|
|
My Work
Article 5
Working vacation yields gift fit for a (Rose) princess
Saturday, April 28, 2007
CORNELIA SEIGNEUR
When you think of road trips, relaxation and adventure come to mind. But for Kathy Conrad of Milwaukie, a recent four-week recreational-vehicle vacation to the southern states and Mexico with her husband, Dave, meant breaking out the sewing machine to create 14 handbags for this year's Portland Rose Festival princesses.
After the Rose Festival agreed to allow Kathy Conrad to fashion the royal purses, they settled on a final design and fabric -- pochette style made from cream-colored Shantung satin -- just one day before Conrad was to leave on a scheduled monthlong vacation in mid-February.
The Rose Festival needed the handbags by the end of March.
No problem, said Conrad, who purchased the fabric, buttons and the rest of the supplies in a day and packed them along her 35-year-old Husqvarna sewing machine.
During the three days it took to drive from Portland to their reserved space at the Salton Sea Mobile Home Park southeast of Palm Springs, Calif., they stopped at sewing centers in small towns along the way to find items Conrad realized she had forgotten in her hasty packing.
Her original plan was to set up her sewing machine outside on the picnic table in the RV park and to use an extension cord for power, but winds blew that plan right back in the trailer door.
Conrad set up everything indoors, which, in this case, was a 29-foot Winnebago Mini-Winnie consisting of a main living room/galley, shower and a bedroom.
"Originally, I was going to make one purse at a time, but decided that because of the small indoor space I needed to do this assembly-line fashion," Conrad said.
The first day, she set up a board over the sink and stove of the RV, cutting the main pieces and then pinning the components together.
The next day, Conrad set up her sewing machine in the bedroom to begin sewing the body of the bags and the flap.
"The sewing machine was on the vanity in the RV bedroom, and the chair backed up to the bed. I had 6 inches to spare," she said. Conrad also had her ironing board out to press seams, as well as a glue gun.
Day three was for sewing the lining and the strap loops, then beginning to pin all the pieces together.
"On the fourth day, I actually sewed them," Conrad said. "I was praying that I would not run out of fabric, or that I would not make a mistake, like in the direction of the fabric."
Lighting was poor inside the RV, even with the lights on.
"I had sewn one of the bags inside out, sewing the wrong side of the fabric, so I had to turn it around and do it over," Conrad said. "And the cord of the iron got tangled, and I got my foot caught in it and knocked the iron on the floor.
"I kept my sanity by having a pina colada every once in a while," she laughed.
Conrad said the most leisurely part was assembling the charms she attached to the top of the handbags, allowing her to use her creativity to make all of them different.
Although her husband was sick during the four handbag-making days, her dachshunds, Cricket and Raven, kept her company.
"They were sitting behind me on the bed watching me sew, and everyone once in a while they would lick me," she says, smiling.
Conrad said she took breaks to walk "my girls" around the RV park.
"We were very excited she was going to custom make them for us," said Jennifer O'Bryan, director of special events with the Rose Festival.
Chisa Taylor, a volunteer wardrobe coordinator for the Portland Rose Festival, was particularly impressed by Conrad's commitment to making the bags despite travel plans.
"One of the things that I thought was pretty fantastic is, here Kathy was on a road trip with her husband, and she took along her sewing machine so that she could get the purses to us on time," Taylor said.
Conrad began making handbags a year and a half ago to give to friends and family. After she donated one to a charity auction and it brought in $75, she began selling her creations. Her design name for the bags is Ryann Kelly Handbags, named for her daughters-in-law, Ryann and Kelly.
Designing the official Rose Festival handbags was an idea sparked 20 years ago, and as enthusiasm grew for Conrad's product, she "began to think bigger, and I got a little bit braver; I always remembered this dream, to make the Rose Festival handbags, but I had this fear.
"I knew the Rose Festival works with Macy's and Nordstrom and other high-end retailers, which unnerved me a bit, but I tried anyway," Conrad said.
O'Bryan is glad she did: "I think it is really unique and that the girls are going to love it."
She said the princesses will be presented with Conrad's satin purses, along with the rest of their wardrobes, when they begin traveling as a court Monday.
|
