Meet the Maker - Kimberly of MyDani Bags

Meet the maker behind the bag! Kimberly Cummins, one of our lucky winners from our Lola Slow Along giveaway (sponsored by byAnnie!), kindly took some time out of her busy day to tell us a bit more about herself and her bagmaking journey!

We'd love to get to know the maker behind the bag better, so could you please tell us a bit about yourself?

I live on the North Carolina Coast and it has to be one of my most favorite places to live. I traveled far and wide in the casino business before I retired.

When did you start sewing, and what inspired you to sew bags?

I started actually making PJ pants but I called them fancy pants because I decorated them with ribbons and patches they are sew cute. I had all kinds of left over fabric and didn’t have the heart to throw my scraps of fabric away. I’m not a quilter so I looked around for patterns to make something with them, and like sew many before me found a pouch to make. I made probably 50 then moved onto my first bag and from there my complete passionate obsession began. I’ve designed a few of my own patterns but found that it wasn’t really my bag and I more enjoy buying patterns from designers. I’m more of a sewist than a designer. From there I started doing the Farmers Markets in my area and I could not keep up with how many I had to make every week. Folks really like homemade things especially when they can see that you put your heart into it.

What's your favourite thing about sewing?

My favorite thing about sewing is that you can get absolutely lost into it. Much like most the world right now I have many things I’m carrying on my shoulders. I know I’m not alone. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as making something with your own hands that makes you feel like I just made something sew pretty and your proud of yourself because well that was hard! Some patterns are tough and when you get through with a bag that your proud of well it feels pretty darn good.

No doubt about that! We get that completion buzz too, and we definitely agree that sewing is a really helpful distraction right now. When you're planning what to sew, do you have particular creative ideas or inspiration? If so, what inspires you?

When I design a bag it almost always starts with the pattern. Swoon has been an all time favorite place to start. Then it’s the shopping for the fabrics and then the hardware. Pretty much in that order. Then I’m off to find a video on YouTube or if the designer has a video to purchase I always buy it to. Lastly I look at what everyone else did with their bags. I belong to several Facebook bag sewing groups and boy there’s a lot of inspiration there. Absolutely no lack of inspiring bag makers. I look forward to seeing what other makers come up with everyday.

We totally agree! We love seeing what everyone has been getting up to on the Swoon Facebook Group; it's sew inspiring! Have you plans for what you'll sew next?

I have at least 4 different patterns that are on the cutting table right now. I love to jump into sew alongs and Brooklyn Traveler has got my attention at the moment but in the background I’m thinking of the Louise Barrel bag and a few others. Sew many bags so little time.

We definitely agree with that! If only Sew Day was a real thing! We're wondering... aside from your sewing machine, what's the sewing tool you can't live without?

I would say interfacing. I can not under any circumstances make a bag without it. I feel it is absolutely essential. Next to that I truly love double sided tape and then of course the seam ripper. Not that I love the seam ripper only because I found that no matter how good you are you’ll be using it.

This is so true! We always have our seam rippers close to hand! What's your top tip for other bagineers?

My best tip is take your time enjoy the process. Don’t feel bad about asking for help on groups. Ask other makers how they do this or that. Bag makers love to share knowledge, help solve issues and just give a heads up on sales and finds.

Yes! The bagmaking community is brilliant, and it's lovely to see so many bagineers sharing knowledge and helping one another. Speaking of sharing knowledge, if you could ask our bagineer followers anything, what would you like to know?

Oh my goodness sew many things....what their sewing room looks like? How they keep their patterns? How they store their hardware? How they store their fabric? What machine is best for what? How often they change needles? There’s more sew much more!

That is a lovely long list of questions! We'll have to pop them up in the Swoon Patterns Facebook group and see if we can find out some answers! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us, Kimberly. We're sure that our readers would love to see more of your makes - do you have a social media page or website?

Yes, I have MyDani Bags on Facebook and Instagram. My business is named after my sweet daughter that passed of cancer and she loved that I started doing this and I think she would have been really happy I named my bags after her.

We're so sorry for your loss, Kimberly. Thank you again for sharing your valuable time and knowledge with us! We can't wait to see what you sew next! If any of our readers would like to find out more about Kimberly, please click here for Facebook: @mdb.kcummins and here for Instagram: @mydanibags.

"When is the next Slow Along?"

We're hoping to run our next Swooning for Starters Slow Along in February. We will confirm the dates and times soon! We will be sewing the Sydney Crossbody Bag with Tammy. Find out about the materials you'll need in Tammy's prep video in the Swoon Fans Facebook Group: https://fb.me/e/3FD4AoA6N