Birthday Projects

Last year, I made an adorable small purse (homage to Bacchus) for my neice Caileigh. It's made of suede and leather. I was delighted that she loved it and I was told that her sister Emmy, secretly coveted it.

Emmy isn't a foo-foo girl and really likes messenger bags -she had been carrying the Harry Potter messenger bag for years that I gave her- and is growing out of it. Andrew and I were experimenting specifically with messenger bags and we decided it would be easy enough to transfer the pattern and design one with Emmy in mind.

We don't get to talk to the neices enough to really understand what kinds of trends they admire and follow and for the past few years, I had been sending Emmy 'Emily the Strange' cards and trinkets -simply because of the name and the cats. Naturally, she loved it.

Meanwhile, we thought that she might be leaning toward goth or grunge (we secretly hoped) and because she loves horses, we came up with this current design. The bag is made of denim, suede and lined with a Stewart Plaid. The horse is a hand-painted applique and the front suede is also hand painted.

There are a few things I would do differently now, but strived to keep the design clean for a student who wouldn't necessarily lean toward grunge.