COMING SOON! VERY SOON! AS SOON AS I CAN!

Bags for sale will be offered sometime before Hell freezes over.  You'll be able to choose them and buy them right here!  Meanwhile I am sewing like mad in order to bring you the finest in online bag-shopping experiences. Payment will be by Paypal and postage will be reasonable.

(here's a sneak peek:)

WHAT DO WE NEED? A PENNY FANCY BAG! WHEN DO WE NEED IT? YESTERDAY!

Penny Fancy Bags are hand-made in Berkshire UK of fabric old and new. Each piece is carefully chosen to create a useful, unique handbag. A quilter once said she was a little afraid of what her quilt knew about her - with every stitch she'd been thinking about her life. I'm sure the quilt kept mum, but a Penny Fancy Bag is a bit like that – it has a context, a story, a raison d'être or maybe just a little funny anecdote. It is made to be used and enjoyed, to bring a little bit of forgotten artistic endeavour into the sunlight or simply to be unique. And if that's not enough - every bag has a penny sewn in for luck! With a Penny Fancy Bag, you are never completely skint.

USED MEANS USED

Please note: 'Vintage' and 'museum quality' are not the same thing - I do not cut up exquisite handwork in mint condition. I use 'shabby' vintage linens, which means loose stitches, holes, stains, and/or fading. There is a hell of a lot of badly (if bravely) made and worn-out embroidery out there, which when put on a bag gives it a new life.  Penny Fancy Bags' colours and textures will vary because they are not new, except in construction. I use iron-on interfacing to stabilise tired embroidery, and mend as necessary to ensure your bag will have a nice long life.

THE COLLECTION DU JOUR:

SHINY THINGS   Little Black Bags

All animals notice shiny things. Some are attracted; some are afraid. I try to keep it low-key – giving a potential customer seizures is not a good marketing strategy. However, the joy of sequins cannot be denied, hence the 'Little Black Bags'. These dressy bags have the shiny of raven's wings and peacock's tails with a little extra kick from zippy summer-flower colours.  Although I am quite taken with the stark contrast of the LBBs, other Shiny Thing designs are in the pipeline: L'Orient Bags are made from vaguely Eastern fabric and geometric silk. Delicate, balanced, and subtly coloured, these bags are so chic the fashionistas are snatching them out of each others' hands (in my dreams). They are the exotic, subtle sisters of the glitzy LBBs, with their own petite charms. 

FUZZY THINGS  Hippie Holdalls

The Hippie Holdall bags and rucksacks are all about chenille upholstery tokin' up and getting the funk on with brocade. You can hug these bags, love them and squeeze them and call them George. If you bump someone with them they will smile and say Nice bag! Instead of Watch it, mate. Possibly. They are roomy, useful, and wear really well – they will cheerfully carry books, lunch and a kilo of hemp seed sack of organic flour. They will also haul baby things, weekend clothes or yoga class needfuls. Pop your laptop into a Hippie Holdall and tell your boss you've seen a double rainbow … and you liked it.
I use both sewn-fabric and synthetic-fibre belting straps for strength, and an internal pocket or two for your phone. The fabric is a mixture of remnants, samples, re-used and new fabric. I have used the rucksacks myself and can vouch for their sturdy, easy-going attitude. They cannot be used as flotation devices, but if you put your jumper in, voila! Instant pillow. They are also pretty much lousy with good vibrations, so you can use them to promote world peace while getting your wholemeal loaf home.

LADY-LIKE THINGS   Bouquet Bags

Tea and sympathy, doilies and flower prints, Hyacinth Bucket and Barbara Cartland. Wherever you land on the wide range of things that are lady-like, the joy of embroidery, lace and flowers is real. I feel a missionary zeal to re-purpose doilies, runners, antimacassars and those daft lace-circle coasters into Bouquet Bags. Someone spent hours and hours on these things, they don't deserve a mouldy death in a landfill while they still have the power to cheer. Bouquet Bags are made from a mixture of upholstery samples and remnants, dressmaker fabrics and vintage and not-quite vintage linens, all with a floral theme. I make an effort to mate old bits carefully with new so they resonate happily in colour and texture.

Bouquet Bags, although tending to be on the lacy and ditsy-print side, are still well-made. Most are washable in cold water and can be ironed. They are indeed meant for daily use, to bring an air of refinement and gentility to every outing.

ARTY THINGS  Gallery Bags

The Gallery bags are unique in both materials and concept. Some have a clear plastic pocket for your own statement; some have a theme, like bees, pearls or coins. Each one fulfils the agenda of being a useful handbag or rucksack, but exuberant, lush, silly or insightful. Gallery bags have something to say besides 'handmade' - and often spell it out, using air quotes and capital letters. Not for those who dislike discussing their really cool bag with random strangers!

The fabrics are a mix of old and new – the difference is the addition of trim, pockets, words, jewels, badges and ornaments. Many of the bags are messenger style, as the flap provides a handy background for a statement. Visual puns and Freudian slips are common in Gallery bags, as well as irony and the occasional snarky comment. 

CAT THINGS – CATNIP TOYS for THE PILCHARD PARTY

The Pilchard Party is EveryCat's political party*. It wants all cats to be happy. However, if you know cats, you know they spend as much time sleeping as coming up with quangos, so don't expect too much from the Pilchard Party. They mean well, and have a great campaign song. They also know where all the best catnip is, so I made a deal and created these little bags o' catnip with clever comments on.

Our Daisy (or, as she's known to the Feline Underground, Shanky McStabberson, for over-use of her five pointy ends) do loves her a good catnip bag. They are made from scraps and a small amount of poly-fluff to make them bouncy. I do the embroidery myself, it's all new. They have been tried and tested on Daisy and our friends' cats for, ahem, effectiveness, and scored well. VOTE PILCHARD! 

UNIQUE MEANS ONE OF A KIND

*Due to the nature of using odd bits of fabric, no two bags are exactly alike.*

My bags are made from a mix of old and new in order to give them a long and useful life. Old upholstery is great stuff – strong, often treated to be stain resistant. But without support it wears quickly, so I add new interfacing to give the bag strength and shape. Some bags will be all vintage or repurposed fabric; none will be less than one-third fabric that was destined for discard. Many bags are lined with scraps and off-cuts from fashion projects, but these are checked for stability and colour retention.

Handles, ornaments and trim are mostly old stock, remnants and vintage. However, the magnetic snap closures are new, in order to be secure (the little stubs that attach to the fabric can only be bent once). Many bags close with a simple button, often vintage.

* May not be true.