It's been almost half a year!

Time sure does fly by... I didn't realize that my last post was almost six months ago. I've been busy with re-bulilding and re-branding Trizanh. Making a new website with amazing photos from Rodel Studios, working on catalogs to take Trizanh into the wholesale industry and setting up a studio space to have a photo area to take pictures of my online store.

Holiday season is creeping up and custom orders are starting to come in for personalized, one of a kind handbags as gifts. I love making personal handbags because they are more special and have a story behind it. I haven't been sewing as much due to all the "admin" work but I plan to jump back on the machine in my new work space. The bags have also evolved... to higher quality production and into different styles. Excited to see what will happen after these new and big changes!

Purse cupcakes?!?!

One of my favorite cupcake shops in Seattle is The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company. They make an amazing assortment of flavors and their recipe for frosting/cake is scrumptious! The owners and their baking crew welcome new ideas and finding ways to explore their creativity in flavors and designs of cupcakes. Their daily offerings are always a delight but below is a picture of a special order for a shoe fanatic.

For a special occasion, I might have to call up The Yellow Leaf and request cupcakes made into handbags! Be sure to follow the "yellow leaf road" for updates on their daily selection of cupcakes.

A set of four Formals

First off, I LOVE making custom and personal orders. I like getting to know the person and their interest of my craft. Specifically with the Formal collection, customers can provide me their own ties to make the bag more personal and special. 

A couple of months ago I was approached by a customer about making a personal order from the Formal collection. She explained to me that her father was moving into a care home and while her family was going through his belongings, she found his old ties and wanted a bag made of them.

Upon our first consultation, she explained to me that she wanted an e-reader bag for her Kindle. As we discussed and selected ties from her father's collection, it dawned on her that she wanted to make one for each of her siblings as a keepsake from their father's ties. I sent her on the task to find more ties and to pick out ones for each Kindle bag. Below are four very different Kindle bags made from one man's tie collection for his four children.

Useful art for technology

The Formal collection is the most popular of the Trizanh purses at the moment. I've had custom orders with personalized ties and custom sizes. I had one request for a tablet cover and many have inquired why I don't make a size for tablets and e-readers. I was a little hesitant because technology moves so fast that I might not be able to keep up with the current changes and demands. However, it is time for me to dip into the technology craze and give my customers what they want. I will be making tablet and e-reader sized covers for the Formal collection. Pictures will be posted soon.

New purse added to the Handcrafted Collection

The first image is the purse I made with the flap inspired by the mosaic piece pictured below it. The purse is not an exact replica but I think it's a fair attempt at making a square mosaic piece of art into a flap for a medium sized bag.

I initially wanted to make it as a quilt but quickly learned that sewing together such small pieces was very hard to do. I fused the smaller pieces onto a larger piece of fabric and did section by section, trying my best to capture the color scheme and pattern of the original. Once that was completed I quilted over the finished piece with invisible thread to keep all the ironed-on pieces in place. The shell is made of 100% organic cotton and hemp fabric and the purse is lined with a sky blue micro suede fabric with pockets to hold a Kindle and iPhone. The purse was commissioned by a gentleman who wanted a birthday gift for his wife and she is the artist that created the beautiful mosaic piece and she is a farmer's daughter.

Mosaic Madness!

I was approached by a customer to make custom order purse for his wife, Becky, as a surprise birthday gift. I assumed he wanted to custom order something from one of my current collections but he said he wanted something different that she would like and that he was trusting me to come up with a unique design. Hesitant to decline the request due to my lack of sewing skills and never meeting his wife, I told him that I wanted to create something that would represent her or something that Becky loves. He emailed me a website and told me that all I need to know about his wife would be on the site. I clicked on the link and to my surprise, he was right.

After browsing her link I saw that Becky is a huge mosaic fanatic and even makes her own art pieces. She is also a farmer's daughter and that was apparent all over the website. I immediately wanted to make a pures with a quilted replica of a mosaic piece Becky created and use organic cotton for the purse. Upon my excitement of imagining such a unique purse, I realized that I have very little quilting experience. Even though a mosaic pattern is similar to quilting, in the sense that smaller pieces are pieced together to make a larger piece, one is more abstract than the other.

I am determined to make this purse come to life and I hope that I can do Becky's mosaic piece justice in the form of a quilt

Handcrafted, just for you

A new collection came to mind since working at Starbucks. So many gift cards are tossed daily and I began collecting them to make a collection out of them. As the wheels in my head turned for ideas, I decided to line the bags with the green aprons baristas wear. However, that turned into another dilemma because I don't have much access to the aprons to continue making the purses as with the gift cards. That idea quickly was shut down until recently, when my store manager requested an iPad bag for her new toy. Not really feeling her as a Formal collection kind of girl, I suggested the idea of the Starbucks gift card bag. Upon receiving confirmation that she loved the idea, I am moving forward with the limited collection titled the WaShu SB collections since that is the name of our Starbucks location.

Formal collection iPad covers

I received a customer order for a Formal collection iPad cover and it was really fun to make! The cover consists of five ties and it's a tight fit but any more than five would make it too wide. Order yours today!