Emily Blumenthal - Handbag Designer 101: Everything You Need to Know About Designing, Making, and Marketing Handbags

EMILY BLUMENTHAL

Voyageur Press
First published in 2011 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

Copyright 2011 by Voyageur Press
Text copyright 2011 by Emily Blumenthal

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ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-3973-2

Sewing tips for leather on pages 1213 are thanks to Leather Suede Skins, Inc.
Interfacing information on pages 1315 are thanks to Pellon.
Fabric and thread tips on pages 1617 are thanks to Coats and Clark.

Sewing Instructions: Pamela Hastings
Instructional Illustrations: Vanessa Kincaid
Editor: Margret Aldrich
Design Manager: Katie Sonmor

Designed by: Ellen Huber
Layout by: Karl Laun
Cover designed by: Vanessa Kincaid

Digital Edition: 978-1-61059-776-0
Softcover Edition: 978-0-76033-973-2

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

On the cover: From left, Kathering Kweis Donna Classic Hobo; Catherine Meyers FOLLIS Laced Frame Julia; and Rebecca Minkoffs The Morning After Bag.

On the frontispiece: Katherine Kweis Donna Classic Hobo in lambskin.

On the title page: Rebecca Minkoffs The Morning After Bag in genuine leather.

For every aspiring actor in Los Angeles, there is an aspiring handbag designer in New York. Anyone who has attended a tradeshow, craft fair, or home shopping party will recognize the truth of this statement. Handbag Designer 101 will review everything you need to know about handbags: from learning to create fifteen essential handbag silhouettes to developing a profitable business.

My name is Emily Blumenthal, and I am the creator of the Yasmena handbag. Without any design experience, I created a bag that hit the big time, structured a licensing contract with a well-known leather goods company, made multiple appearances on QVC (where my handbags sold out in less than four minutes), and accrued a major sportswear license. The Yasmena bag even had a cameo on Sex and the City.

The idea for this small, stylish, practical handbag sprung from my real-life experiences: After going to work, to grad school, and then out to clubs almost five nights a week with my then DJ boyfriend, I began to notice a visible lack of functional handbags. Whether a woman was dancing, drinking, socializing, or smoking, all handbag options seemed to be cumbersome and uncomfortable. Women even performed ceremonial dances around their handbags. It was then that I had an epiphany: there was a void in the handbag market for a going out baga fashionable yet functional bag that holds the essentials. The Yasmena bag was the solution.

Since the launch of my line in 2000, I have become a television Handbag Expert while consulting for many up-and-coming independent handbag designers and teaching at the Learning Annex in New York City and schools like the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising and Parsons The New School for Design. In 2006, I launched the website Handbag Designer 101 (www.handbagdesigner101.com) as a community for handbag designers, aficionados, and experts. Now with more than 300,000 unique visitors and page views doubling every month since its launch and currently reaching 2 million, Handbag Designer 101 is an integral part of the accessories industry.

In June 2007, I held the first annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards at the Museum of the City of New York. The Independent Handbag Designer Awards provided an opportunity for budding and existing designers to break into the notoriously exclusive fashion and accessory business. Designers of the trendiest and most stylish handbags squared off against one another with awards given for Handbag Design Excellence. Five years later, the Handbag Awards has become an industry event. With more than a thousand international applicants, the IHDA remains the only design competition to salute the independent handbag designer.

Through my years in the industry, Ive gained intimate knowledge of the day-to-day struggles and successes that independent handbag designers experience, and I want to share them with you. Whether you plan to sew handbags at home for your own closet, create handbags for craft fairs and art shows, or make it big and produce bags that the hottest celebrities want to carry, this book will help you on your journey.

First, you will find patterns and simple how-to instructions for the fifteen key handbag silhouettes, including those most popular today: the hobo, clutch, satchel, and tote. Grouped in terms of difficultybeginner, intermediate, and advancedthese bags will help you build up skills as you go along. The bags pictured are made in white canvas to consistently demonstrate how this bag will look if you follow the instructions provided. Along with each silhouette are helpful sewing tips from the Singer Sewing Company, words of wisdom from industry experts and well-known designers, and anecdotes from independent designers, plus images of designer bags to serve as inspiration.