about very small beetle

(My Mom, me, and Griffin at a festival in North Georgia circa 2005)

Once upon a time, I had a tiny business called very small beetle. My mother and I teamed up and made one of a kind handbags. The entire project came about because I had an identity crisis after I gave birth to my first son. I had gone from working as a full time hair stylist in a swanky Atlanta Salon to a stay at home mom in the small college town of Athens, Ga. I had lost touch with myself and my mom decided that I would find my identity in sewing.

It worked. We collected wonderful fabrics, vintage buttons, and estate jewelry for each one of a kind purse. It was so fun to design each bag and learn the art of sewing as I sewed each stitch. Eventually, we had made so many purses that we decided to sell them at local festivals and craft shows.(some of our purses)

It bloomed into a budding business. We made hundreds of purses. My mom invested in a top of the line Bernina sewing machine. We had a blast.

Then, the sewing machine started to rattle a bit. Griffin started crawling and the threat of him swallowing a straight pin loomed at each sewing session. It became harder to sew with a little fella tugging at my leg. I found a mom's group and settled into some much needed friendships. Somewhere along the way, the bags got packed up and the fabric was put away in storage. Our small little hobby was hung up and the bags sat in suitcases for years.

Well, I was recently rummaging through storage and stumbled upon a bunch of our beautiful fabrics. I found tapestries, silks, brocades, and tons of vintage buttons. It brought back so many great memories. Then, I found a small trunk with some of our purses in them. It was fun to remember each bag and the love that had been put into making it.

I decided to unearth our purses and open an Etsy shop. My mom is sending the sewing machine off to be repaired and were blowing the dust off of our sewing tools. I miss sewing.

So, as I discover trunks of handbags in our storage unit (which is overflowing with "stuff") I will list them at our Etsy shop. Then, when we get the sewing machine back, I'm going to dive back in and sew again. My spirit needs it and the world needs to carry our lovely purses.