Give Your Vision Life

Have you walked into a bag store, seen a bag you liked, or seen a woman with a kick-ass bag and thought to yourself how badly you wish you could make that bag by yourself? Do you have a vision for your perfect bag design but couldn’t get yourself to make it? Think you can't create your vision?

Just so you know, I was at that position before. I even saw denim bags some girl used to make by herself from old jeans pants and asked her to make one for me. I used to sketch some ugly bags that I'd wish to make, but didn't really know how. And when I started making the bags myself, I couldn’t stop wishing I'd get there, to that place where I know how to make any bag I want, pretty much, wished for a time machine so I could freely make what I dream of by myself. I've come a long way since then, but at least now I know it's possible, it's achievable. With some hard work, and of course with will power. It won't happen immediately, but if you try and progress it's doomed to happen.

So how are we getting to that phase where you can actually sketch a bag and know how to make it?

The first advice I can give you is to know what you want, and then figure out how to make it. To figure it out you better learn techniques. Thos are to be given to you by reading, practicing, tying and practicing again. If you know what you're doing, you have the key for the knowledge itself. Once you know how to make certain things, you can figure out what to do and how. Like, if you see a bag and it has a certain kind of pocket, learn how to make it, no matter in which way. This way you're figuring out systems and will know how to see something and make it yourself.

It might help you if you sketch what you want and give yourself pointers, or side notes. The main goal is to know how to. Once you know that, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

Another important element here is, knowing that the bag you want to make might not always come out the way you wanted at first. However, this could open new doors. Another good point here, is the fact that if it doesn't come out exactly what you hoped for, you now know and will know what to do or fix or change in the next attempt.
Also, be prepared for the fact that even if you have the perfect design in your head and know how to make it, sometimes there's a chance you don't even have the materials and tools to make it. You can pre-buy things and then think of your vision according to what you have. I know sometimes I see a design in my head (literally, I see bags when closing my eyes, at times), but the design I see is made from fabrics I don't have or never seen before. That case I have two options. To go and find a similar fabric to the one I saw in my head, or go for another fabric that would also fit.
I recommend recording your ideas. Just sketch as many details of the bag as possible and go over it one by one to understand the structure, the materials, and your abilities.

At the end of a day, you CAN make whichever bag design you wish. Seriously, anything you want. A design you'd seen and thought there was no way you could ever make yourself, you'll find out that it's not that difficult. If you know the methods and techniques (and even better, come up with your own) there is no reason for you not to figure out how to make it. Just looking at a bag and knowing exactly how it was constructed, knowing how to build this all up by yourself.

A vision is a dream that can come true. And if you know how, you can have it. With hard work it might even become easy. With time you just look at a bag and you just know how they made it, how you can make it, it becomes part of you, and develops an amazing ability. Looking at bags and figure out how they were made; and that will teach you better than any teacher. Experience is important. You're able to know how to do anything you want, then your vision will come to life.