Shinzi Katoh's Mushroom & other hobo stories

Its exceedingly difficult for me to stop thinking about mushrooms, big and small, cute or classy. Its 3am here and I'm having trouble sleeping. This hobo keeps staring at me in the face. I hop on over to blogger and start to write....

I have a long standing love with Shinzi Katoh, ever since the Branche print came out, I'm floored. I rushed to grab one of his shorty totes in the Branche print. Sadly, it wasn't to my expectations as the material was a tad lumpy and the construction was a little shoddy. Was it my tote, I wondered. I never did quite use it. It sits in my wardrobe with my collection of not-quite-right bags. How many of us have that problem already? Strangely, my shoes are getting plenty of action. As I get fitter from my gym classes, my heels got higher. I even got semi-drunk on Moet during Sunday night's uncle's 65th birthday dinner. How can I refuse my dear uncle? The Moet was definitely the cherry on top of the ridiculously yummy fudge cake. I have a new addiction because of that. But I digress!

So how did panel hobos come about? 4 scores & 7 years ago(nah, not that long!), I remembered I had a piece of the Safari Dream print fabric lying around. Not big enough for a tote, not right enough for a wallet or anything else. I wanted to do something that would efficiently use the entire piece without wastage. I did a bit of shifting with fabrics and came up with the panel hobo. One of my biggest customer had to have it when shown the picture & snapped it up without waiting for it to run live on etsy. I had the same piece of fabric in about the same size for the Shinzi Katoh prints and thought I could do the same thing coz I seriously loved the panel look. It took some practice to get it perfect & as I worked on it, I fell in love with it and started working on a more of it. A bunch of wonderful people felt the same and couldn't resist them! I was more than happy to hear wonderful things they had to say about the reversibility and the cuteness. Lucky that I had the canvas red gingham on hand for Mushroom & Stroll. They work beautifully together & I'm always over the moon when I see them click like magic.

Of course, people in florspace have a weird tendency to love mushrooms. We eat them, think about them, make them and love them. I think they're awesome! Maybe one day they'll talk!

Mushroom Magic! Yaaaay!

Red & oh-so-brighty
White & very spotty
Staring at me
innocently naughty

Grown in spurts
He is stumpy, she is mighty
They are tall
All so spotty

Watch the feet!
Watch those hands!
I'm a cutie
but not for tummy

The winds gently breeze
Never shy nor lethargic
swaying in the fields of green
Mushroom magic!

Huggable Hobos

"Hi! My name is Soda. I was born on a hot summer day when my creator was dreaming of lime sorbets and the deep blue sea and clear skies of californian beaches!"

Law mid-term is over, bit of window here. Time to talk about the huggable hobos! I love love love hobos! I'm not sure when it started. Hmm....I think it was a couple of years ago? Gucci launched their big and functional horsebit hobos, the one with the tooth/leather rope handle thingy? Jessica Simpson was carrying still with Nick and was lugging a caramel version all over town together with a string of other celebs. Obviously I had trouble paying for something like that, not to mention I was never the Gucci fan. I loved the rich caramel buttery leather but I keep having the PETA voice in my head so I opted for a faux leather version for uni. It went perfectly with anything, I mean ANYTHING! I lugged it in wide-legged tailored pant, denim, even to the beach and it still looked fab every step of the way. The ease of the single handle and fuss-free design made it literally my everyday bag. Just lug and go, my friends would tout.

So there, couple of years later, not to match Gucci or Bottega or anyone else, I made my own. Fabric choice is almost my first priority. I didn't want the hobo to be too structured coz, hell, its a hobo! But but but, I still wanted some sort of form. It needed to be functional yet decent looking at the same time. I went straight for home dec weight canvas. It was the only way to go without the lumpyness of thin cotton or the stiffness of interfacings. To double the fun, and to further maintain the puffy-semi-structured-flowy look, I took the fabric inside as well. The opening of the hobo is about 13-14 inches, big enough to dump things in, but small enough to prevent naughty hands from dipping into your hobo pot. All in all, I could make it reversible! How cool to have the versatility of 2 bags in one! Woo-hoo I thought that hot summer day, Bingo! Naturally the double pleat is to add puff and space for your stuff. The size was made to fit anyone. Its puffy and cute on smaller gals but not ridiculously tiny on my big gals. The wide 4 layer strap is comfy and sturdy on the shoulders. Added a D-ring on the side, so the gals who love to hang something "you" on your bag, go ahead and make it yours! I was ready to take my hobo out! Not sure if its a good thing, coz I came home with several orders for it. :P More work for us! But I feel so happy that you guys find joy in my stuff! Its the greatest payback, ever!

So yeah, thats my little hobo story. Oh wait! The little hobo! LOL I almost forgot about MiniHobo. I've been reading too many bag in bag stories. Hey, we all want more bang for our buck! MiniHobo is perfect for your little girl, or its the perfect cutie for your camera or essentially tinier things that might get lost in the Big mama. ;+) She's reversible too! Yaaaay!

I know Soda's bit summery, but I had to do it! The colors was just begging me to. hehe Anyhoo, Diablo is a real bad ass and Mod Blobs had been SO popular I got orders to fill! I'm still a little weirded out by that. Hm. So yeah, go check them out and I've got a whole pile of fall fabrics just waiting to be turned into Huggable Hobos!

ps: They're Huggable Hobos because if you put something soft in them, they turn into a comforting pillow. Seriously!