Hand embroidered in Maryland

Wool with a silk lining in the color of your choice after you purchase.

Width of bag opening - 8 inches

Width of bag bottom - 9 inches

Depth of bag bottom - 4 inches

Height of bag body - 5 inches

Rise of handle - 6 inches

Total handle length - 15 inches

I hand-embroidered this whimsical, cheeky bag years ago when I was working with a man from Kashmir (he worked here for a big tech company) whose mother started a workshop training widows in Kashmiri chain stitch embroidery techniques so that they could support themselves after their husbands were killed in the armed conflict in Kashmir.  I worked with Hamza for years doing product development, refining the process of embroidering bags in a single piece -stitching over the seams of the canvas bag body so that the entire bag was an integrated piece of embroidery. I embroidered several bags myself to send to the stitchers so they would understand how I wanted my designs stitched and we got so close to getting it right.  And then they had a terrible flood and the workshop got washed away and the best stitcher who had been working on my project left, lured by another workshop. I never got my samples back.

This little bag is a sample I didn't send away to Kashmir. 

This sort of chain stitch embroidery from Kashmir is done with a tool called a tamboor. I don't use a tamboor.  I use a needle. It takes much longer to do chain stitch embroidery with a needle than a tamboor.  But I like the effects I can get with a needle and by putting tension on my fabric so it has dimension.  The spirals, for example, recess into soft concavities, creating a kind of dynamic topography.

This, to me, is a very special bag.  I hesitate to sell it.  But I will never carry it as it's not quite my personal style.  So it needs to have a life where it's loved and carried and enjoyed.

It represents an incredible amount of labor.  

There is only 1.  There will only ever be this 1.

PLEASE NOTE: The current handle is leather, with resin rings and bag feet.  If you want this to be an evening bag, I can change the handle to be a silk or velvet ribbon and change the bag feet to something more elegant or remove them altogether. The zipper color is currently blue.  That can also be changed and you can choose the lining color as it is not yet lined.