The Real Monica - Henri Bendel Bag

I know I haven't posted anything for a while. It's funny how life gets in the way of fun.

Anyway, at the beginning of November, I acquired a Real Monica, Henri Bendel, green and black tiger pattern handbag. I was very excited when I made the purchase, and was absolutely blown away when I received it.

I don't know much about the supposed exclusivity of this bag to Henri Bendel; I haven't seen this bag in any of the images found online.

This first image is a view of the front exterior.

This next image is a close up view of the exterior fabric. As you might have noticed in the first shot, the fabric is not only plush and a green/black tiger pattern, but there is also a wavy pattern, too. The wavy pattern is actually like a fabric grain of sorts.

The other exterior feature of note is the fastening button. This is one classy button that matches an interior feature.

This next shot is of the interior on the outside. What's cool about this type of bag is that it's reversible.

As I mentioned, the interior pocket is the feature that coordinates with the button; the whole dark floral theme.

This next image is of the original price tag as it was when this bag was originally purchased.

This is one really nice hand bag that is a very fine addition to my collection of inspirations. You would be so impressed with the quality of materials if you were allowed to hold it in your hands.

Folding Fabric Nameplate

 I'm currently enrolled in an accelerated Bachelor's program at a local college. Each of the courses is 5 weeks long, and they take place one at a time. The professors travel to one of a number of regional campuses for each of the classes, and it's a new professor with each course. Because there is a new professor that you only see 5 times they gave us these paper nameplates that we need to display at each class. I don't believe they expect them to last the full 17 months, but I prefer have something a little better and stronger, and that's what this project is about.

Here is a view of the paper nameplate in its original form:

For this project I used Velcro, paperboard from Aldi cracker boxes, a 12oz denim remnant from another project, and Coats Double Duty thread.

I drew my own pattern for this project. You will notice there are two pattern pieces. I originally intended to upcycle some vinyl from an old comforter bag. I actually cut it out and partially sewed it to the project. I decided I wasn't do too well with it so I ripped it off and took a different approach. The vinyl was going to create pockets for the name plate.

The nameplate need some stiffening. As stated, I used some paperboard from Aldi cracker boxes. Here are a not-so-good picture of the layout, and a picture of the cut out pieces. I wasn't sure if the pointed portion was going to need to be stiffened, so I didn't lay out or cut out those pieces until later. That's why they're not pictured.

Here's a view of the fabric cut out. No need to iron it. 

I then sewed the pieces together around three sides, rights sides together, turned it right side out and laid where to sew for there to be four pockets to put the paperboard stiffeners in.

After inserting all of the stiffeners, I sewed the 4th side shut. Next I sewed the hooks and loops (Velcro) so that it would stay in the standing position. I then proceeded to deal with the nameplate. I cut it into two and then laminated the two pieces with packing tape. I then sewed them on. (I wouldn't advise doing this on just any sewing machine. Keep in mind, I sewed through two layers of denim, two layers of paperboard, and a tape-laminated piece of card stock. My Bernina handled without any issues.)

Some views of the final product:

For travel, I took another piece of the denim remnant and sewed up a sheath.

Note:

I used the Bernina #8 Denim foot, a Schmetz Denim needle, and the Bernina straight stitch plate, in addition to the heavier thread.

Some Inspiration from The Real Monica

The other night I was looking around for inspiration, and had remembered that Monica Lewinsky had a line of bags she designed. She used this as a way to move on from the whole scandal. It's a shame that not just this one time, but also once before, back in 2004 or so, I had tried to look into her work, but her site, at that time was in permanent transition, and this time it's simply gone. Luckily, I was able to dig up pieces of her site, from two different stages, thanks to the Internet Archive. In addition, I was able to grab some images from a couple of auctions.

Monica's label was known as "The Real Monica," and the company being The Real Monica Inc., LLC. The trademark, "The Real Monica," was cancelled in late 2007, and the LLC is also defunct. It's a shame that her work didn't continue. Just think about Vera Bradley, in 2002, and look at the popularity now. In my opinion, if her handbag business had persisted, her bags would have at least been on par as far as popularity and quality, if not better.

Anyway, the following are snapshots of her site and thumbnails of her bags that have survived thanks to the Internet Archive.

Starting with a few snapshots of some site splash pages:

In Monica's words, about The Real Monica:

The following are groups of thumbnails of her bags that I was able to capture:

(Note: These are screen captures. The blank spots are where images that weren't saved were located.
I elected to blank them out since there was no visual interest in missing images.)

Totes:

Single Strap:

Double Strap:

Mini Evening:

Petite:

Carryalls:

Slingpacks:

Accessories:

Beach Bag:

 Messenger:

The following are some shots I grabbed from some auctions.

Auction 1:

Auction 2:

Auction 3:

A random image of a tote. The quality's of the image is not very good, but it's another color example worth noting:

A paparazzi image of Monica with one of her bags:

Some fan pictures that were submitted and posted on The Real Monica page:

This is what I was able to gather. Almost all of the larger bags seem to have been reversible. The smaller bags and accessories seem to have just a coordinating lining fabric.

There's certainly a good amount of inspiration in Monica's creations.