12 January 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: Women in Media & News
One of the 7 nonprofit organizations that I’ll be donating a portion of the sales of each bag to is Women In Media & News: WIMN.
This organization was founded by Jenn Pozner, who I’m fortunate to call a friend (for full disclosure-sake). And it has 2 main focuses that I support whole-heartedly.
First, it serves as a resource to connect journalists and other media outlets with women who are experts in their given field. If you are writing an article about Engineering Curricula you could contact WIMN and ask for women sources to contact for your piece.
Second, it critiques coverage of women by the media, while providing training opportunities and educational (and hilarious) seminars to encourage people to engage in their own critique of media coverage.
Jenn also wrote Reality Bites Back a book that focuses on how reality television portrays gender, race, class and more. I joke that Jenn watches The Bachelor so I don’t have to, but it’s true. I have a few reality shows that I like (Project Runway and Project Accessory), which I like because it focuses on the quality of what is created instead of the weight of the people creating it. However, even I had to admit that there have been many instances of some pretty intolerant comments, the challenges are focused on selling things, and my gawd y’all the product placements are getting cray-zay!
In general, I feel like Jenn, and the other people she has writing for the website and who help with the overall message of the organization, holds media accountable. It also provides a place where people who are interested in understanding the dynamics and the behind-the-scenes decisions of journalists and media outlets can turn.
And did I mention she’s funny? Cause feminism isn’t about sapping the enjoyment out of life, but making it a better place for more enjoyment to happen. And WIMN is helping to do that.
08 January 12
The Well-Appointed Pouch
Photo taken by Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk
I’m very, very grateful to the The Letter Writers Alliance for teaming up with me last year to create a series of bags to truly fit their members’ needs. And I’m also grateful to Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk for taking a photograph and writing a description of everything she manages to jam in her pouch. I’m pretty great at fitting 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag, but I’m impressed by all this. Thanks, Ana!
05 January 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: Chicago's Read/Write Library
One of the 7 nonprofit organizations that I’ll be donating a portion of the sales of each bag to is Chicago’s Read/Write Library. You can listen to or read this great piece on WBEZ about it.
Most libraries have a librarian or series of librarians who determine what is of high-enough quality to be represented in the library. And there is value in that curation. There is value in librarians. I love them and their skills and the work they do.
But there is something to be said for a place that collects every printed material of an area. They don’t just collect them and record who wrote it, but they record who created illustrations, who designed the cover, who edits it, who typesets it and more. The more is the crux of this place and why it resonates with me so strongly. They’re not just a room with a gorgeous turquoise wall and a lot of shelves. They’re a repository for culture and an attempt at mapping influence, gauging the direction a community is heading, and seeing where it started. It is the focus on community that hits my heart.
Chicagoans generally have a lot of pride in their city, in what they create, in who they know, what they did, where they did it, how they did it, and how the city played a role in that creation. And I feel that the Read/Write Library gets that this Chicago pride can be measured, quantified, mapped. It’s overwhelming and intimidating and scary as hell, but it can be done. And Executive Director Nell Taylor isn’t afraid of the task, even though it seems insurmountably huge. I’m grateful to have crossed paths with her at a number of events and places and I find her to be cheerily brilliant and so very approachable and enlightening. I just can’t help but feel a little bit inspired and encouraged after talking to her and thinking about this huge project she is leading. And for that, I’d love the opportunity to write her a few checks to cover Sharpies, and tape, and the electric bill so she can be this force for others for a long time to come.
03 January 12
This Year's Non-Profit Selection
Creating a business has always had a non-profit fund-raising element as part of it for me. If it weren’t for wanting to donate more money to organizations I supported and believed in, I never would have started making bags. Over the 8 years I’ve run Poise.cc as a legal business, I’ve devised a variety of ways to raise money.
I’ve linked specific bags with a non-profit so that every time I sold a bag money was donated to a specific organization.
I’ve donated hundreds of bags over the last 8 years to various non-profit organizations to use as raffle or silent-auction items.
I’ve picked a different non-profit each month and donated a percentage of total sales to that organization.
I’ve done special sales where every bag sold during a given time raised money for a specific organization.
I’m still going to be making and donating bags for non-profit organizations to use as raffle or silent auction or even donor promos. If you run a non-profit and need an item, just send me an email. I’ve yet to be asked by an organization for a donation that I won’t support.
However, I decided that I would pick six of the various organizations I wanted to support this year and would set aside a portion of the purchase price from each bag and then on a quarterly basis I would figure out my donations, divide by six, and send a check off to each organization. (If I have a quarter where donations are less than $25 per org, I will wait till the next quarter to send a check. It often costs organizations more to process small donations than they get back.)
And I do mean each bag I sell. Every bag I sell online, at a craft show, via a consignment, a custom order, or even wholesale. Each bag results in a donation to an organization I feel strongly about.
So, because I’m an over-achiever, I actually have seven organizations I want to support this year. Another one came to mind as I was creating the list and I just couldn’t take it off.
They are:
Chicago’s Read/Write Library
Women In Media & News: WIMN
Chicago Abortion Fund: CAF
CARE
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation: CAASE
Apna Ghar
Dachsund Rescue of North America
I will be writing more about each organization over the course of this month and explaining why I like each of these groups and why I think they deserve my money.
04 December 11
Proof of Carry
I began making custom bags for the Letter Writers Alliance earlier this year. The bags have been far more successful than I imagined, and probably more successful than Kathy and Donovan expected. I’ve made three bags for the group of 2000+ members to purchase and am delighted to be talking about how to revise, adjust, tweak for future makings.
But I was even more delighted recently when Donovan posted sketches of the bags I’ve made and included a list of everything she carries in each one. To see a bag I’ve made in use is a great thrill, but to get such an intimate peek at every item that goes into it is a delight.
There were three bags I have made for them. The first bag I created was a large messenger bag that is able to carry quite a lot. The bag as Kathy photographed it is:
The contents of what Donovan carries are here.
The second bag was the pencil pouch:
Which Donovan is able to fit quite a bit more into.
And the most recent bag is a document pouch:
That can safely and securely carry quite a bit as well.
Collaborating with these women has been great in so many ways. They’ve been inspiring, encouraging, patient, and kind. I can’t thank them enough for the chance to work with them and get to meet some of their members. And while I love getting a friendly and flattering thank-you email, getting a friendly and flattering thank you letter is a true to delight to hold.
22 October 11
Every New Bag Starts the Same Way
Every time I get an idea for a new bag, it starts this way. I get an idea, I make a quick sketch at the top of a piece of paper. I mull it over and think about how it will have to be created and I ponder the pieces required and the order I’ll assemble them.
Once I feel like I have a pretty good mental picture of how the construction will happen, I decide how large I want the overall bag to be. Then I sit down for a few hours and determine how many pieces I’ll need and how large they’ll need to be. I need piece dimensions for the exterior fabric items, the lining fabric items, and interfacing. I need to figure out any hardware I need (snaps, loops for attaching the strap, zippers, etc.) and I spell that out.
Then I cut out all the items I need for 1 bag and I assemble it to get an idea of how much time and how much frustration it will actually take. If I have a bag that takes a lot of time but has very little frustration I’ll make it. If I have a bag with a lot of frustration but only takes a short amount of time I’ll make it.
For this smallish but utilitarian bag, I was amazed at how many pieces go into making it. Which means that the construction for this bag that is about 10” x 5” x 2” takes just as long to make as a large messenger bag. There was one fiddly bit that caused a lot of frustration. A LOT of frustration. But after reconsidering the construction elements, I realized I could get the back with less hassle by changing my method which means that this bag is bad on the “maybe” list. I’ll make another before DIY and see it can be a potential seller and then I’ll set about making more.
I’m tired of making totes. I still like making messenger bags, but I want something smaller. I think this may be a winner. I’ll find out soon.
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29 September 11
The Germuska Bag
So I made a new bag for a friend. My buddy Joe wanted to ditch his backpack that was literally falling apart so we talked about his needs. And I got to thinking, and I came up with this.
There are a couple of features I’m really proud of. I’ve often done a pocket under a flap. But Joe wanted so many pockets for tiny items that I did a pocket, within a pocket, under the flap:
Joe also frequently rides his bike with his laptop. Which means that he may have to ride through rain. And what’s the sense in using waterproof fabric if the construction isn’t waterproof. So I ached my head until I came up with this:
I’m sure I’m not the first person who created this, but I think it is a classy addition that solves a functional problem.
I also wanted the bag to lie flat against his back while not getting in the way of the flap or straining seams. So I attached the strap like this:
Joe wants a handle on top to make it easier to carry, so this bag isn’t finished. But I’m happy enough to share how it is now.
06 August 11
Interfacing as big as my cutting table
I’ve been looking for the perfect bag interfacing for years, like 8 years, actually. I started out buying the Pellon #30 stuff I could get at my local fabric store, then realized it was expensive enough I should start buying it wholesale. So I did that for a while and my local distributor went out of business. Shortly thereafter I went to New York City and spent some time scouting in the fashion district looking for bag hardware and interfacing and a few other things. I came across a roll of interfacing that was a little thinner than I would have preferred but had the crispness I was interested. And instead of the measly 20” bolts (like Pellon comes in), this new roll was 48” wide. I was in heaven. No more having tons of 2-4” wide strips that were hard to find a use for. However, the company I had ordered my interfacing was went out of business and there was no information on the roll to help me know who the manufacturer was. I remember when I originally purchased it I’d asked where it was made and the older gentleman writing up my order shrugged his shoulders and asked “Why?” I replied that I was trying to only source materials that I could be sure were sweatshop free. He laughed and wished me good luck and continued writing up my order.
So while I used all 250 yards of that bolt, and it took me about 2 years to do, I never felt comfortable about not knowing where it came from. So when I ran out of my thin interfacing I decided to contact the company I get my thick interfacing from. I’d heard from a different distributor of their products that they’d stopped making lightweight, but I figured it was worth a shot.
I was thrilled to find out that not only did they sell it, but they sent me a very large sample. I got to cutting it out and fell in love with it. It’s 60” wide, so it is kinda bulky to work with. But it was the perfect texture, drape, thickness, etc.
And purchasing this roll reminded me why it is so important to purchase wholesale materials. This entire 60-inch wide, 250-yard roll cost me $267, including shipping. I paid less than $1.07 per yard for this interfacing. The most similar product you can find at fabric or craft stores is the Pellon I used to purchase. That is 20” wide and costs around $2 a yard. So, 1 yard of my new stuff = $1.07. 1 yard of equivalent square footage of Pellon = $6+ per yard. I save $5 per yard by purchasing wholesale.
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