It's true: when left to my own devices, I am a slow stitcher. I tend to take too many breaks. After measuring and cutting, I suddenly need a sandwich. Before pressing seams I'll remember that terribly important email I forgot to send.
The flip-side: I also line all of my bags, include snaps/zippers/piping/embroidery, and often use interfacing to stiffen up the bottoms. These extras do add many minutes to the total construction-time. And if something is wrong, I'll rip out the seams and re-sew. Because I'm a perfectionist like that.
The problem is, people often ask me, "How much would you charge for that cute and awesome bag?" And they are rarely ok with the answer. Which is why I gave up trying to sew for profit.
HOWEVER, recently I challenged myself to make a bag - in under 2 hours - for which I could charge less. In theory. So I developed a No-Frills Bag. Okay, it has some frills. It still has lining and one pocket. And some trim. But no snaps, zips, embroidery, etc. I timed myself and right now the bag still takes a little over 2 hours for me to make, but I think if I crank out enough of them on a regular basis I can easily get the build-time down to an hour... ish.
The bag is lightweight and not meant to carry a ton of heavy-assed shit. But a book, some shades, a wallet, and some keys? No prob.
See more at my Etsy Shop. Or just click on the "nofrills" tag below.
