The Rachel Bag

I clearly love making special one-of-one pieces. So when one of my oldest, dearest friends brought me a great idea for a custom bag I jumped at the chance. Partly because I couldn’t wait to make something special for her and partly because it seemed like such a fun challenge. 

She wanted to update my clutch bag style with removable fringe and multiple styles of interchangeable straps. 

my classic clutch bag shape

I sketched up the ideas and we narrowed it down to the final details 

approved design sketch

We made some minor adjustments to my original bag shape and to add a pocket on the back. 

materials pages pulling from my own inventory and from trusted vendors

I always start from the materials I have on hand, to avoid waste, so we reviewed my stash of scrap fabrics and sundries. We were able to find most of what we needed there: denim for the body was salvaged from a pair of damaged jeans, faux suede for the lining was pulled from the leftover fabric from a previous project for the Haim sisters, bag hardware and chain strap were found among the metal sundries I had accumulated over the years. I only needed to find the right fringe and leather strap to match it and a separating zipper for attaching the fringe. 

Once all the materials were in hand, I started building. It came together beautifully.

We brainstormed words to embroider in the lining and finally decided on “scrumtrulescent” 

truly

I added a hand sewn hook on the inside of the front flap to help keep the zipper head tucked away when the fringe wasn’t attached. 

zipper head held in place by a hook

Then it was ready and I got to ship it off to its new home.

So many fun variations in one design.

If you have your own custom idea or want to learn more about my collaborative design process, reach out to me here or at jenmsharkey@gmail.com or @idyll.mind on instagram