Meeting a customer

Donna from Northern Virginia was in town near Raleigh for Easter and asked me if I had a store because she would like to visit it. I told her that I didn't have a store, but I used to work at the local Bernina dealer and they are a great quilt shop with thousands of bolts of fabric and maybe we could meet there.

Last Wednesday I met up with Donna and she showed me her Professional Tote and Raleigh purse that she had made. She also showed me the wonderful addition she had made to the Raleigh purse. She added a center pocket just like in the professional tote.

Here is a picture of the Raleigh purse with the center pocket.

We had a great visit at Bernina World of Sewing and I want to thank Donna for bringing her bags for me to see. I love the new idea of the center pocket.in the Raleigh Purse. Great job!

Judy's Professional Totes

Judy from Montrose, CO has made 9 Professional Tote bags, and probably on her 10th one by now. This darling cowboy print tote was given to her daughter for Christmas.

This black, white and red one is for her grandson's girlfriend. I hope she knows that she is a lucky girl.

I love the marching turtles walking slowly across the travel strap on this one.

Several of Judy's sewing friends (the "Easy Strippers") got together and made Professional Tote bags (shown above). They all got at least the main body of the bag done in class and will finish at their next meeting. The last picture here shows a grommet in the side pocket instead of a buttonhole. I think that is a really great idea. (What some people will do not to make a buttonhole!!) I worked at a quilt shop for 11 years and it was so funny to see the looks I would get when I said that they had to make a buttonhole:) This grommet though, I think is a great variation and very "professional" looking.

If you would like to try one, follow the directions all the way up to the buttonhole, but put the grommet in instead of the buttonhole. Make sure the grommet is large enough for your cords to go through, at least 1/4" opening.

Thank you Judy for all your wonderful pictures and keep on sewing!

Separating Zipper in Professional Tote

A few months ago, Welmoed from the blog, There She Sews, http://thereshesews.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-newest-garment-sewing-client.html, wrote me to tell me she had put a separating zipper in the top of her Professional Tote. She very kindly wrote up directions and pictures of how she did that and you can find that info here http://thereshesews.blogspot.com/2009/09/professional-tote-zipper-panel.html
The pictures above are one of Welmoeds Professional Tote diaper bags that she made, complete with changing mat. The separating zipper shows up nicely in the bottom picture.
Thank you, Welmoed for taking the time to write up those directions for us!

Diaper Bag

I love getting pictures of your bags that you make with my patterns. Kathy Dykstra from North Carolina made this beautiful Professional Tote for her daughter. She will use it as a diaper bag. The color combination is wonderful and the brown bottom piece looks like suede or leather. Kathy you did a beautiful job! Thank you for letting me share your pictures.