As part of the celebration I am letting my birds fly….
For every bag bought during September a ‘Bird Purse‘ (valued at $18) will be sent with for FREE.

*the small text: this offer only applies for bags bought online or through email. No biggie.

Beatnik Bazaar has put together an amazing competition called ‘pretty young spring thing’ to celebrate the coming of spring. There are many fabulous and delicious gifts up for grabs and one of which is a WREN TOTE (and a bird purse for the runner up). Other sponsors are Charly’s Bakery, MAC makeup, Take Care Clothing, Lauren Fowler, Paige Nick and Honest Chocolate. 

To enter visit Beatnik Bazaar.

The PPC Cement Bag’s beginning was similar to this. The design was more a result of playing with materials and allowing myself to be open to new experiences than an idea alone… I had been experimenting with fabric fusing and wondered if it would bond to paper. Some time later I was driving behind a PPC Cement truck laden with packaging, saw the elephant branding and thought it was pretty cool. What happened next was the creation – the PPC Cement Laptop Bag.

Words by Scott Witt that say it all.

A selection of Wren bags is now stocked by the ‘L I M’ in Kloof Street, Cape Town.

This year marks the 250th birthday of Toile du Jouy. Its origins can be traced to Jouy-en-Josas, France, where the first commercial plant to mass produce it started production in 1760. Visi is celebrating and together two of my hand drawn Toile du Jouy fabric designs (see the other one here) are being offered as free downloads. This design (above and below) is called ‘Darling Toile’.

Inspiration for this design came from a trip I took to the small town up the West Coast of South Africa, Darling. There are many small towns scattered across South Africa that are similar and you will always spot a creaking metal gate, a bakkie parked under a flowering tree, a windmill and a rusted Mercedes parked next to a corrugated roof home with broekie lace trim around the stoep.

This design is a half drop repeat which means that once you have downloaded it you can repeat it till your heart is content and if you want, fill a whole wall with the design. How a half drop repeat works is similar to what I describe as brick laying. The vertical repeat is straight forward, one under the other like tile laying. The second row (horizontal) is where the ‘brick laying’ comes in becuase you drop the design by half of the original ’tile’ and place it. You will see that the pictures become complete and so the puzzle fits together. Vertically you continue just laying then directly on top and below. Horizontally, you keep laying those bricks half way. I have created a template to show you how it works above.

Download ‘Darling Toile’ for free on VISI.co.za by clicking here.

Remember the South African Toile I designed way back when? Well, now it’s got a purpose and I am so excited becuase I can share it with everybody. The design has been converted into a wrapping paper and you can download it (for free) from the VISI website.

The bag is made from reinforced Jute Coffee Sacks that come from fair trade tea and coffee plantations all over the world (including some Groundnut bags that come from South Africa). The reinforcing is a fused black cotton that adds durability, helps maintain the shape of the bag and lines the inside.

The bag closes with a strong metal zip. On each end of the zip is a pres stud cap that clips down (or unclips). This changes the shape and size of the bag.

When I made the first sample Jeremy and I fought over it. Jeremy used it for his gym stuff and I used it to fit my handbag, my jersey, books and papers that I needed for a day of errand running. Now we each have one and I am never turning back. I keep my handbag inside and when I want to run into a shop I  grab my handbag from it but when I am at a meeting or shopping, it fits everything in (including all sorts of odds that always end up in bag and you have no idea how). Packed or empty the bag is still petite and does not make you look like a camel carrying around the world.

To see the new WREN TOTE bags visit my etsy shop.

The reverse side of the tag has the bag details which before was only conveyed in conversations with me or in the etsy product description. This way the person recieving the bag can read about it and know where their bag came from.

…and indeed another snippet of the new bag: ‘The Wren Tote’ that will be added to the Jute Range soon. To see all the new bags listed yesterday visit my etsy shop.

Along our walk on Saturday I collected small snippets of flowers from the veld. To avoid carrying them I pushed them into my pony-tail. Bruce took a picture whilst I was unaware and although the others said I had plants in my head, seeing it now I disagree. I think it is quite a lovely bouquet. These flowers now fill a tiny vase on my desk.