Tag: handbag

Blue boxy bag

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Once upon a time, around 20 years ago, I bought a bag off a street vendor in Athens. I ended up using it so much, that the loop for the handle broke off! That’s what happens when you put page-a-day Moleskines in there, and carry them around all the time.

A few years ago, I was at my parents, wanting to do something, but they couldn’t leave the house. It must’ve been either too cold or too hot.

So I decided to make a pattern of that old bag. I’d loved it so much that I’d kept it, despite it being old and broken.

Yes, I did it on baking paper. That’s what the parents had at home…

Then I cut the pieces out of leather, and glued two on either side of bag-cardboard, to make a hard bottom. No photos of that.

Next I started sewing the sides to the base, to make sure they’d be in the right spot.

The bag is only made of 3 pieces: bottom and 2 sides. It of course also has a strap and 2 strap-holders, but the main pieces are only 3.

After attaching the sides to the bottom, I added the zip on top. I really wanted to avoid the bag being somehow horizontally distorted.

I may have worked on the side seams while trying to focus at work. You’d be surprised what some manual work does for your listening focus sometimes 🙂 It really helps anchor a wandering mind!

In case nobody’s noticed, the bag was being sewn with inner seams (inside out), like a garment. After the three main pieces were all sewn together, I had to flip it.

Piercing the strap-holders was a bit stressful. Would they line up right on the end bits of the bag?
One saddle-stitch at a time!
Done!! Also stitched the bag strap.
It works!!
The boxy blue bag

It is very soft and very light. If those two metal rings weren’t on it, it might fly away!

I haven’t filled it yet. But I did try to get one of those fat A5 moleskine annual diaries in, like I used to 20 or so years ago. It fits!!

laptop in a sporran? Going hands-free and backpain-free while carrying tech

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(written in February 2014, published in March 2014)

Since portable technology appeared on the market, I have carried it. These days, I carry my own laptop to work every day as well. The joys of contracting… you’ve got to bring your own hammer to most workplaces, as it were. I’ve been doing this every day since September and my back is starting to be seriously damaged by it. Every day, standing on a crammed carriage, swerving around on the tracks, getting bumped, while carrying a laptop and everything else.

Last night, I had enough. TFL has announced two sets of 48-hour strikes, the first to hit from tonight. Transport mayhem! It would make carrying my tech even more painful. So I decided to take action.

I have always hated backpacks. You cannot keep them on your shoulders in public transport. If you put them down, and it has been raining, they get all wet and muddy, so your coat gets dirty when you strap the bag on again. I have a very good coat. Mud is not happening. So I’m constantly lifting the entire weight of my tech.

Messenger bags are ok, but you end up wearing them cross-body, tilting yourself one way or the other, and the whole weight of laptop plus accessories being carried by a single 1-inch (a bit more if you’re lucky) strap. That would often cut into my shoulder very painfully, despite the padded part of the strap and my thick coat.

Holding the laptop in a shopper causes the same problems (thin straps, one-sided lift on spine and lower back muscles).

The last option, the satchel / attache case, would rely on arm strength and would still be pulling at my spine and shoulders.

I needed to find something that could carry my laptop but which would not rely on shoulder and lower back muscles. What else have we got? Gun holsters! Sporrans! Controversial fanny packs! Belts! You might be getting the picture already…

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So far, it works incredibly well. I need to make a better buckle for easier removal, and of course give it better finishings. Some bias tape will take care of that. Taking over the world, one crazy bag idea at a time!

Handbag design: more sketches

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Our task for last week was to draw out the handbags we had thought up. These are my simple sketches for the bags in the small range I’m thinking of.

First off, there is a classic design, loosely inspired by the Birkin bag, with two short handles and one long strap to hold from your shoulder or from across the body.

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Then there is a basket-like laptop bag, which I would like to make in neoprene. It’s thick, solid, and protective both against bumps and water. Perfect for a laptop bag. It doesn’t look supremely professional, but it depends if you’re a scuba-diving web designer or a cycling city girl… errr…Products like this are easy to promote with social media and Social Boosting is an important tool that works to boost a social media account and get more audience for a product. I’d have said city boy, but I don’t think men would be attracted to this shape.

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Next up, the holdall. I love going away, and this is what my ideal duffle bag for a weekend getaway would look like.

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Ok, I have no idea what I was thinking when I doodled this. It has pockets though!

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handbag design course: six bags, six scenarios – first sketches

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So I’m doing a handbag design course.

Our second task, from week two, was to design six handbags for our client. Like a good User Experience Architect, I started with six usage scenarios…

I’ve also listed each bag with the largest most likely items it needs to contain.

  1. day bag for the office: laptop, A4 pages, iPad, kindle, …
  2. day bag for running around the city: camera, kindle, A5 notebook, …
  3. date night clutch: oyster, keys, credit card, phone, lipstick, …
  4. weekender / overnighter / carry-on bag: shoes, 2 clothes changes, book, magazine, tickets, …
  5. popping out to the corner shop clutch: phone, oyster & credit card, keys. (just the holy trinity, minimised)
  6. emergency carrier bag: the ubiquitous shopper, in parachute silk. For your jacket if the day gets too warm, for the milk on your way home, for that amazon delivery that arrived at work.

And here are the sketches I came up with. I need to spend more time exploring alternatives for each, but our time on the course is very limited, and given my full time job has yet to be replaced with full time blogging and photography (I wish), I am constrained in what I can achieve.

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handbag design course: persona, mood board and trends

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I’m doing a new handbag design course at the London College of Fashion. This is a little cousin of Central Saint Martins, and is part of the family of London University for the Arts.

My teacher is Ann Saunders, and she has been designing handbags for decades. Soon, her own brand of bags will be stocked at Harrod’s, and I cannot wait to go see them as she has confessed she has a pocket / compartment fetish to rival my own.

Our first task from week one was to define a persona, research the shops she goes to, and create a mood board and a trends board. I created both boards electronically, and can share them here. I used pinterest to collect bags for the trend board . and my iPad / iPhone / instagram collection of photos for inspiration. The things I see inspire me, and I tend to photograph everything that gets a reaction out of me. So I decided to use them for this project. The collages were made using the awesome iDraw app.

My client is Emmanuelle.

Emmanuelle is in her late twenties working in the big City. She works in a male-dominated environment, in a rather corporate setting, and while she doesn’t always need to wear a suit, she works with people who often do. She would like to move on in her career soon, but isn’t entirely sure which way to go yet. Often, she will think a lot about what to wear, or what bag to hold, depending on who she is meeting that day and how much she needs to carry. In her spare time she enjoys meeting her friends for brunch, but rarely goes out otherwise as she’s always broke from needing to save up for yet another big holiday.

She shops infrequently and only buys things she can also wear to work. Not quite investment pieces, but not high street trendy things either. Her handbag collection is quite kimited by her budget and she favours bags which can hold a lot of stuff. She goes to the gym often, but typically uses an old backpack for that.

Her favourite shops are Selfridge’s, Liberty, and the odd designer boutique off the beaten track. Uniqueness is something she values in her wardrobe. Some handbag brands she has owned or would love to own: Vivienne Westwood, DKNY, Radley, Hermès (Birkin), TopShop and River Island.

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