Hello Again!

Hello!

We know it’s been a while since our last update, so we thought we’d give you a peek into what’s been happening behind the scenes here since last October.

In January, mom (otherwise known as Joanmarie) began her year-long professional dyer’s intensive with AppleOak Fibreworks. Meeting twice a month, the intensive has allowed us to greatly expand our color range and capabilities. We are so excited to bring these new hues to you in the upcoming fall season and beyond.

I (Sami) have completed the first of four modules for the Royal School of Needlework’s certificate in hand embroidery program. While you won’t see my piece at any of our shows, you’ll find a greater variety of hand embroidered goodies, including pins and patches, in addition to our bags.

We are also now proud members of the Hudson Valley Textile Project and the Rust Belt Fibershed, a “collaborative network of regenerative fiber farmers, processors, and designers from the Rust Belt Region” who “explore the possibilities of working with the resources in our fibershed.” This membership offers us a unique opportunity to source goods locally from within the fibershed and incorporate them into our work. To that end, we are thrilled to announce that the linen and cotton-linen in our bags is now sourced from Tuscarora Mills in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The team at Tuscarora actively sources US-grown fiber when possible along with high-quality wet-spun Belgian linen. These fibers are then woven on a variety of antique looms in southern Pennsylvania. We are also actively working to source our bag webbing from Tuscarora as well, showcasing the full talents present here in the Rust Belt.

Further afield, we continue to source the wool in our bags from Ireland and Scotland, as well as our waxed canvas.

Otherwise, we’ve been managing the various health crises of our shop assistants (read: cats) and continue to work on delivering the versatile and unique project bags to you.