The Heart Bag

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 Hi everyone. I'm Sara Balcer. I am the owner of Onyx Cove and the one woman show of all those behind the scenes, designer, marketing, all of it, I'm your girl. I'm your customer support, you're talking to me. And today I am here to give you a little behind the scenes of something very special to me. Um, I recently finished making this purse and I thought it would be fun to kinda share my inspiration, the process, and the lessons I learned along the way. So today we're talking about the heart bag. 

You might hear a little jingle jangle here or there in the background like that.

 Um, because I'm holding onto her because me describing and giving you feedback and telling you my lessons and everything along the way, it's just gonna be easier if she's in my hands.

Because I can give you the step by step of what I did.

 So my inspiration for the design was I was originally going to have her with me at the Go Red for Women Event in Duluth, Minnesota. I unfortunately did not bring her along with me, and I'm going to just refer to her as her, like get over it. I know it's a bag but I created her and she’s my baby, anyways.

Last year, I made a gown for my dearest friend Grethell, because she was presenting and telling her story of her heart journey. And with that being said, I've made a few gala gowns in the past and with this event I wanted to do something different.

 I can do gowns in my sleep so I was like, well, what could I do differently? 

Make pants. I can make a jacket, I can make a blouse. I'm like, maybe what if I don't do something clothing based? And then I thought, what if I make a purse? 

It's like, I could do that. I've never made a purse before, but I'm willing to give it a shot. And if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world.

 So I made the damn purse.

 I didn't have it finished by the time of the event, unfortunately. Um, because. You know, if you were following along on my Instagram, you guys know that the last part of my rhinestones didn't make it in time. And I was working on it the night before the gala and I sat back and I just started crying and I was like, I don't wanna rush this.

I want her to be perfect. I don't wanna feel insecure walking around tomorrow with an unfinished bag. 

It doesn't even have straps on her and isn't completely rhinestone. So I stopped and I waited, and of course the rhinestones were delivered the day of the gala, but I was like, you know what, I'm not running home to put it together and everything.

And I'm glad I didn't because it took me a few days to finish it up after I got that.

 So let's move into the production of the bag. My first step that I did was I knew I wanted to be a heart, so I cut out a few different heart sizes with muslin fabric, and I just kind of laid 'em out on my table and I was like, okay, well what's gonna be able to hold structure?

What's gonna be able to keep things in the bag? What's gonna be big enough? Ultimately, that doesn't feel like it's too big, so I didn't want it to feel like a tote bag. I want this to be a structured bag that can be like an off the shoulder. A little above your hip and not feel an arm and a leg is carrying around in your purse 'cause I have a purse that is like, it's, she's pretty heavy duty and I take her everywhere with me. I got everything in it and I didn't want that same kind of like heavy weight vibe for this purse. So then I picked out the fabric. I have, I have a Swatch booklet from Mood and I was like, oh, well what could I do?

What can I make this purse out of that's going to hold that structure, be strong enough and last, last a long time? That was my number one thing is I want this purse to last. And for my experience with purses, I've toured factories, manufacturing facilities throughout my one semester of fashion school and I actually did a little tour of Duluth Pack in Duluth, Minnesota when I was in high school, and I have a few of their products, um, Frost River as well. And they're, both of the products, they both last forever. Like I kid you not, these bags last forever and they're made outta canvas. That's what I know.

That's what I can relate to. That's like. It's my own relationship to bags with my experience and what I've witnessed and everything is canvas. So I picked a red canvas for the bag and I went from there. Um, once the fabric arrived, I didn't pick out a lining yet because I just wanted to see if I could do the ordered interfacing. I can't remember the thickness of the interfacing, but it's, she, she, she thick, like she's sturdy. So my first step, once I got all my materials and everything is I used my heart pattern and I cut out four hearts out of the canvas and I cut out. Did I cut out four? Yeah. I cut out four of the interfacing as well, and then I just got to steaming.

So I ultimately, at the end of it all, I had four canvas hearts with four Interfacings steamed into 'em, and then I stitched two and two together. So then ultimately I ended up with just two thick hearts at the end of it because I, that's the back and the front, and I wanted them to make sure that they wouldn't wiggle.

So that's why I decided to do two things of interfacing rather than just one and then one heart of canvas. It was a little floppy and I didn't want it to be floppy, so I was like, well, let's structure her up. So interfacing, steaming, canvas. Hand stitching became my best friend. So once that was all said and done, I was looking at it and I'm like, you know what?

Really make it stand out besides just the canvas. And then I got into the rabbit hole of rhinestones and I was like, you know, it would just, it would really shine. It'll draw someone's eye to it and be like, oh my God, where did you get this bag? And then I can be like, ah, made it. But no. But yeah. 

That's just me.

This, this is just me. Like you just have to get used to it. Um, so I got down the rabbit hole of rhinestones and I knew I wanted it to be shiny and gorgeous and eye drawing and everything. And I did some digging. I was like, okay, where can I buy a whole bunch of rhinestones and everything? So then I found blue streak.

Crystals and I ordered so many rhinestones from them in what really got me down the rhinestone rabbit hole was I was watching the Grammys and the after party photos started coming out and I noticed Sabrina Carpenters after party gown and I was like, wow, it's so. Stunning. And it was a Mirror Palais um, custom gown and they posted a video of them rhinestoning it.

And I'm just like, this is literally a piece of lace and they're just hot fixing these rhinestones. And I'm like, girl, I can do that. That would look so good on this purse. So I ordered rhinestones and a hot fix, um, tool to get 'em to stay on there. So I spent many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many nights, hours, individually placing.

Rhinestones and heating them up. But let's bring it back to the construction of the bag. So before I even started Rhine, stoning, I, we got the interfacing done, we got the, the heart sewn. I had to get the middle part done. And for the middle part I did the same thing. I cut out two pieces of, I cut out two pieces of red canvas.

And two pieces of interfacing. I kept the top open because I wanted to do that last for the zipper and. Make sure that would've been, you know, I, I would've done it. That would've been the one thing I would've done differently was the lining part of it. But we'll get into that in a little bit. So with the structure, the middle part of, Ooh, she noisy.

I cut out the canvas two canvases. So once I had the middle part sewn. Together with the interfacing, everything like that, steamed, such blah, blah, blah. Was ready to attach the hearts to the center, which this is when I realized I was gonna need another sewing machine. I already have three sewing machines.

I have my Serger, which I guess wouldn't technically considered a sewing machine, but then I have two Jenomes, and they're just like a home stitching, sewing machine. I was like, I need something a little heavy duty. I'm not gonna go out and buy a Juki because girl, those are expensive. That'll be a down the road expense, you know, once such and such.

We'll get there eventually. In fashion school, we did Juki and loved 'em. Butter. Everyone needs a Juki. If you have the money, get a Juki. Anyways. Talk to my dad. I'm like, do we still have the sewing machine that your mom had in the basement? Does it work? Like, whatever. This is the closest thing I was going to get to an industrial Juki.

And he's like, yeah. We still have it. I'm like, great, Eureka, we're gonna move forward on this project. So I brought it up and I was like, okay, it's all, I put my thread in it. I had to watch videos on how to thread this thing because it was a little, it was much more different than the Jenomes and Juki. And my grandma even said she got this at Sears like.

I don't know how long ago. But, um, we had to oil it up because it wouldn't sew, it wouldn't, the me mechanisms would not go with the the footing. So we, oiled the machine up, and then I started sewing. I managed to get one heart attached to the center and. Then I went to go try and do the other side, and I, I only got one side of that heart on there, but then I had to completely hand stitch the other side of the remaining heart to the center.

So there's a whole side that's completely hand stitched on this thing. And don't worry, I made sure she's not moving, she's not going anywhere that she's hand stitched into it. Once I had the heart stitched to the half center. Of the bag. I was ready to figure out the lining. I ordered originally this organic silk from mood and I love it.

I love it. I still have it, but I just from stitching, I did like maybe three linings with it and I just didn't love it. It was snagging and I was like, I don't if this is going to be someone's purse. I don't want the inside to be snagging, so I'm back to square one with the lining. I have this leftover velvet from when I did Grethell's gown last year.

I'm like, oh, that would be like a cute full circle situation. So I did lining with the red velvet that I used last year for Grethell's dress, and that's the lining of the purse. It's so soft and it's nice and thick and nothing is gonna snag. Which is my biggest thing because if I'm gonna put a wallet in a purse or my keys in my purse, I don't want it to snag and it's gonna be like a basically a Shein or a Temu bag that's gonna last for one time, and then I'm gonna toss it in the garbage like everyone else does.

Don't shop at Shein or Temu. Come on now. You should know better. Anyways, that's that. I could go on that for hours, but we're not going to do that. We're talking about the heart bag. So once I had the lining in, the next step was I need to figure out how to close the bag. 'cause I don't want it to be open on the top.

I want a zipper closed part of it. So I cut out two more pieces of canvas and two more pieces of interfacing and ordered a bunch of zippers. The zippers that I originally got, I did not like. They were too small. So then very last minute I ordered, I ordered more zippers and they were longer and they were perfect.

So I stitched that zipper in there, did the interfacing and everything, and then I had to hand stitch the whole top heart of the bag and I hand stitched it to the hearts. And then eventually I had this little structured heart. She was all put together. And the lining was in it and everything. And then I started Rhine stoning.

And like I said, I was Rhine stoning for nights, hours, days, like nonstop burned my hands, smelled glue, everything. And now we have this bag. Towards the end though, when I was getting closer to the gala date, I was starting to realize I wasn't going to have it finished. Yeah, I had a structured heart bag but didn't have the straps on it.

It was unfinished with the rhinestones. And I, like I said before, I didn't feel comfortable with bringing it out there because I didn't wanna have to give this whole speech, explain if someone asked me about my, my heart that I was carrying around. So I left at home. And had to wait for the rhinestones because they got lost in the mail.

And of course they got delivered the day of the gala. But like I said before, I wasn't gonna go home and crank it out. After the gala, I took a week or two off and then I got back into it and I just drilled it. I Rhinestoned, I cut out little canvas pieces to lock in the D rings for. The chain straps and then I had to use some heavy duty tools to open up the chains and close the chains, and she was done.

So I finished the bag. I am completely blown away with the fact that I was able to do this and not have any experience with making a purse or a bag granted, besides my little hounds tooth bag that I made in college. But I, I don't really count that because it was for an assignment. Would I do it again?

Absolutely. I've already been like, I really wanna make. A bag again, and my pa, my mom is like, girl, slow down. Slow down. You gotta start making clothes. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. With that being said, I am open up to the idea that if you guys want a little custom bag. With rhinestones or something, I am gonna come up with a plan to do a custom commission thing.

It's in my mind. I have a ton of things in my mind, so it's like, ah, I have all these things I wanna talk about. I'm moving forward and everything and blah, blah, blah, blah. But then I also don't want to move too fast and give you guys hope about something that I'm like, that's just not logically going to be able to happen with the one woman show that I am.

So, but with that being said, customs are going to be a thing and I learned a lot from it. Like I know there are things that I would do differently next time when I am presented the opportunity to make another purse. And there are things that I would keep doing with it and, yeah. I'm glad I did it. It was a great learning experience.

It really boosted my own personal creativity and confidence in Sewing again, because I was in a creative rut and those are so hard to get out of. But giving myself that timeline to start and make something and to create and get into like a mood board or. Have an opportunity that presents itself to make something, and I wouldn't have changed that whole experience.

Granted it was a few months, but also I, I took my time with it and I'm ready to do it again right this second, maybe not. But down the road, I'm ready to make another purse. Right now I gotta focus on making some key pieces. Because we gotta get this clothing line going. Yeah. Thank you for following along.

And um, I'll have some photos on my Instagram of the heart bag. I gotta take some professional ones of her because she needs her, she needs her moment. And this summer I'm gonna bring her out and everything too. So she'll have her moments. She absolutely will. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I thought it would be a little bit easier to do than a blog because I know we're so.

We're on the go all the time as humans and typing and necessarily, not a lot of people even read blogs anymore, and I feel like people try to tell their whole life story in a blog, so I'm just like, let's keep it nice and short, but also relatable. And it's not necessarily like a podcast, but I guess it is.

I don't know. We'll figure it out as we go. If you like this, let me know. And Instagram, I respond to messages. Let me know in the email as well, or just like comments on this, this little episode. But yeah, I'm looking forward to do more of these. It's a learning process, so we're learning together and I'm excited to share my stories behind products that I make my journey as a creative and artist.

A designer and to discuss the highs and lows of everything that come together. So with that being said, thanks for following along. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, and stay tuned for more romantic, glamorous, shiny, beautiful things to be made. Have a good day. Bye.