Purse Fetish

They hold our credit cards. Cell phones. Lipsticks. Calendars and to-do lists. Maybe even a few secrets. The purse is, in short, a woman's most trusted accessory. But purses aren't just mere keepers of stuff - they're style statements. And for two local designers, they're big business.

Rebekah Scott - Rebekah Scott Designs

Rebekah Scott isn't ashamed of her purse addiction.

"I'm a purse fanatic," says the Valley Springs woman, who usually has at least 10 purses in rotation at any given time. In fact, Scott usually picks out her purse before getting dressed in the morning. "You can tell what's important to me, right?"

So it's no surprise that Scott has turned her love of purses into a business, Rebekah Scott Designs, and spends her days (and sometimes nights) designing and constructing purses out of her home. She sells her creations online, at several local stores and at trunk shows.

Scott's formal venture into purse design started about three years ago when she began making purses for friends and family. But she's no stranger to the sewing machine. "I started sewing when I was 4 years old, on a little Fisher-Price sewing machine."

Now, instead of the Fisher-Price model, Scott uses an industrial sewing machine that allows her to sew leather, suedes and other thick materials while speeding through seams at 1,400 stitches per minute. "You've got to watch your fingers," Scott says. "This thing will go, go, go."

Purse-making has taken over Scott's rural farmhouse. She cuts the fabric in the kitchen because that's where the lighting is best. She sews in the office. And when she's packing up for a show, the purses are just about everywhere.

Design inspiration comes from everywhere, too.

"I love being creative. That's the part of my brain that's the biggest," she says. Scott usually sticks to a daytime schedule, but there are times she keeps going until the wee hours of the morning. "And then I'll see that it's 2 a.m., I'll head up to bed and then get an idea that I have to write down," she says. "It energizes me. It doesn't exhaust me."

A lot of Scott's designs are inspired by what she herself is looking for in a purse. "I'm designing a lot of big purses right now," she says. "I'm usually a bag lady these days. I like them big." After all, a girl needs space to store her stuff, right?

Of course, a good purse isn't just about function. It's about fashion, too. "A good purse finishes an outfit," Scott says. That's why she's constantly reading fashion magazines from Germany and France. "They're about six months ahead, so I know what colors, textures and styles will be hot in the upcoming seasons." (Look for a lot of tone-on-tone colors and mixing of different textures in the coming months, she says.) And Scott's always searching for the perfect piece of fabric - although she rarely buys more than four to five yards at a time of one kind. "I want my bags to be exclusive," she says, noting that she's made more than a thousand purses since she's been in business.

That's part of the reason she's patented the sash she uses on many of her bags. "It's my signature sash," she says. "It's how you can tell that it's a Rebekah Scott purse."

Scott names each style of purse she designs, usually after a woman in her life. One big bag is named Peggy, after her mother. "She helped me figure out how to do the bottom. Her favorite bag right now is named Jocelyn, after her cousin. "There's not a lot of frill to it, but just enough. It's kind of like her - a tomboy." The Cassidy bag is Scott's most popular. "Cassidy is Jocelyn's little sister. She's a little girlier."

Soon, Scott will have additional inspiration for her purses. She's expecting her first baby in December. But don't think a baby will slow her down. The baby's birth is perfect timing business-wise, she says - sales are typically slower at the start of a new year, and she's already started booking trunk shows for early spring.

"I predict this baby will be lulled to sleep by the sound of the sewing machine," Scott says.

Sarah Sola - Sarah and Company

Sarah Sola can't go shopping without at least looking at a few purses. It's a weakness, she says.

"My husband collects baseball hats, so I'd always tease him and say that every time he gets a new hat, I'd get a new bag."

Of course now, Sola admits, "I think I have him beat."

Sola started making purses and handbags in spring 2005. She was running a daycare at her home in Brandon at the time, and when the kids were napping or otherwise occupied, she'd sew a few stitches on a purse. And when the moms came to pick up their kids, they saw - and liked - what Sola was creating, and encouraged her to make more. A few orders here, a few more there and Sola was in business, and now sells her original creations through home parties and at Serendipity. "Here we are, a year and a half later, and it's going stronger than ever."

Ideas and inspiration can come anywhere. A couple of weeks ago, Sola was sitting in church when the muse struck. "I asked friend for a pen - she thought I was going to be taking sermon notes," she recalls. "But no, when she looked over, I was drawing a bag. I guess you could call it divine inspiration."

The designs are all uniquely Sola's. "I don't use anyone else's patterns. I want to genuinely, honestly from the heart say they're original handbags." Once she's determined the design, Sola creates a prototype that she'll carry around for a while to see how it feels and how it functions. "If it's not usable, it's a waste," she says. Right now, she's working on the design of a hobo-style bag. "I think I'll change out the zipper and make it a little rounder on the ends," she says.

Whatever the style, the design of Sola's bags have a very distinct look to them, she says. They're somewhat tailored and classical, but they can be very playful and whimsical, depending on the fabrics. "I'm a coordinate with the outfit kind of girl, but it is fun to have something different."

And since her customers all want something different, most of Sola's bag-making business is custom orders. That way, buyers can choose the exact fabrics, embellishments, handles and closures. "It's nice to have a retail environment to display the purses," Sola says of the Serendipity shop. "But as soon as people find out they can custom-order a bag specific to their liking, they're excited." After all, every woman wants something unique. "I like that they're all different in some small way," she says. "Very rarely do I make two the same."

And considering that Sola's made almost 1,300 bags in the last year, that's quite a feat. "You'd think that after a thousand or so handbags, I'd be in a big state of burnout," she says. "But it's really just the beginning."

Source: argusleader.com