Rested and Ready to Go!

I'm back from my extended break, feeling rested and ready to hit the ground running. All of my clothes were wonderful for the honeymoon, and the travel-document-organizer-thing was a lifesaver. The wedding was beautiful, the honeymoon a dream, and I've had plenty of time to get the wheels turning for my next project.

A good friend of mine is going back to grad school this fall, and I decided I would make her a great custom bag (for books, laptop, and a purse double) for school. This, of course, sucked me down the path of "how can I make this into a job so I don't have to keep doing what I am?" and I landed me at the crossroads of Wishful Thinking Way and Getting Ahead of Myself Boulevard, planning out a line of purses/wallets/bags to make and sell (not to mention the idea floating around in the back of my head to create clothing and bridal accessory lines as well). So, all a twitter with my new and exciting idea, I began the planning process (my favorite!).

The Seedling line currently consists of designs for: 1 messenger bag, 9 purses, 2 clutches, 1 laptop bag, 7 wallets, and 1 wristlet. I decided to hold up a little on the designing side and crack down on drawing up some patterns since Hancock is having their semiannual clearance sale later this week and I want to know how much fabric I need for each project so I can scoop it up on sale. It's been challenging, but a lot of fun - although, I am finding that I will need to buy plenty of erasers ;).

I also have a logo drawn up that Daniel is going to help me make look better with InDesign, and hopefully then I can figure out how to use the scanner for the embroidery on my fancy-schmancy sewing machine to make labels.

I got to "Seedling" from the name of my blog and the hopes that this project will be the start of something exciting. Then in my daydreaming, I thought of some names for my "other" lines that are waiting to take shape:

Lily Grass: A line of casual, comfortable, yet trendy clothes centering around earth tones.
Lady Slipper: A line of simple, yet elegant bridal accessories such as veils, custom corsets (good ones that are comfortable), garters (Mom's hand knit garters are welcome, too!), penny in your shoe holder.
Dahlia or Black Orchid (can't decide): A line of evening wear that livens a classic look with a hint of trendy flair. From cocktail dresses to evening gowns.

In Chicago this past weekend, I had a great time window shopping down The Magnificent Mile. Plenty of ideas bouncing around in my head thanks to those wonderful designer displays!

So without further ado, my plan is to create this line of purses/wallets/bags (and do it WELL!) and hopefully sell them at some craft shows to start...we'll see where it ends up!