BreadandRoses2




About The Artist
Diane T. Wilson • Cleveland, OH
Clothing & Accessories • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS
Bread (basics) + Roses (beauty, inspiration, art) sums up the philosophy behind my artisan bags. Each is conscientiously designed & hand crafted from start to finish in my one woman studio. I majored in Design/Crafts: Textiles at Kent State University but am self taught in my work. Every piece has a story to tell and miles to go. I repurpose an eclectic range of authentic vintage / historic textiles & leather to create durable, utilitarian goods with modern sensibility & understated style.
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Q&A with the ArtistTell us how your work is made.Slowly. Time/labor intensive. After hunting/gathering vintage materials (a job in itself), washing, hand picking apart the vintage duffel bags, nail aprons, bank coin sacks and other utilitarian textiles, I study the placement of original markings, condition of fabric and mentally design the bag. There's a lot of math involved to make maximum use of the military duffels, in particular, since there's less usable fabric available than one would imagine. I design in a deconstructing manner, from my vision of finished product on back to cutting materials. There's much 'measure twice, cut once' involved. I do not use patterns. Each and every bag is a one-off and cannot be exactly reproduced due the distinctive nature of vintage objects. The inside is as important as the outer, even though it's never seen: I sew in the interfacing and all edges/seams are finished, just as a couture garment should have. Details matter: seams are tack stitched where needed, pockets are double ply & top stitched, leather ring tabs are reinforced with hand dyed cotton tape (old deadstock, of course) to ensure durability. My linings are seamless at bag bottom, so no crumb catcher seams. I invisibly hand sew the lining opening so it's smooth. Lots of ironing every step of the way, too! Form follows function. |