byrd & belle {studio notes}

new iPhone wallet

I know... not new. This has been in the works for a while. I've been carrying this design around and using it myself for over a year. Prototype testing! The launch of the iPhone5 proved to be the perfect excuse to put this into proper and consistant production. It's available in grey/brown and graphite/brown (shown below) and also with or without a strap. My personal preference is no strap but I know some of you like the keep things buttoned up tight.

100% wool felt, hand-dyed leather, made here in the studio... same as always. Cost is $44 or $48 and you can find them here. Also, all the other iPhone cases are now available for the iPhone5.

dye-job

 

New Workshop

 

Exciting news for me to share today.... I've moved into my new workshop.

This is the part where you say, "New workshop?  I don't remember hearing anything about a new workshop?  Did I miss a blog post or tweet that would have prepared me for such exciting news? "

No, you didn't.  I kept this one pretty well underwraps.  In part because I've never been good at talking about things in progress but also because the domino of things that had to happen to get here was longer than I wanted to explain mid-stream.  In a nutshell, byrd & belle out-grew our previous live/work space on Nicollet Island; it was no longer something that could be lived alongside.  We needed a new situation and we found what seems to have been the perfect situation a little farther up river in northeast Minneapolis:  a house with good bones, a big yard for our big dog and a new (but unfinished) space for byrd & belle.

Construction took 6 months of nights and weekends starting in January which is likely the least fun time to start a project in an unheated space in Minnesota.  My brother Scott and my Dad were very generous with their time, their advice and their tools.  I got to do things I'd drawn a million times when I used to work in architecture but hadn't actaully done (like electrical wiring... my inspector said I did a very good job for my first time).  And there is still more to be done.  I have plans to add more storage so I can bring in all my non-essential tools and materials but for now, I'm just happy to be here and I'm grateful to have had the oppurtunity to do this.  I feel very connected the space and I suppose it feels appropriate that as a maker, I also made the space I work in. 

 

Ok, I've got to get to work but follow me on twitter if you'd like to see more of the new space.

quick shop update

Yo.  The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy.  Just wanted to drop a line to say that due to a (nearly) overwhelming number of sales in the last few days, I'm extending my wait list to 7-10 days.  This will make Christmas delivery fairly unlikely for those who have not placed an order yet.  But fear not my fellow procrastinators, I am offereing gift certificates in amounts of $30, $50 and $75 so you can still give the gift of handmade awesomeness.

Find them at www.byrdandbelle.com

 

Also just a quick thanks you to everyone who has brought their business or sent some business my way.  You've helped my 2010 blow my 2009 out of the water and because of that there are very exciting things ahead that I just can't wait to tell you about... but I will... cause I've got sewing to do!

Happy, happy holidays to all my dear friends around the world.

macbook air preview

Here's a little preview for those who have been waiting for a Macbook Air sleeve.  These will probably not be posted in my shop until closer to Thanksgiving but if you want one, just drop me a note and you will be first in line. 

A few notes:

1.  What makes this sleeve perfect for the Air is that it has a super slim profile and a snug fit like my simple sleeve for the ipad but I'm using a new detail that allows for the addition of a leather patch similar to my Macbook sleeves.

2.  There is no closure.  I tested quite a few ideas and I just kept coming back to... well, no closure.  Aesthetically, it completely suits the super thin Air to stay clean and simple. The snug fit allows it to work well with or without a closure.  Slips in your bag easily to protect your brand new laptop from everything else floating around in there.

3.  The photos below show this sleeve as being side-loaded but it is also available in a top loading version (where the opening will be on the side opposite the leather patch).

4.  Cost for the 11" Macbook Air sleeve is $54.  Cost for the 11" Macbook Air sleeve is $58.  (If you'd like it for your ipad, I can do that too... cost is $48 and I can do them as a custom request. )

5.  If you want one for your Macbook Air, you can find them in the shop www.byrdandbelle.com

tiny tiny.

I made this tiny custom case for a customer today.  I took a video for him and figured I'd share.  I don't have time to do custom designs very often but this was an interesting little project so I took it as an opportunity to work out a few ideas.  He wanted a small wool/leather case that holds 10-15 mini moo cards and attached to a key ring.  I'm really liking the tiny seam allowance on this little case.  I think I should incorporate it into the simple ipad (and soon macbook air) sleeves.  Anyway, thought I'd share.. have a great weekend!  (p.s.  The wool looks blue but it just the late afternoon Minnesota light through my north-facing studio wall.  It's actually the same grey as the laptop sleeves)

 

seven things

1.  I am writing far too many blog posts in my head.  I mutter to myself while sewing.  I tell stories to Gertrude the dog.  I seem to have a lot to say but no time to sit and type complete sentences.  I've decided to make a list.

2.  Macbook Air:  I have been getting a ton (a TON) or requests for a macbook air sleeve.  Before now, I've always done these as custom orders but now I am working on a new design made specifically for the wonderfully thin 'mba' (that's what the kids are calling it... mba=macbook air).  Hopefully in the next week. I'm very excited about a few of the new details and I'm thinking of releasing a similar design for the ipad and the macbook pro.

3.  Cargoh is awesome:  If you don't know...  cargoh.com.  It's kind of like an edgier, more independantly-minded version of an online independant designer marketplace.  My first introduction with them was watching them fall flat on their face last summer.  It was truley spectacular.  They had a ton of people migrate very quickly from Etsy but then decided they wanted to have control over who was on their site.  People were asked to leave, people were turned down at the door, people threw temper tantrums... it was quite the public relations car-crash. Yeah, it was likely not the best situation but there is something to be said about knowing what you want to be... even if it is a few months late.  Being the bad guy is hard to do.  SO, the reason I think cargoh is awesome?  I mean besides all that bravery crap?  They support their artists.  They blog, they tweet, they retweet, they send nice emails and on more than one occasion they have sent people to my own website and not just my little spot on cargoh.  Which means (or at least it makes me feel like) they are supportive of what I do and not just what I'm doing on cargoh.com. Class act, Cargoh.  Class act.

4.  Gertrude:  There were a pair of squirrels in the back yard today and Gertrude lost her mind.  (It's true but mostly inserted for lightness and brevity).

5.  Lady Workshop:  Someone in my social circle floated the phrase, "Lady Workshop" a few weeks ago.  Since then, I'm obsessed with what a "Lady Workshop" would be and how it would work and how can I be a lady in the "Lady Workshop".

6.  Dear China:  After a vigourous letter and email writing campaign, a company in China that had stolen my photos and was selling knock-offs of my laptop sleeves seems to have gotten the message and taken down the listings.  (ps. I wasn't really upset about the knock-offs because well, knock-offs happens but what really got my goat was that they used MY photos to sell it... my photo with their url tattooed across it which made me more than a little sad. It was like someone writing their name on your dog).  Unfortunately, they are still using photos from other designers.  The only thing I can still find that is mine is an old photo towards the bottom of this listing.  When I was in the middle of this mini-nightmare last summer, D and I joked that I should just start buying my sleeve from them as they were only charging $7 for each sleeve.  What a deal! Update:  The photos have been reposted.  *Grrrrr.  If interested, you can see them here and here.

7.  Mmmmmmm.... chamomile/vanilla tea. 

new iphone wallet

Long awaited, much requested... my design for the iphone wallet launched today.  You can find it available in three different wool colors on www.byrdandbelle.com.

This little case has been in the works for quite some time.  I had gotten requests for a card slot on my iphone case many times but I held off on adding a pocket to that design as it felt like... well, I'd just be adding a pocket.  Instead, I wanted to do something that felt like a complete thought.

From a design perpective, this is about a simple as it gets but it took some time to get here.  I started making prototypes early last summer and handed them off to people (mostly men) to test.  I went through a few rounds testing different leather, different thread, different sizes and stitching.  Here's a small pile of the prototypes...

 

When I had all the kinks nearly worked out, I made one for myself and took it on our trip to Seattle. Now, I'm not much for wallets and up until this point, I wouldn't have thought that I would choose to carry my phone and my cards together but since that trip, I'm kind of in love with this case for 3 specific reasons.

1.  The way it feels in my hand:  There is a weight to it that is very pleasing.  It is compact and feels put together.  The leather pockets on each side are made from a single peice of leather that wraps around the bottom.  It does much the same thing the leather patch on the bottom of my laptop sleeve does by giving you a comfortabe place to hold it.

2.  The way it works:  Everything is open for quick access to my phone and the cards but the fit of the case is so perfect that I can hold the case upside down and my iphone doesn't fall out.  I can throw it in my bag and the thick wool felt protects it from everything else floating around in there. 

3.  The way it looks:  One smaller rectangle efficiently stitched on top of one larger rectangle.  Contrasting materials of felt and leather.  Clean & simple.

 Thanks for stopping by.  Back to work...

 

fabric tag tutorial

  

This one is for my fellow makers.  I've had a few people ask where I get the fabric tags I sew into the inside of my things.  (Well, they are handmade, of course!)  So here is the often promised and therefore long awaited tutorial as to how I make these tags. 

Materials:  Printable Fabric sheets, Heat&Bond, Rotary Cutter & Mat (preferred), Scissors, Iron

  1.  The Fabric:  I use a fabric sheet and I print my logo/name on it with my ink jet printer.  These fabric sheets are specially treated to be washable and are temporarily adhered to a heavier piece of paper to allow it to feed through your printer.  There are many of these products on the market but the one I prefer is the cotton poplin by Soft Scrap.

2.  Create your layout.  Most of the printable fabric sheets you will find are 8 1/2" x 11" or just shy.  My individual tags are 1" tall and 1 1/2" wide so I can get 45 tags out of one sheet.  I've left the layout lines of my tags as a very light grid when printed.   I can use these lines to cut my tags later.  Your sheets may vary depending on your logo/name and how you choose to finish your tag.  I used Photoshop to do my layout but it can be accomplished by using a word processing program. 

3.  Print your sheets and carefully peel the fabric off the heavy paper backing reducing the amount of fraying you get around the edges.

4.  Heat & Bond:  Cut a piece of Heat&Bond that is just slightly shy of your fabric size.  Lay your fabric face down on your ironing board and smooth out with your hands. Lay the Heat&Bond (adhesive side down and paper side up) on top of your fabric and iron.  Read Heat&Bond's Instructions if you haven't used the product before.

5.  After ironing, your piece will be very hot.  Let it cool and do not remove the paper backing of the Heat&Bond just yet.

6.  Using your rotary cutter and the faint grid you set up when you created your layout in #2, cut your sheet into columns.  I suggest using the rotary cutter because it is faster and it makes a cleaner cut. 

7.  Now you can remove the paper backing of the Heat&Bond.  You'll notice that because of the Heat&Bond on the back, there is hardly any any fraying of the fabric allowing  you to have a clean edge on our tag.  

8.  Now that the paper is removed, grab  your scissors and cut on the horizontal lines of the grid to turn that column of tags into a pile of individual tags.  You don't have to be quite so careful about your cuts here because the top and bottom edges of your tags are likely going to be hidden inside the seam of your project.  Also, make sure you removed the paper backing of the Heat&Bond back in step #7 otherwise you will have to peel each individual paper backing off each individual tag and its a huge pain and involves fair amount of cursing.

9.  Make a fold in the tag just below your logo.  The exposed Heat&Bond is slightly tacky so your fold should hold until you iron.  My fold ends up being about 1/3 of the way  up from the bottom.  I prefer not to have a tag that is merely folded in half because it means my tag will be two layers thick where i need to sew through it.  This is a problem for me as my material thicknesses already add up fairly quickly and having a thicker tag can sometimes be a problem. By folding under only a portion of the tag, I achieve the same look, save my seams and also can fit more tags on a sheet as I didn't have to make them taller.  In any case, look at your seam allowances and your logo/name size and adjust as needed for your project. 

10.  Iron your tag to seal everything up tight.  Iron on the back and if you are only doing a partial fold like me, be careful to not touch the bare Heat&Bond surface with your iron... it will get messy and there will be cursing again.  You will need to google "how to clean my iron".

11.  Your almost done.  Time to clean up the final product.  Now you should have a nice clean fold running along the bottom of  your tag and as I mentioned back in #8, the top of your tag is likely to be hidden inside the seam allowance but the sides of your tag may need a little attention.   If your fold wasn't absolutely perfect or if the edge just needs a little clean up or balancing of the white space on either size of your name/logo, just grab the sharpest scissors you have and clip the sides so it looks good.    

Finished.  Now sew them in something.

 
(p.s. I have no affiliation with Soft Scrap, Heat&Bond, Olfa, T-Fal or Fiskars).

whittling the wait list

(Bummer Update:  Sadly, the wait has gone back to 3-4 weeks because of a shipment of wool that is going to arrive late.  You see.... most of the quality felt is felted in Germany and Germany has a tradition of basically shutting down during the month of August for holiday.  This makes July completely insane as the rest of the world scrambles to cover for the upcoming month off.  I have fallen victim to the insanity.  My next shipment of wool will arrive in a few weeks and the whittling will start again.  You'll have to ignore all my self-congratulatory back-patting below as it is (mostly) no longer fact.)

Slowly and steadily, I've been trimming away at the wait list.  I made some strides last week and this week and I am running about a week ahead at the moment (hooray!).  Thanks to everyone who waited patiently... you're awesome.

Today I was able lop the wait time for the light grey iphone cases in half.  All iphone and ipod cases now have the wait time of 7-10 days before they are ready to ship. 

If you were one of the unshakable who purchased your case when it said 3-4 weeks and you are still waiting, it will ship no later than 7-10 days from today (and likely earlier than that).  For most of  you, that is going to cut 2 weeks off of your wait.  See the Studio Calender.

Next, I'm going to tackle that list of people waiting for ipad sleeves and later, laptop sleeves with the goal being to get back to an across the board wait of 7-10 days which still requires patience but it a little easier to manage.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Make something!

happy birthday mister.

 
You know that saying.... something about the cobbler's kids having no shoes or the plumber's home having bad plumbing?  It is the same here.  Everything I have ever made, D has said, "Can I have one?".  Yes!  Sure!  Just as soon as I (insert excuse here).  He has had a number of my cases and sleeves but most of them weren't really made for him.  His sleeve was the one shot for ReadyMade Magazine and his iphone case was a prototype.  His pencil pouch was one grabbed out of a box of products on the way to Rhode Island because the zipper was scratched.  So last month, when 1 week before his birthday his work upgraded him to a new 17" macbook pro, I decided it was and excellent opportunity to make something for him that I've never made for anyone else.

David requested a leather messenger and I really didn't give it a second thought.  I've done messengers in wool before and really felt and leather have the same construction issues.  The densities and thicknesses are different but the sequencing of construction can be the same really.  In the end, it was just a matter of figuring out the connection details.  A handsome bag for a handsome fellow.

Most of the leather I use I hand-dye myself but for this scale of bag, I decided not to hand-dye.  The leather I ended up using was one I had my eye on for a while.  It is actually considered a "utility" leather and it is thick and It feels smooth... sort of like honed stone.  It has an oiled finish which means that it scuffs and weathers easily but when I showed the leather to D, I think that was the part he was most interested in.  He's only had the bag for a few weeks and already, it looks comfortable and used as if he's carried it for years.   

The bag is un-lined with a full leather pocket on the back for notebooks.  I also made two separate horizontal wool felt slip sleeves inside for the laptop and ipad.  The sleeves have no closures; just simple slips but they protect the laptop from the chargers floating around in the bag (as well as bumpy rides to work on the scooter).  For the most part, the wool sleeves stay in the bag and the laptop is put in or pulled out easily,  I guess if he wanted to walk around with the laptop in the sleeve, that would be possible too as the sleeve isn't connected to the bag but the good fit between bag and sleeve means it doesn't feel loose.

I liked the idea of the simple felt slip sleeve insert so much I decided to add a few to the shop.  It is terribly simple idea but it worked so well for D so I wanted to share.  It seems to offer a bit a flexibility... able to work in a bag or walk around on its own.  I made up some in three different colors today and shot some photos to be added to the shop later this week.  As for adding this bag to the shop.... I think maybe in the future.  Could make for an exciting new addition once things slow enough for me to focus on them.

So Happy Birthday, D!  I'm glad you love your bag.  Thanks for parting from it long enough for me to shoot a few photos.

Back in Action

I have wool.  Lots of it.  After going the whole of June without because it had been back-ordered, it arrived last week.  Thank you, thank you to everyone who didn't let a little 4 week wait time scare them away. 

The first of the orders went out early last week and I've been slowly whittling away at the list of names on my studio calender.  The wait time for items in this wool remains at 3-4 weeks but I should be able to knock another week off that soon.

Hope your summer is going swimmingly.  Talk soon.

in process...

Update June 2012: This bag design has been finalized and you can see it here.

Something I'm working on.  Not ready for production but photo-worthy.  If you'd like this one, grab it at the w7 event this weekend..... see below.

ipad

Worked on another batch of ipad sleeves today.  Things are so photogenic when they are stacked up waiting to be finished.

Tuesday

Twas a busy day around here.  So busy that my supply of the dark grey felt is completely spoken for and because it has been back-ordered for what seems like an eternity, any new orders for cases in the dark grey wool will have to wait until mid-February (ouch). 

As a replacement, I made up these two options using the heathered grey wool I typically use in my laptop sleeves with both the brown and the brown/black hand-dyed leather straps.  I do these combinations often as custom orders and usually for people who want a case to match their sleeve.

These two will be added to both the Etsy shop and www.byrdandbelle.com tomorrow in the afternoon, after the light returns and they can be properly photographed (as  you can see, I've already lost the light for the day).  Wait times after purchase will return to a slightly more manageable two weeks.Thanks to everyone who stopped by today.  Hopefully you like the heathered grey as much as I do.

Happy New(ish) Year!

I'm not much for resolutions... or goals for that matter.  I tend to float through the day taking care of things as required like some life-long game of whack-a-mole.  This year though... I got goals.

Number One:  Branding, Branding, Branding.  I need a fresh take on all of my graphic material... cards, thank you cards, website, all of it.  Spruce things up around my digital world.  I've been meaning to do a little rehaul of things around here including cleaning up the index, better looking sidebar and maybe blow the whole thing about 80 pixels wider...

Number Two:  Get those ideas out of my head and onto the table.  I have roughly seven solid new products in the works and thirty-seven fuzzy ideas about handle details, closures, snaps, zippers, buckles, fabric, color, texture...  

Number Three:  Coming to a store near you!  I have about 30+ inquiries for wholesale that need to be addressed, pronto.

Number Four:  Spruce up my actual world.  The studio needs a bit of de-cluttering and maybe some new ideas about storage... floor plans to follow.

Number Five:  Look + Listen. 

Last  year was exciting/fantastic/unexpected and I'm hoping to roll on in to this year a little wiser and a lot more prepared.  Thanks again to everyone who stops by here and especially to those that leave comments.  It is nice to connect with people in the world.

yeah so, this is new...

I've had this on my mind for a while and on Saturday I sat down and made one.... just like that... sat down and it just appeared. 

Riiiighht.

No.  It was at least three weeks of talking to myself and making weird twisty hand gestures while sitting at red lights.  Three weeks of the something like those dance instructions... you know the ones with the foot prints and the arrows... but rolled up in a circumference-decreasing-cylinder-shape in my brain.  Heaven forbid I'd (gasp) put pencil to paper and figure this out. 

It came together eventually and what in my mind was a swirling mess of snaps and layers turned out to be a super simple thing.  The whole goal was to create a cuff that when you're not using it, it takes up as little room in your life as possible.  And one where I wouldn't have to send out something like dance instructions... you know the ones with the foot prints and the arrows... for someone to be able to figure it out.  I'm calling this one done and moving on.  Find them here.  

big red

By far, my favorite purchase of the (now rapidly coming to a close) summer.  I came across 'Red at my leather shop where Johann... my South African purveyor of all things hide-related... convinced me I needed to take him home and sweetened the deal by throwing in below-wholesale-pricing on a full set of dies.  Well played, sir.

What he does is put in flawless snaps and grommets with the press of a lever, which in itself is enough to warrant praise but he does something else that is far more valuable.... he does it all in near *silence*.  No more hammering, banging, cussing.  He is the mechanical equivalent of telling someone to "shut up and do your job" and I love him.  A love for a machine so simple and effective it can only be adequately expressed through the ancient art of Haiku.  

Shiny red, steel friend

install hardware that fastens

you connect us all

the sneakiest of peeks

Extremely fresh pictures of the new laptop sleeve.  I just finished this tonight and in the morning it is being shipped off to have its picture taken for a real-life, hold-in-your-hand, made of slick paper, magazine.

I'm really pleased with the decisions made in this redesign.  Overall, the materials are richer and from a construction stand-point, easier to handle.  The new wool is now 100% wool felt and still super protective at 1/8" thick.  The minimal change in the leather attachment by using grommets eliminates a few steps that weren't so much fun to do and replaces them with steps that not only do I enjoy, but are give consistently good results.  In the end, the decisions were made not only to create a better end product but to create a more enjoyable process in putting it together.  I also like the fact that the leather is now hand-dyed because it reinforces the idea of 'handmade' in this piece.

I hope to have this up and running in the shop in a few days.

Arriving tomorrow...

 

Good news for those of you patiently waiting for a 'Sunday Bag'.  Check the shop tomorrow afternoon for a few new things including the bags shown above, but be warned... quantities are limited.  Also, being posted are the last of the recycled wool ipod/iphone cases, a new card holder, a few zippered sleeves for your laptop and a delicious little leather pouch for carrying your parking meter money.

Phew.

It has been a busy week around here with little time left for blog updating but I wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone who left messages and to answer a few of the questions that were asked last week about my space and my process.   

1.  Shelves:  Those great modular shelves behind me are a vintage Swedish set called the 'Bokhyllan Ladder Shelf'.  The set is actually one bay wider and about one foot taller than shown here but we're using the other shelves elsewhere.  I was given this set by a client I designed a whole-house remodel for a few years ago... quite a score.  They are extremely versatile, really well built with interesting and convenient connection hardware.  Its best feature is a box-like console that has a front that folds down into a writing surface and reveals dove-tailed drawers in the inside for keeping papers and small things organized.  The front folds back up and gets locked with a sweet little brass skeleton key.

2.  What is the bike that is in the photo?  It's called the 'Amsterdam'.  Made by Electra. 

3.  Where did I get the fabric for the 'Modern Furniture Pencil Pouches'?  I designed this print last spring for this pencil pounch.  I print it myself here in the studio on denim fabric.

4.  Why is your shop called 'Byrd & Belle'.  We have had our dog Gertrude for a few years but very soon after we adopted her, we started calling her 'Gertie Byrd', which soon was shortened to just 'Byrd'.  Belle is borrowed from Clara Belle who who was the oldest dog I ever knew.  A 14 year old beagle that came into my life a few years ago.  The two made an interesting pair in our house for about 6 months before Belle died; a 90-pound two year old and 14" tall, deaf 14 year old.

5.  A few people wanted to talk more about what I listen to in the studio.  I'll hit NPR throughout the day.... news, Morning Edition, Fresh Air.  I also listen to The Current which is a great Minneapolis Public Radio station for music which you can listen to online.  I will also listen to lectures on TED and listen to episodes of the Daily Show, Jimmy Fallon, Rescue Me, and such on Hulu.  If I have a project lasting more than 3 days, I'll start Arrested Development from the pilot and just let it play. 

6.  When are the new _________  going to be in the shop?  Hopefully, I'll have a little extra time in the coming weeks to get my new things completed and photographed.  For updates when things happen, check back here, sign-up for my email list, find me on Twitter or Facebook.

7.  What about this weeks giveaway?  I'll get something up on Tuesday-ish.

sunday bag

I had been slowly working and thinking about the pattern for this bag all summer and I finally finished it and photographed it yesterday.  It is the first release from a new series of handbags and if you check the shop for it, you won't find it as they sold out within 90 minutes. 

But don't fret... more are coming!  I am venturing out today to get my hands of more of this grey fabric and I have this bag in two other colors cut and ready to construct.  One of the fabrics is from a group I picked up when I was in Barcelona last spring and it is going to be perfect.

The bag measures nearly 18" wide at its broadest and 11" high at the center. Interior also features two pockets. Nickel plated magnetic closure keeps your bag casually closed.  Brown leather strap is hand dyed in my studio using environmentally friendly dyes. All grommets and hardware are nickel finish.

If you'd like to be the first to know when the new bags go up, click the 'newsletter' button to the right and sign up and I'll send you a quick note.

New Sleeves

Over the last week, I've been busy working with a new material that has taken months to get my hands on but it was well worth the wait. 

The market for wool felt is an odd one.  I've spent months searching industry directories and waiting patiently on the mail man for samples.  My head was awhirl with SAE ratings, tensile strengths, and nominal thicknesses and I've learned more about sources, processing and the nature of wool felt than I'd care to admit.  In the end, I decided on two materials.  The first is a wool blend, 92% wool, 8% post-consumer fiber.  It is undyed and cold-pressed which means there are no chemicals due to the dying process and the water used in the cold-press compress can be reused.  The second is a 100% wool felt, undyed and needle-punched, a strictly mechanical process of "punching' the felt binds the fibers together.  The other big plus is that the main distributor is located here in the Midwest which means that I'm not buying it from someone who bought it from someone else in Germany. This cuts out one of the middlemen and cuts down on transportation fuel and emissions.  Ok... that's more than you probably wanted to know too.  Scroll down.  I'll get on with it.

Here are a few process shots.  The wool is a heathered grey and it's 3/16" thick  (Thick!)  which makes it excellent for protecting gadgets.  The nature of the felt also means there is no fraying but I found that a simple stitch 1/16" in from the edge adds a nice detail and adds extra resistance to wear from heavy handling.

I enjoyed working with it because it cut really easily with nice sharp square edges and my sewing machine ripped through it quickly.  The only real hiccup is the extreme thickness of the material made it difficult to adapt in my previous designs but in working with it, a lot of the new designs were inspired by the simple modern nature of the material itself.

I went about making several prototypes (and doing a lot of math) over the last few days and have developed 3 different sleeve designs... see images below. The first is a fully-concealed horizontal sleeve with a nylon zipper (with a few options for zipper color when posted... brown, blue/green, red, orange and citron).  The second is the open-ended box sleeve that is similar to the design currently in the shop.  The third is a brand new design; a simple looking 2-peice sleeve that incorporates a unique flap/snap closure. 

All three designs will be available for 13", 15" and 17" mac laptops and as always, custom orders for pc's are possible with a few days turn around and a small custom-size fee.  Also, if you're interested in hand-stitched icons, let me know.  Cost of custom hand-stitching usually runs between $15-$25 depending on size and intricacy.

 

 

So Long, Sunday.

I've started and finished a set of coasters and two custom laptop sleeves today and it's only 4pm.  No small feat considering one of those sleeves had about 90 minutes worth of hand-stitched goodness and a major part of my morning was spent doing dishes/breakfast and a trip out into the world. 

I think this may be an opportunity to do some "fun sewing"; sewing that isn't necessarily for anyone and includes fabrics that I'm convinced only I like.  (Usually found in the sale bin at my favorite mom and pop fabric store).  Don't get me wrong, I love grey wool, but every once in a while I have visions of grabbing impulsively from my stash of colorful and under-used cotton and whipping up an impromtu four-square patchwork quilt. 

This may be my only shot for a while because tomorrow I'm expecting a whole new shipment of wool.  I have long  searched, into the deep recesses of the internet for this material and I think I may have found it.  I've sketched nearly 20 new projects that will use it and I can't wait to get started.  Check out the shop on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday for some new things.

Gertie Byrd!

The second shop from Byrd & Belle has launched!  I give you Gertie Byrd.  Due to the popularity of the Central Park Coasters, we've launched an entire series.  Where have you been?

wool pillows

On the boards...wool pillows with wool needlework.  Coming to the etsy shop soon....ish.