmade goodies and sewing supplies, make sure to go to Sew, Mama, Sew.

****Winners****

The red clutch goes to Melissa Palmer and the black clutch goes to BlackAsphodel! Thank you everyone for entering, and I'll be contacting the winners!

Largest Order Ever plus some new labels

I had a bride ask for 11 purses for this order, but the tricky part was that her wedding is next week!  I bought the fabric Monday, cut it out and interfaced it Tuesday, and sewed it yesterday.  I stayed up until 2, whew!

 These brocade clutches are gorgeous, this picture I took last night shows off the color a bit better.

 For this order, she requested the bridesmaids' names inside.  I have been experimenting with using my printer to create labels.  I have a laser printer, and when I researched online, lots of people said that laser printers couldn't print on fabric.  However, some people said you can, so I gave it a try. 

 First off, my printer popped this out.  Thanks sweetie.

 I will definitely be offering these as an option for custom orders.  They are exciting because they are so customizable.  A name, wedding date, quote, inscription, etc, all are options.  I've been offering custom embroidery, but anything other than simple monograms is difficult for my older embroidery machine, and even those are kind of tricky.  So I'm happy to have an easier option.

 And inside the purse:

 Here's another bridal order:

 And another custom order:

Several custom orders

I loved these brooches that this bride chose for her nautical clutches.  It gives them such a different look, doesn't it? Very elegant though.

 And another order of cameo nautical clutches.

 This custom order was made with fabric that the customer sent me.  It's from Ikea. The inside is teal.

 This clutch is for a wedding, for the mother-of-the-bride.  This fabric is the same fabric that will be use for her dress and a lace jacket.  A friend of mine on Etsy made her dress and referred the customer to me for the purse.

 And here are some fun new listings that I really enjoyed.  I love this metallic fabric and bought it in all sorts of colors.

 And more foldeover zipper clutches:

 And this one I cut out backwards, whoops.  Guess it doesn't really matter, but it bothers the perfectionist in me a little to see it oriented differently!