yokes totes!

As you may know, my multi-talented friend Felicity Ford (aka Felix) frequently helps me out by producing illustrations of my designs, for reproduction in my patterns and books. I found her Yokes drawings really pleasing, and particularly so when they were illustrated collectively, as they are on page 5 of the book, and above.

So I decided to get some new tote bags made.

When you start manufacturing and printing things, whether that’s bags or books or whatever, you find yourself having to consider all sorts of matters that would never have crossed your mind before . . . paper stock, glues and bindings, types of fabric, different printing and stitching processes, labour conditions, environmental practices, and so on. I can honestly say I never imagined I’d spend as much time as I do thinking about the weight of printed paper, or, in the present case, tonal printing and gussetting. As I’ve made a few of these totes now, I have a good idea of the sort of thing I like, and the sort of thing that is possible to produce. The Yokes totes are a little different from my previous bags in a few respects. First, we’ve used a few shades of grey in order to best reproduce the pleasing tonal effect of Felix’s pencil drawings. . .

. . . and I’m really pleased with how the illustrations have turned out on the finished fabric.

Second, the bags are made from a good quality 5oz cotton and are gussetted, which makes them pleasingly robust and sturdy.

They are also manufactured from fairly traded cotton, and printed in the UK, by a company with fully transparent environmental and ethical policies, which is important to me.

In short, I am pleased with these totes, and if you fancy one, you’ll now find them on sale in my shop.

And if you are interested in Felix’s process when illustrating my designs, you may like to read this post.