My name is Sherry Devine of Sherry Devine Designs. I am a married mother of 3 active children, ages 12 and 10 year old twins. We live on a beautiful, rolling farm in Eastern Pennsylvania. At the present time, my line consists of handbags of all types, including casual bags, special occasion bags, beach bags, cell phone cases, and eyeglass and sunglass cases. I use a variety of fabrics, including chenille, tapestry, velvet, brocade, suede, corduroy and cottons. Numerous patterns and textures are used like florals, animal prints, stripes, and plaids. Many of the styles are embellished with vintage look brooches, beads, or ribbon. I love using fabric for my handbags because of the variety of available colors, patterns, and textures, giving my handbags a much more unique, exclusive look. My handbags appeal to a wide age range, and my target audience is middle American women in their 20’s through 70’s, and I also sell to boutiques that carry unique items. I get my inspiration from several different places. I am constantly observing women whenever I go out, checking out what type of handbags they are carrying. I ask questions of my friends and family for ideas of what features they like in a bag. I also draw inspiration from looking through high fashion magazines, like Vogue, to see what is being done in NY, Paris, London, and Milan and stay abreast of the latest styles coming out of these cities. I think what makes my bags so special is that they are designed and created from start to finish myself, in my home studio. I have exquisite sewing skills and am a perfectionist when I create a bag. I also think what makes them unique is the combination of fabrics and embellishments, sense of style, yet practicality for the woman who needs a great bag that meets her needs to get her through her busy day. My customer will not see herself coming and going while she carries my handbags!

I began my design career by studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I studied all facets of art, and clothing and accessory design, but during my senior year there, I was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship with Barbara Bolan Handbags in NYC and Florence, Italy. After graduating, I worked as an assistant knitwear designer at IB Diffusion in Chicago, and on to NYC as a knitwear designer at Regent International. I then had 3 children and became widowed when my children were babies. Although it was a struggle, after several years of raising my kids and moving on and getting remarried, I decided to return to my love of handbags, and started my own handbag business in the fall of 2005. It was a wonderful outlet for my creative juices! I started out my business with one basic style, sewn in a variety of fabrics. Over the last 2 ½ years my line has evolved to include numerous styles in all shapes and sizes. After listening to my customers, the styles have become more complex, including inner and outer pockets, zippers, vintage look pins, and embellishments, and have taken on a more sophisticated look. I would like people to know that each handbag speaks to me as I am designing and creating it, so it constantly evolves from start to finish. Many of my bags are one-of-a-kind creations, or 2 to 3 of a kind at the most. I design 2 lines per year and am always designing new styles, however I also continue to develop styles from past seasons that my customers love, using different fabrics and details.

A design nightmare story is that a good friend asked me to design a handbag for her. She gave me a few ideas of what she wanted, but basically gave me carte blanche to design it as I wanted. She was a designer herself, so I thought she would appreciate the process of hard work that went into the handbag, however, she was not happy with the bag and decided to return it to me. I felt bad that it was not what she wanted, but I have since repeated the style in other fabrics and it really is a beautiful bag!  The greatest achievement in the process of my handbag business is the feeling of accomplishment that I get every time I finish a handbag. I just love the challenge of perfection in making handbags and find it so gratifying to take a piece of flat fabric and watch it transform into a 3-D object before my eyes that is useful, practical, and useable, not just a piece of artwork that sits on the table. I enjoy wearing my own bags and get such a feeling of happiness when I carry one or reach in to grab something out of it, and knowing that other people have the same reaction, makes it worth all the work.