From the ‘Baginning’
The Sofa’s into Bags story – taking the internet by storm
How did New Baginnings Start?
In 2018 we change the curtains in our living room and my husband asks what I was going to do with all that material…
“Well” I declare “I’ll make Luggage “ – we’d just returned from HoIiday and had the usual trauma of trying to recognise our suitcases on the carousel and also I mean, coz how hard can that be … We’ll really hard as it turns out. (insert laughter)
I decided to start small, with a shopper, so off I trot to the shop to buy a pattern and get advice as to what I needed.
What I very soon realise is that in order to utilise this material I had to purchase so many extra’s and to be honest I didn’t even like the end result that much it was a bit too generic. (boring).
Following advice from my daughter I head over to Pinterest to have a look at Bags and find a range of denim bags. Now that sparks my interest.
After a few mishaps, my first bag emerges. The Shopper
Now I have a product, I just need a name.
I turn to Social Media and run competition. I now have a product and a name and New Baginnings is finally born.
Then I start playing!
Buying redundant sample books and scraps from the upholsters and curtain makers, I have enough material to start playing.
I make friends with charity shop managers and soon they are putting their ripped jeans aside for me and other materials that they can not sell and it is at this stage and this is true, I actually thought I was going to run out of material …ha ha ha like that would happen, but at this stage I actually thought this to be true.
I have now made enough bags and I have enough confidence that I give a pattern another go.
So I buy a vintage Hobo Bag pattern (that tied in with the fabrics and waste that I was using) and I successfully made a version of this bag, making adjustments to suit my material availability the NB messenger or Crossbody bag was now in production.
Let’s travel to 2020 and Covid 19
Due to a factory shut down and relocation of its Testing department, I received a call to come empty out a store room, what I didn’t know was that it full to the rafters with sample leathers and suede, all destined to be thrown into the skip the following morning at 11am.
I filled my car to the brim and saved what I could sew, the rest sadly was disposed of.
This inevitably took my business in a new direction and one that gave me the confidence to try new things with the new fabrics
Taking a break to sew the laundry bags for the NHS I continued to sew and hone my craft.
Did I mention that I was self taught oh and I can’t read patterns 🤣🤣🤣
As soon as people got to know what I did I suddenly became inundated with clothing and materials and the longer we stayed in lockdown the more people sorted their homes, the more materials I collected.
I am always amazed at what people have stored in their lofts, attics and garages and I am always amazed and excited by what arrives at my door.
Upcycling & Repurposing Fabrics
Got some old Jeans you want to donate?
Repurposed
