pleated tote photos

I thought I'd share some pictures of bags that I stumbled upon on Aimee's blog! The pattern featured is my Pleated Tote pattern.

She did such a great job mixing and matching fabrics, and I'm so impressed that she's already sewn 10 of this bag!  I think my favorite is the green one :)

a little policy announcement!

First, the announcement!

I am now allowing finished products made from my patterns to be sold!  

Now, the backstory...

I've had a ton of requests from fellow Etsy sellers who wanted to purchase my sewing patterns to create finished pieces to sell in their shops.  For a while, I decided against this -- mostly because I used to sell my own finished products, and didn't want to rule out that possibility again in the future.  Basically, if I decided to go back to making bags to sell in an online venue, I didn't want to have all that competition!

The truth of it is that I had a lot of success with my handmade bags.  I sold them at craft fairs, farmers' markets, on Etsy, to friends, in consignment shops, etc.  It was a great experience, and it kept me busy!  But, over time, I realized that I'm just not cut out for production sewing work.  It made me neglect my own personal sewing projects, and interfered with designing new patterns.  It just made me appreciate sewing less and less the longer I did it.  Well, I wanted to enjoy sewing again, so that in a nutshell is why I decided to forgo selling finished goods and concentrate on the patterns. 

.... and the details!

I would honored to be a part of your handmade small business!  Whether you choose one pattern to sew and sell, or five, it would be a privilege to be a part of your sewing venture.  There are only two things that I request:  

1. Please credit the pattern design to me. A link to www.jengiddens.com is always appreciated.  You may use wording such as: "This item was made using a Jen Giddens Pattern (www.jengiddens.com)."

2. All items for sale must be handmade by your.  This means that the bags can not be mass produced.

Of course, please contact me if you have any questions about this policy change!  I look forward to being a part of your handmade business :)

my lovely pattern testers

Several weeks ago, I put a call out on the interweb for some pattern testers for my brand new sewing pattern - the Zippy Bag.  I was amazed by the enthusiastic responses!  They graced me with lovely photos and inspired me with their creativity.  Isn't it funny how different the same bag can look when everyone chooses their own unique fabrics?  Love it! Here's a few photos for your enjoyment, along with the names of the testers who sewed them....

Ashley's lovely black, white, and yellow purse

Juanita's "Fine Whiner" purse - ha!

Juanita was ambitious and made two purses!

Maria from miacreates.blogspot.com made this beautiful bag with a leather strap!

Nancy's bag makes me think of pink lemonade... mmm...

Shannon's bag reminds me that fall is just around the corner!

Judith's colorful purse - this would go with just about any outfit!

Judy made this gorgeous Asian inspired bag.

Kim's bag - love the fabric combination!

Brand New Pattern... the Zippy Bag!

I'm so excited to introduce my latest pattern -- the Zippy Bag!

This little lady is larger than she appears.  She's been known to carry my bike lock and water bottle around town in the main compartment, and my keys, wallet, phone, and chapstick in the two handy-dandy zipper pockets on the exterior.  She's smaller than many of my other bags, but when you don't need to bring the whole house with you, she's the one for the job.

I loved sewing this one with David Butler's Parson Gray line.  The palette is neutral enough to coordinate with a lot, but the patterns are interesting enough to give it a little excitement. 

She's off to the printer pretty soon, and in no time she'll be ready for you to snaggle up in my Etsy shop, or at  your local quilt shop. (What, they don't carry my patterns? Silly. Ask them nicely for me, would you?)

a lovely little display at Stitchology

Everywhere I've lived since really getting into sewing, I've been blessed with wonderful sewing and fabric shops.  When I lived in Logan, Utah I drove up to the tiny town of Preston, Idaho just for Suppose.  In Denver, Colorado I loved visiting the ladies of Fancy Tiger.  When my husband and I moved back to Albuquerque after spending five years away, I was pleased to discover that several new quilt shops had popped up, among those is Stitchology.

 I've mentioned the sewing shop Stitchology a couple of times, both here on the blog on on my Facebook page.  I guess when you find something good, you just want to shout it out for all the world to hear!  Well, I know a lot of you who read this blog aren't from Albuquerque, and you may not have plans to visit here anytime soon (although you should... it can be magical). BUT, I still want to say that Stitchology is a great spot to go for a variety of fabrics -- I love that she sells all kinds of fabrics for garment sewing, including knits, lace, tweeds, etc.  Of course, this is along with all of the wonderful quilting weight fabrics as well.  Melisa, the owner of Stitchology, is SUPER knowledgeable about everything that she sells, and she is quick to share her know-how with anyone who needs some sewing advice.

Anyway, Melisa was kind enough to allow me to display several of my finished products in her front window over the last month or so!  It was really hard to get good pictures -- tricky lighting + iPhone camera + amateur photographer didn't quite get me the results I wanted.  Oh well, the display itself turned out lovely even if my photos aren't!

Stitchology

Sunburst Sling bag

NEW!! This is my still unnamed bag, still in the works. Help?!

Button Flap Purse

Pleated Tote

Pocket Tote

Pocket Tote

Pleated Tote

I forgot to get a shot of the super cute bunting that we strung across the front windows.  It's made with my leftover advertising fliers from Quilt Market.  So cute -- I'll have to get a photo of it next time I stop in.  Which will undoubtedly be, like, tomorrow ;)

a Sunburst Sling sewing class!

Melisa from Stitchology was gracious enough to ask me to teach a class at her shop on my Sunburst Sling sewing pattern.  We had a lovely, small class -- which was perfect, because the bag requires lots of itty bitty steps.  Check out these gorgeous bags! 

Dee made a lovely black, white, and red little number  It's a great example of how the pattern can be dressed up a bit based on the fabrics you choose:

 Lucinda created this fun bag with a summery, light hearted color scheme. I like her decision to not make everything super symmetrical:

 This was the sample bag on display at Stitchology to entice people to sign up for the class!  I love the fabric combo here...

And just for fun, here's another photo of the Sunburst Sling pattern made by my friend Lindsey. I love the Joel Dewberry fabrics on this one!

sewing pattern testers wanted!

I am overwhelmed with responses from my call for pattern testers! Thank you for all of your eager emails, it brightened my morning to know that so many of you are interested.  I have enough testers for this pattern, but please feel free to email me with your contact info anyway and I may need your help with a different pattern in several months :)

.........................................................................................................

It's that time again.... I'm in need of pattern testers!  I'm wrapping up my latest bag design.  No big reveals today, but here's a sneak peak:  

Zippers, anyone?

Anyway, if you are interested in being a pattern tester, please email me as soon as possible at: jengiddenspatterns@gmail.com

the official release -- the Sunburst Sling sewing pattern!

It's here!  And I must say, I am mighty proud of this one.  Orders are on their way to distributors as we speak!

In other news, for the next six months I will be unable to sell patterns to individuals or small orders to quilt shops -- I'm going on a trip!  To keep logistics simple, and because I will not be keeping an inventory during this time, I will only be shipping directly to my distributors.  If you are a quilt shop or an individual looking to buy patterns, please contact me and I can put you in touch with a distributor or a quilt shop who carries my patterns :)

Want details about the trip?  Then hop on over to America On Foot, where my husband and I will be cataloging our trek!

getting back on the horse.

Things have been progressing more slowly than expected -- I had planned to release my new pattern by now, but those of you who have heard about our new adventure may be able to forgive me for my slack.  If you haven't heard, pop on over to America On Foot, then pop back over here to finish reading this post.

.... Back already?  You can see why I've been sidetracked!

So the point of this post is that I need your help.  I need some extra sets of eyes to read and sew through my latest pattern, and give me thorough and honest feedback to help me finish up my edits.  If you are interested, you will need to have an intermediate level of sewing or higher, you should be very detail oriented and willing to spend time writing comments and filling out a form that I will provide.  I would prefer that you have experience sewing bag patterns by other pattern designers, such as Anna Maria Horner or Amy Butler.  You will also need to be able to get back to me within roughly a week of receiving the pattern information that I send to you.  Interested?  Email me directly and we'll go over details, including how you will be compensated for helping me out :)  jengiddenspatterns@gmail.com

Thanks, folks!  Hope to hear from some of you soon!

introducing a brand new pattern!

I'm proud to introduce my latest sewing pattern!  This bag is called the Sunburst Sling and includes a patchwork exterior and a top zipper!  I am looking forward to see the fabric combinations that you all use with this pattern!

This isn't quite available just yet -- I'm finalizing some edits, but it will be ready to go in about 2 weeks!!

reflections on Market...

Brace yourself for a wordy post!  I've been full of photos lately, but I've had a lot of time to mull over a few things that I would like to share... (but I won't judge if you can't deal with lack of visual stimulation! Just skip to the end of this post...).

I've had a few weeks to decompress and process all of the experience of the Spring International Quilt Market, which just happened a few weeks ago in Salt Lake City.  There were so many emotions, stimulations, people to meet, things to see, ideas to process after that crazy weekend that I'm just now beginning to articulate what I learned from Market and how it will impact my business in the future.

The most immediate impact that all of this will mean to many of you is that I have decided to no longer offer PDF patterns for sale on Etsy.  I am doing this for a variety of reasons.  Care to hear?

1. I want to support the local quilt shop.  When people know that they can purchase PDF patterns online for a few dollars less than in shops, it makes them more inclined to shop online instead of in their local shop.  Although this is good news for me, since my cut of the profit is higher, it isn't in line with my "shop local" philosophy.

2. PDF patterns are tricky, because they are easier to forward to friends via email.  This isn't great news for me, since it means that my patterns could be passed around and I wouldn't be compensated for all of the time and creativity it takes to develop a sewing pattern.

3. In the future, I plan to offer limited edition PDF patterns on Etsy, but they will be smaller, easier projects and will not compete with the paper patterns available in the shop.

4. I'm not sure if this should be a number, but I am still offering the printed patterns for sale in my shop, and at the same retail price that I suggest to quilt shops. If you have a quilt shop in your area that sells my pattern, by all means, purchase it there!  But for those of you who have no other way to get my patterns, come on over to my shop to purchase.


On that note, as many of you may know, I redesigned the look of my patterns just in time for Spring Market, and had them professionally printed and assembled.  (Goodbye folding and assembling patterns myself at the kitchen table -- YIPPEE!!).  The professional printing has caused me to reevaluate the price of my patterns, so you may have noticed a price increase.  This new price reflects the going rate for purse patterns these days, and is the price I need to maintain in order for designing patterns to pay off financially.  I'm as thrifty as the next person, but believe me, the difference in printing and the quality of the pattern makes the price totally worth it.

Here's a peak into the redesigned patterns:

pattern cover

pattern back

image of the pocket tote and classic messenger patterns

inside the pocket tote pattern

sneak peak... new pattern!

It's been a long time, huh?  Well, I've finally come up with a new pattern!  I still need to work through some minor snaffus and then I'll be unveiling it for your sewing pleasure.

Wanna see a sneak peak?

She is SUCH a TEASE!