Ok… so this guy, Dominique Ansel, is sooo...

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About this site

I first learnt the basics in making tote bags at a course at Central St Martins. Before the course, I hadn’t really done any sewing at all. I mean, I could sew a button on a shirt… but little more than that.

At the course, you use these super fast industrial sewing machines. A little tricky to control. There was me at this course, having no idea even as to how to thread the machine! One of the instructors was a lady who was previously a seamstress at some couture house - she knew her stuff. She comes over to me and says… “I’ll put you on the slower one…”. Evs… I bet Alexander McQueen used that machine once. I doubt it… he was a genius.

So at the course I learnt about sewing machines, cutting basic patterns and making simple bags. A solid start.

Last year, I started to make them for real, with materials that I really liked. My lovely friend Rach was actually the person who pushed me along. She turned around to me once, when I was complaining about life and said “Al, make me a bag. One I can take to Tescos for my shopping. Go on, challenge yourself!”. So I did. It’s the one with butterfly print on the outside and liberty print on the inside.

After this first attempt, I didn’t think much of it and then I met Rach for coffee one day and saw her wearing the bag. Me, being a person who notices the bags people wear, thought how good it looked on her, before realising that it was, in fact, the bag I had made! It was real life Disconupelle!

So from there, I started making the rest. One of my favourite parts (aside from giving the bag to its future owner) is putting the fabrics together that initially don’t seem to match but actually do.

The definition of the term “Disconupelle” is as follows…. For the further story, check out the “What’s in a name?” page.

Definition: Disconupelle
Noun
1. Unique bags that bring a smidgen of joy and a pinch of delightful quirk from my world to yours
Verb
1. To remove a staple from a group of stapled pages
2. To take things apart out of curiosity
3. To blog about bag love

Enjoy Disconupelle!
Alex Grace xx