Jewellrey bags made from vintage sarees.....each different from shimmering silks and satins. What a lovely commision to recieve from Monica de Lucia!

So this week, Madame Hall's Bhuj workroom created divine little bags....each and every one so pretty they are sure to be appreciated by the lovers of Monics's japamala beads.

Monica is Italian, a Hatha yoga teacher who also creates wonderful unique japamala to enhance the yoga practice. 
I've been creating unique jewellrey bags for Monica for quite a few years now..... I'm sure she could buy other Indian jewellrey bags, but not made with the same love and care my team and I invest in them!
First, Monica described what she wanted, we discussed size and all the small details....using this information I made a sample bag and sent Monica a pic. She loved it, so we were ready to start her order...
My assistant Dipu and I searched the local markets for quality silk sarees, we looked for ones that had great border designs, of meduim weight and in beautiful colours. Then it was back to the workroom to match them up with some low lustre Indian satin, combining colours that sang! 
All the bags have a hot pink cotton lining and a drawstring top......Sandeep has been making all the drawstrings, 200 of them for Monica's order of 100 bags! And while he's been doing that, Dipu has been assembling the little bags, this time with Monica's Samsara labels she had sent to us directly from France...
A week later they are nearly all finished, the only thing that remains to be done is the red thread wrapping on the ends of each drawstring which is being carefully done by one of our lovely neighbours....
Monica is a joy to work with because she understands the energy, thought and care we've put in to making these bags. Her jewellery presentation is important, and she knows that Madame Hall jewellery bags enhance the handmade and individual nature of her own items ....
Below are some jewellery bags we made earlier for Monica

Maybe you need presentation bags for your handmade jewellrey? Madame Hall can design and make lovely jewellrey bags for you from a wonderful assortment of special fabrics and embroideries....I'm just an email away, so please get in touch with me if you want something really special to compliment your products. 

When I was growing up in Adelaide, South Australia during the 1970's I never set out to find a mentor, or even knew what a mentor actually was. But luckily fate intervened, and I one day met Sophie Van Rood in her vintage clothing emporiam in Rundle St and my life was changed forever

If Sophie was alive today she would have turned 99 this year. When I met her she would have been around 60, and such a glamorous and exotic 60 year old I had never met! Always wearing high heels, always with a wide belt around her (still) small waist, with khol rimmed eyes, lots of emerald and diamond jewelry and stylishly disheveled red hair always in a messy bun....she was a woman who had created a distinct style of her own and had me mesmerised!
Sophie's shop, The Banana Room was my refuge from the staid conservatism that gripped the Australian education system at that time. My imagination was fueled by the beautiful vintage dresses she sold, the like of which I'd never seen before. Exqusitely cut chiffon 1930's gowns, dainty lace chemises and exoticly embroidered oriental shawls.....I was happy to spend every hour I could surrounded by the magic that filled her small shop!
At this stage in my life I had no formal training as a dressmaker, but I knew enough for Sophie to eventually trust me with repairing, re-modeling and re-making some of her precious garments under her guidance. Her imaginative approach and sensitivity towards the restoration antique textiles has left a lasting impression on me to this day.
I learned so much during this time, not only about period fashion styles and how women expressed their own sense of self in the clothes they made (this is something I see constantly in the Indian embroideries I work with today) but also about design, Aboriginal art, morality and culture.....All the things school could have taught me but didn't!
Sophie was not always the easiest person to get along with, and would always challenge me if I innocently said something that smacked of assumption or prejudice; she had strong opinions and never passed on an opportunity to defend injustice as she saw it.
I was about 14 or 15 when Sophie came in to my life, at a time when I was very impressionable. She showed me how to think differently about every assumption, to always question popular opinion and think for myself and consequently strive to be ethically  brave and strong.
I often wonder if I would be in India now if it wasn't for having such a dynamic role model in my teens who encouraged me to look beyond the horizon...Sometimes I still can't believe what good fortune I had to met her!

 
 

If you live in Sydney, or just follow what I'm up to you'll know I recently popped-up in Double Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs

Pop-ups are great! It's wonderful to meet some good online customers in person, and to see some folks who are 'online shopping shy' but still keep track of what I'm doing via fb and instagram.
After raining heavily all week, Sydney granted me a mild and sunny weekend. I saw regular customers, met new ones and also a few lovely people who I've met earlier when they visited Bhuj!

So if you couldn't make it, here are a few pics of what you missed out on!