Hi friends! A lot happening this week.  Besides being sick at home, with a child that has panic attacks over conjunctivitis, a lot has been happening. (Yes, he thought his eye would fall out and he would need a patch like the skinny pirate on the Pirates of the Caribbean.)

The May Pattern for The Bag of the Month Club is out, and I just love Anna's Poolside Tote!

You can still become a member of the club and receive all 5 previous patterns, plus the one coming out in June. There are tons and tons of fabric and pattern prizes when you enter photos of your completed bag in the flickr group. Don't forget to enter!  Read about that HERE.




As most of you know, I have sponsored some prizes in Imagine Gnats current Selfish Sewing Week, and if you haven't already entered to win prizes, see the post below and enter to win patterns.  I have also had the honour of having a pattern review during the week, and you can read about Jill's version of the Necessary Clutch Wallet HERE.  It turned out gorgeous!



This morning I woke up to a very nice email from Shelley from Sew Creative Supplies in Perth, to say that the Perth Craft & Quilt Fair, running from May 21-15th this year, has picked my NCW pattern to be the No. 1 Hot Product at the show, and it's even been printed in a little book that goes out to all of the members. Way cool!!


BAG ZIPPERS!!:  I've just put in a small order of zippers to YKK, that I think will be a great little addition to the shop. These zippers will be specific to bag making, and right now are just coming in black. When I get them in and have a good look at what I've got, I'll order some more colours.  Can't wait to get these zippers!

Here is a little sneak peek of a bag pattern that I've been working on for AGES.  I hope to have this done soon so that I can share the rest of it with you.


Have you had a look at my cute cathedral window pin cushions?  I might have shared this photo before, but I just love these.. had to share again.


ALSO... This week all of my shipped bag hardware, paper pattern, and sewing supplies orders that go out from my shop at Emmaline, will get a free zipper pull in the package.  A thank you gift for YOU!  Thank you for your support!

Metal Zipper Pulls for your bags and purses.

I'm doing a bit of research to see what are the most popular zipper colours, because I am "formulating" (mwa-ha-haa!) a plan towards stocking some zippers that will be geared specifically towards bag making. Quality bag zippers seem to be quite hard to find for me locally, and I really have had quite a lot of requests from my lovely customers.


But where to start?  Colours, sizes, pull styles, teeth styles?  It's a bit confusing and it seems that this zipper thing is an all or nothing kind of thing.  I just can't have a few, but if I'm going to start somewhere, I need to start small and therefore I need to stock exactly what you want and need, but on a reasonable scale.

So this week I had a small giveaway/contest on the Emmaline facebook page and commenters had to tell me what colour zippers they most like to use on their bags and wallets.  I was not surprised in the love of Red, Black, Grey and White, but I have to say I was surprised at the purple & pink!





It should be noted that the pink, grey, red and brown include different shades and GEEZE what does Aqua, Turquoise and Teal mean to you, because they seem to look different to different people!

1)  I'd love to hear what your fave colours would be if you were limited it a few colours.

2)  I'd love to hear what SIZE your zippers would need to be. I'm am probably going to have matching #3 zippers (dress size) for internal zipper pockets, and #5 zippers for bag openings, but I am concerned about lengths of zippers the most.  What is your favourite length for your internal pocket (8" or 9"?) AND if you were to choose a couple of basic zipper lengths that you could cut down to size to fit your bag openings, what would they be:

A)  14"
B)  20"
C)  22"
D)  24"
E)  Another Length
F)  Zippers by the yard/meter

Now... zipper pulls are a whole other story!!  As some of you know, I stock my own zipper pull designs, so those are a given... but what about another choice!  Nickel, Antique Brass, Painted enamel to match the zip?  What do you like??

Tell me about your zippers please!  I need some comments here!


 

Some NEWS about my Zipper Pulls that may concern you, if you are looking to buy them in the next couple of weeks. 

I have been very disappointed that my recent batch of the NICKEL COLOUR "handmade" zipper pulls (the top one in the above photo), are scratched and not acceptable to me. They got by QC unnoticed, but my manufacturer has been very accommodating and apologetic and is remaking the whole order of zipper pulls and labels. Sadly this means that I have to make them "Out of Stock" again. They have promised a rush order, and they will be ready in 2 weeks. 

I still have the Antique Brass ones (shown below), as well as the "handcrafted" & one with a maple leaf. Thank you for your patience, I really think this is necessary to ensure that you get the best quality product that I can give. 

Emmaline Metal Zipper Pulls

Thank you, to all of my customers, for your continued support and appreciation of my bag bling addiction ;)

 

My new metal bag labels and zipper pulls are in the shop and getting a great response from customers so far. I am really happy with how they turned out. These will be great as a centre focal point on the exterior of any bag, or a nice professional surprise in a lining. I know I am biased, as they are my design, but I really think these labels and zipper pulls will set your handmade bags apart from the rest. They are just cool, cool, cool and I am very proud of them! I love my bag bling...


I wanted to use the word "handcrafted" and have a wider & larger label than my original versions and so after some messing around, I came up with this design. I couldn't decide on whether or not to put black in in the lettering, so I got both. You see, I have a hard time making decisions. I plan on re-ordering the style that is the most popular and probably will not always carry both the designs with ink them and no ink in them. As it turned out, it's actually hard to see a huge difference in the "with ink" or "without" as the lettering itself is not very thick. If I had made the font a little wider, I think it would be much more noticeable. So please let me know your preference and I'll make note.


Being a Canadian girl, I started with the Made in Canada version, and created a maple leaf zipper pull to match. After designing the Made in the USA version, I decided on a simple zipper pull to match that says "handcrafted". These pulls are thinner, but a bit longer than the original "handmade" pulls and are well suited for both the exterior, interior of bags, zipper pouches, make-up bags and jackets. I like the size of these!


My Australian customers are feeling a bit left out at the moment and several have requested I produce some Made in Australia labels and if I get a big enough response, I will go for it. My biggest worry is that I don't sell a lot to AUS because of the shipping costs and so I really have to make sure they will be a popular item. I would definitely only buy one style - with ink or without.

These go in very easily. Just simply use the washer to mark the two slits that need to be made.  Put the label prongs through the holes, place the washer on the back and bend the prongs over the washer.  I recommend a bit of batting, felt or fleece over the prongs before you put the washer on, as this makes a tighter fit.