About Me

Who is london*purple?

I'm Brittany, just your average twentysomething. By day I am a chemical engineer, which I like to think helps me with making bags because it made me good at math. I've got a husband, no kids (yet) and a huge fabric stash. I have a BFF who has been there since the beginning, taken many many photos of my purses, given me tons of advice on designs and even named a few bags (and definitely has received a few!), sat with me at nearly every craft fair and spent countless hours helping me create london*purple.

Why did you start sewing?

Because I had to! My grandma taught my sister and I to sew when we were very young. At first we handsewed Barbie clothes from scraps of fabric. We slowly worked up to bigger projects, and I made a quilt when I was in high school. It was very simple, but I had no patience for hand quilting and gave it up for awhile. There was no way to fit a machine in my dorm/apartment in college anyways. After graduation, the day I moved into a bigger place I picked up my favorite old sewing machine from my grandma's house, bought a dress pattern and fabric and got right to work. From then on there was no stopping my machine!

How did you start london*purple?

I started london*purple in 2008 for several reasons, the biggest of which is that I loved sewing bags and coming up with new designs and it started to get out of control! I began sewing purses after spending lots of time on Craftster. The first few were pretty lame, I have to admit. A crafty friend saw one of the first purses I made and suggested I sell them. Ha, no way I said. But the idea quietly put down roots in my head. As I became more skilled and found better materials to work with, I started to think hmm, maybe I could sell my bags. I found Etsy and the idea began to grow. Then I came across the phrase "london purple" one day and thought it might be a great name for my imaginary business. I did a little bit of research, and suddently the idea blossomed. Instead of naming purses after my friends, which seemed to be the trend, I could name them for places in London! I couldn't get the ideas onto paper fast enough. The West End Clutch was the first sample, then the Charing Cross Sling and the Westminster Tote. The more I researched London the more ideas I had! Which is still the case, I'm always coming up with new designs and tweaking the old ones.

Why have a blog?

The blog is a way to show past and potential customers what's going on with london*purple. I've also been filling it up with other crafty things like knitting and crochet, and things I make that I don't intend to sell. It's important that people know I'm not a purse obsessed machine, although I have been known to bust out a tape measure in a store and measure the dimensions of a purse I like, even if it belongs to a stranger. I also like to post tutorials because I relied on them a lot early in my sewing "career". I hope to be able to design some simple purses to put up patterns for soon!