I always knew I'd be a bag lady someday...

...and if you take a look at my sewing room you'd agree. I'm going to participate in a home show in Fayetteville at the end of May, so I'm working hard to upgrade my tote bags and get a system down in terms of what kinds of bags I'll be selling. I tend to just do whatever strikes me - which is great in terms of creativity, but not so great in terms of people seeing a design they like and finding the same thing in different colors or fabrics in my Etsy shop. I want to get a few designs honed and then make a LOT of them, with a few one-of-a-kinds thrown in for fun.

I also have quite a stash of vintage fabrics and upcycled clothing now that I have to start using before I buy any more. I am just so in love with the fabric, it's hard to cut it... but I don't have the space to be a hoarder. (I know I'm not alone in this!) So, over the last couple of weeks I've been seriously banging out some bags in the hopes of getting a decent inventory put together for the home show. I've uploaded pictures into my Flickr account - but here are a few for you to check out.

It seems I lean heavily toward bold, graphic fabrics - wouldn't you say? I have thought about embellishing a couple with trims and other bits of materials... but they seemed so "vocal" as they were I left them to just strut their stuff through the fabrics and colors. I do like the pocket on the gold and red one, and will probably do more of those. Vintage buttons? Pom-pom fringe? What do you guys think??