About Handbags and Home

Who am I?

I'm Heidi, the hands behind Handbags and Home! In my previous existence I was a photographer and videographer serving with the British Royal Air Force - yes, it IS a real job in the Armed Forces, you can read a little about my experiences here on a blog I used to write.

I left in 2012 after 16 years of travelling around the world and settled down with my husband here in Weston-super-Mare, and began building my business as a self-employed photographer.

Why am I here?

When I got married in 2010 I decided to buy a sewing machine, and picked up a gorgeous duck egg blue, solid Brother machine from a well known auction site, for a bargain price and started to play!

As time went on, I played around with bags, learning new techniques from various books and websites, and discovered independant pattern designers with some fantastic patterns and fell in love with making bags. I did try making clothes, but I've never been happy with the fit of them so lose interest. Bags, however, I love!

After a while, as I improved my skills, I started to give bags to friends and family as gifts, and then, as I shared photos on social media, I started to get requests from people wanting to actually pay me to make them a bag, and before I knew it Handbags and Home was born

What's it all about?

I love to make handbags and other accessories, and love using unusual fabrics, in particular upcycled military uniform and Harris Tweed, which is a stunning heritage fabric, handwoven in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It's the only cloth in the world governed by it's own Act of Parliament (you can find more information on the Harris Tweed Authority website)

I love to create the perfect bag for my lovely customers who come to me to have the bag of their dreams created just for them. Strap length, number of pockets, bag size, colour, style, whatever is needed I can come up with. I do also have a number of "ready to go" items in my Etsy shop, and I can also be found at a few local events around North Somerset, so if you see me at one, come and say hello!