I think I have mentioned the large bag order that I recently had worked on putting together. Well, tonight I finally sat down and edited some photos to put together a post dedicated to this first large volume order I worked on.

About a month ago, my Aunt had called me asking if I would come meet up with her and some of her friends that she does bootcamp with. She mentioned that she had told everybody about what I was doing, and they were interested in seeing some of my bags. I, of course said yes. And planned to meet them all for coffee one morning.

I had put together a photo book to bring to a vendor event that I am planning to go to in July. It’s basically a scrapbook of most of the bags I have made since starting this business in January. So, I brought that along with 1 messenger bag, 1 ruffle clutch, 1 doily clutch, and 1 tote. And some business cards.

I, honestly, went into it thinking I would pass out some cards and get some of the women to check out my Etsy shop.

Well, after a bit of sharing and story time (passing around bags samples and the photobook), I immediately started taking orders. It was amazing. I felt like I couldn’t write fast enough at a few points. My heart was pounding with excitement. Once,  my order list reached about 5 bags, I looked over at my Aunt in surprise. I had no thought that I would get 1 order just yet. Well, basically one by one, 8 different women sat next to me and explained what they’d like to order. My aunt even ordered 2 bags, and my Godmother who was also there ordered one. It felt amazing to have anyone want to order a bag. But, something about my Aunt and Godmother caring so much to support me felt really Great! I was sort of flying high by the end of all the orders. I collected some money up front, and took email addresses to email invoices and my Aunt and I parted ways with the group and walked up the street to get lunch and celebrate! I counted the order at that point. 16!!! I was FLOORED. and giddy.

After that Friday morning, I spent the next 2 weeks, processing the entire 16 bag order, and processed a few Etsy orders in the meantime. Now that I am babysitting part time every week, I am only really sewing 3 full week days right now, so it did pose a challenge. But, I worked some weekends and late nights (and actually took memorial day off) and I did it! Finished all 16, and delivered them last Friday morning.

I thought I’d share a few of the separate bag orders. This is not all of them, but it’s most. I had fun with the packaging. Since I wasn’t shipping them, I was excited to do something a little different than I usually do. I made custom craft paper sacks for each order and decorated the accordingly. I LOVE packaging!

I am always really excited about custom orders. Because, it is always fun to see something NEW come out, and what an idea looks like in the end. There were a couple custom orders in this group. The Olive on Olive Heartstring messenger bag in the 2nd order down. LOVE it. Need to make one for myself. And, then the Houndstooth messenger bag! It turned out really gorgeous with the red lining that was chosen. I am really happy with it how it turned out.

All in all this was a really fun order for me. To get one huge order and belt it out over a 2 week period. I hope to get to do something like this again. Purse party anyone?!!?

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