Big Changes at YazBerry

Dear fans and friends, and those that are one in the same,

I regret to announce that after a few years of tragically slow sales on my one-of-a-kind handmade clothing and purses, I am going to take a break from the production of aforementioned products. I cannot compete with the prices of mass produced goods overseas that many are demanding of me.

I am an independent artisan. That means I imagine the item, source the materials (online, out driving from store to store, anywhere I can find goods), design the item, I draft a pattern when appropriate or make the item directly on the dress form, I cut, assemble and sew each item, I photograph each item, sometimes many times since I am an amateur photographer at best, I write copy and descriptions of each item, I measure each item, I upload images to the internet, I make my own advertising materials with my basic paint and Microsoft Publisher software, I write blog entries, I promote my own work on facebook and twitter, I try to convince buyers at craft fairs that my work is worthy of your hard earned money, I build display props (which involves sourcing materials, figuring out how to make my idea functional, trouble shooting, rebuilding, redesigning...repeat), I set up my own booth at fairs...the list goes on. I am a Jane of All Trades....literally. All of this while working full time day jobs!

Needless to say, to keep up with the cost of living I need to earn more than minimum wage for all of this work and am not coming anywhere near that. My purses and clothes have been sold at production cost (materials and some labor (and barely)) for the past 10 years because when I raise the prices to a profitable number I experience no sales. I cannot sustain this business model. I love designing purses and clothing, but without a customer base it is a labor of love in vain.

What does this mean? I am not going out of business. I am shifting gears. I will continue making fabulous jewelry and will also continue with the new baby shoes and accessories line. I will consider custom orders on purses and clothing on a case by case basis. I will also consider custom quilting projects, though be prepared to pay what they are worth ($500 - $1500+).

I have been in the process of relocating to a different country for the last 2 years. Once that process is finalized, I will reevaluate my creative pursuits again and may launch a new line. I've wanted to design high end, fashion forward, performance outerwear for many years and may finally be able to take some design classes to learn about some of the technology out there that may make this process doable, though I will not be sewing these pieces from scratch but intend to source a domestic sewing shop to produce them.

As my personal friends are aware, I have been slowly auctioning off at deep discounts, and now finally am giving away, the rest of my handmade purse and clothing inventory. This decision has been extremely difficult for me (simply facing the loss of potential income...not to mention confessing that I failed). Just today I gave away a hand stitched leather piece for free that I know should sell for $300! This decision and my failing business has caused me too much stress, anxiety and depression. It is time to move forward with new ideas.

I want to thank you for your continued interest in my creative pursuits and support over the last decade (can you believe it, YazBerry will be 10 years old in May!). YazBerry has been an interesting ride and I hope you will continue following me as my creative direction shifts in the next few years.

Please continue following me on facebook I am too active there and you will have the most up to date news. You can shop my existing inventory right from my photo albums. I accept payment via PayPal invoices (all major credit cards - no need to even have a PayPal account) and I will ship worldwide. 

Thank you,

Virginia

Handmade Purses and Clothing Auction 75% Off Starting Bid, Most Under $20, Auction Ends 11/9/14

To participate in my liquidation auction, simply type your bid in the comments on the photos in this facebook album. 

Dear friends, I am drifting away from designing and making one-of-a-kind purses and clothing. I will be focusing my creative efforts on jewelry and baby shoes, hats and leg warmers.

Now is your chance to own one of my original designs before I donate them to charity. 75% off retail price is the starting bid. Nearly everything is $15 - $20 with the exception of a few larger, more extravagant pieces.

These are my babies. My ideas turned from a floating thought in my head, to a hunt for the right fabric, drafting a pattern, cutting the pieces and stitching the designs together with my own two hands.

I want more than anything for my creative works to find homes out in the world; to brighten peoples' days; to spread beauty and creativity throughout your life.

Love,

Virginia

To participate in my liquidation auction, simply type your bid in the comments on the photos in this facebook album. 

5 Reasons You Need a YazBerry Purse

I'm having a 30% off sale through August 11, 2014 on all of my one-of-a-kind handmade purses and vintage purses. There are some one-of-a-kind handmade clothes in the sale too!

Flash summer sale through August 11. 30% off store wide!! Use SUMMER30OFF code at checkout.

shop --> yazberryfashion.etsy.com

I want you to own at least one of my creations. Here's why:

1. Wearable art: each purse/clothing/jewelry piece I design is a piece of wearable art. It's like walking around with a priceless sculpture or painting on your person. It is my creative vision, translated through my hands into something tangible you can use.

2. One-of-a-kind: YazBerry purses are one-of-a-kind. Because of how I source my materials, I typically have limited amounts of fabric to use, which allows me to make singular pieces. This ensures that you won't show up to your next big event and your best friend's sister has the same bag. It just won't happen!

3. Sustainable fashion: I use a lot of recycled/repurposed and found materials in my creations. I consider it sustainable fashion. I am keeping useful materials out of the landfill, breathing new, beautiful life into them.

4. Solid construction: I make sure my straps are securely attached and reinforce them inside about 1 billion times. I chose fabrics that are durable yet lovely and feminine. My zippers, buttons and snaps are all carefully applied too with the goal of long lasting durability.

5. Utility: I hate purses that are big, dark and empty inside. By this I mean no pockets, no way to organize your stuff and impossible to find your keys when you are in a rush to get out the door. All YazBerry bags feature bright, surprising liners and multiple organizational pockets for small treasures like phones, lipsticks, pens and keys. Each bag is a little different. Find the one that's right for you!

YazBerry Handmade & Vintage Purse Auction - On Facebook - Ends 10/13/13

I have over 50 handmade and vintage purses in my inventory and need to sell them quick. I am starting the bidding at about 1/3 of the retail price. This is the absolute best price you will ever get on YazBerry! Bid now! You could get a steal of a deal!

Click here for auction

Rules:
+Minimum starting bid is listed in each photo description. All purses sold as is. No returns or refunds - please ask for more info or check out www.yazberryfashion.etsy.com for more photos of most purses.
+Highest bid at the time the auction is closed wins the purse.
+Many purses are also listed on Etsy. If they sell for full price before the auction ends, they will go to the Etsy buyer, who by default is the highest bidder.
+Auction ends Sunday, October 13 at 10 pm CST.
+Watch your inbox for a message from me to arrange payment and delivery.
+Shipping within USA is $5. International shipping, outside of USA is $7.

Shopping for YazBerry

Right now YazBerry is residing in multiple postal codes. Accordingly...shopping for YazBerry is doing the same thing.

For YazBerry jewelry ->shop directly from my facebook photo albums. I update them every time an item sells. Contact me to make a purchase and I can invoice you via PayPal (where you can pay with a credit card without having a PayPal account) or you can pay in person.

For YazBerry handmade & vintage purses & scarves -> for a limited time only, September 22 - October 22 (because I have access to this inventory) you can shop from my etsy site. Shipping will start October 1. After October 22, the etsy shop will go on vacation again until further notice, or magical inventory management solution.

Apologies for any confusion. I really want you to have access to everything I offer, so I am working out logistics the best I can for the moment.

YazBerry Label Making - Manual Printing Press

It's that time again, time to hand print YazBerry labels. I've made so many things since the last printing that I need to replenish my stock! I'm introducing a new label to my collection..."One of a kind". Since so many of my  purses, clothing and jewelry are one of a kind, I felt it was time to permanently mark my one of a kind creations. I love making something only once, so the wearer is genuinely unique in the world, embellished with a YazBerry treasure they hunted down.

YazBerry Vintage - Now Available to Buy in Person

YazBerry Fashion will be one of the collaborators at the new handmade and vintage marketplace in Northfield, MN. The Local Joint boasts to be as awesome as Etsy and I will say, on my first visit I was impressed. So impressed that I immediately inquired about getting involved! This week I will move all of my handmade clothing, table linens, some of my handmade purses, a selection of handmade and vintage jewelry and for the first time ever a selection of my fabulous vintage purses! Be sure to stop by regularly: collaborators are bringing in new vintage and handmade daily and our awesome organizer, Linda Schneewind, Owner of Digs (formerly of Northfield, now in Minneapolis) restyles the store every Monday!

For more info check out the blog: thelocaljointnfld.blogspot.com
Also, here is an article with a great slide show for a taste of what's in store: http://northfield.patch.com/articles/not-another-digs#photo-9072694  

What does this mean for YazBerry's online shoppers? A cleaner, more streamlined, more attractive online store. With the shift a bunch of inventory into a retail space, this allows me time to focus on fine tuning yazberryfashion.etsy.com Expect fresh images, exciting descriptions and an easier to navigate shopping experience!

PRESS RELEASE: YazBerry Fashion, LLC to Increase Prices in 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
YazBerry Fashion, LLC to Increase Prices in 2012

High demand for one of a kind, handmade purses and clothing is forcing
YazBerry to increase prices as of January 1, 2012.

Northfield, MN – December 29, 2011 – Increasing competition and demand
for unique, one of a kind, hand crafted fashion has driven YazBerry
Fashion, LLC, to increase prices in 2012 on handmade purses and
clothing.

YazBerry is a Minnesota business featuring handmade purses, jewelry
and clothing by local Designer, Virginia E. Berry, a native of
Northfield, MN. YazBerry also sells a carefully curated collection of
designer vintage scarves and purses. Berry’s collection is available
online at www.yazberryfashion.etsy.com, her shop on the online
marketplace, Etsy.com and at art fairs throughout MN.

Berry repurposes vintage materials to make her durable, wearable art.
She doesn’t like to make the same thing twice; due to the limited
resources repurposed and found materials offer, Berry specializes in
one of a kind art bags, clothing and jewelry. She mixes the high
quality, rare vintage materials with new materials to create colorful,
sculptural, wearable items.

YazBerry is a favorite amongst women craving items that will leave
people asking where they got it. It offers a certain artistic luxury
that cannot be found elsewhere. Innovative, functional and beautiful;
often featuring built in organizational solutions. YazBerry is for the
treasure hunter, the one that will spend months looking for that
perfect, unusual, unique something.

Virginia E. Berry is a textile artist specializing in wearable art
with inspiration drawn from architecture and eastern cultures. She has
a knack for pairing colors and textures for eye popping results and
enjoys giving new life to repurposed materials. YazBerry Fashion can
be found online at www.yazberryfashion.etsy.com, at local art fairs
such as Riverwalk Market Fair and now by direct message on Facebook.
Visit www.facebook.com/yazberryfashion to browse the exclusive
Facebook only collection. YazBerry is also available for home trunk
shows; contact Berry to book a show.

Contact:
YazBerry Fashion, LLC.
Virginia E. Berry, Designer & Owner
http://yazberryfashion.etsy.com
berry @ yazberry.com
Northfield, MN 55057 

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(320 words)

Things I Love: Delicious Packaging

 Today I shopped for packaging. My goal was to find cute boxy packaging for you to wrap up your earring purchases in for gifts this winter. Goal achieved. Now to assemble 100 mini purses with feather adornments. <3

Exotic Skins - Vintage and So Right Now!

Exotic Skins on YazBerry Fashion
Inspired by a gorgeous $11,400 Louis Vuitton sting ray clutch in the April 2011 Bazaar, I curated a collection of my vintage exotic skin purses currently available in my store. Vintage exotic leather skin purses are highly collectible and heavily sought out by vintage enthusiasts. I am constantly on the look out for quality exotics and put them in my store whenever I get my hands on them. One of my favorite treasures to find on vintage hunts. One of the most interesting skins I've ever found was turtle. Tre exotic. It sold on Etsy a couple of years ago. Here it is for the curious.
I love getting my mitts on a vintage exotic leather purse because the best part is researching to identify which skin it is. Some are obvious, some less so, like the turtle above. In fact, a fellow Etsian helped me identify the turtle skin. There is a lot of information online to help you identify purses when you find them. Happy hunting.

Vintage Beaded Purses for that "Something Old" for Brides

"Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe."

This week one of my beautiful vintage purses was featured in an Etsy Treasury Collection (top right corner) of vintage, white, beaded purses. I thought, what a great way to incorporate something old into your wedding outfit.

While I was reciting the poem in my head, I of course had to look up the origin and meaning of it. Here is what I found:

"A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was made of silver and worth six pennies. So this wedding tradition is definitely English, and many sources say that it began in the Victorian era.
Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. If she carries all of them on her wedding day, her marriage will be happy. "Something old" symbolizes continuity with the bride's family and the past. "Something new" means optimism and hope for the bride's new life ahead. "Something borrowed" is usually an item from a happily married friend or family member, whose good fortune in marriage is supposed to carry over to the new bride. The borrowed item also reminds the bride that she can depend on her friends and family.

As for the colorful item, blue has been connected to weddings for centuries. In ancient Rome, brides wore blue to symbolize love, modesty, and fidelity. Christianity has long dressed the Virgin Mary in blue, so purity was associated with the color. Before the late 19th century, blue was a popular color for wedding gowns, as evidenced in proverbs like, "Marry in blue, lover be true."

And finally, a silver sixpence in the bride's shoe represents wealth and financial security. It may date back to a Scottish custom of a groom putting a silver coin under his foot for good luck. For optimum fortune, the sixpence should be in the left shoe. These days, a dime or a copper penny is sometimes substituted, and many companies sell keepsake sixpences for weddings."

Found on http://ask.yahoo.com/20031027.html 2.20.11

I've been considering wearing light blue instead of a white color for my wedding dress and am intrigued to see that this was common before the trend of white wedding dresses came to be. Maybe I'm on to something. More trivia for the inquiring minds: the tradition of white as the choice for a brides gown "was popularized through the wedding of Queen Victoria. Some say Victoria's choice of a white gown may have simply been a sign of extravagance, but may have also been influenced by the values she held which emphasized sexual purity." Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding 2.20.11

TREND: Bold Eye Popping Stripes for Spring 2011

Have I mentioned how much I love getting Bazaar in my mailbox? It's like a little present every time. That and the Anthropologie catalog.

This summer I found two stunning striped silk vintage scarves and for whatever reason they really caught my eye, so I snatched them up and added them to my YazBerry scarf collection in my store. While thumbing through the February, 2011 Bazaar magazine, page 177 in the "Rules of the Season" article caught my eye: Marc by Marc Jacobs, Prada and Fendi are all featuring bold, colorful stripes in their Spring 2011 collections. I guess the four of us had a hankering for eye popping stripes.

The caption reads:

"SAY IT WITH STRIPES Prints reigned on the runways, and pop-hued parallel lines were king. Mix them with other bold motifs for a modern look." -Bazaar, February 2011, Page 177

Here are a few tasty striped vintage scarves from my YazBerry stash. Scarves are a great way to add a pop of color to your wardrobe without spending a lot of money or committing to a color/pattern/look. You can wear them in so many ways and truth be told, next to obi belts, vintage scarves are one of my favorite go to accessories. I own 50+ personally. 1980s Long Scarf - Vera Striped Navy Gray Magenta - YazBerry - Vintage
1980s Silk Scarf - Long Striped Navy Red Yellow - YazBerry - Vintage
1980s Geometric Scarf - Primary Colors - YazBerry - Vintage

If you are looking for more delicious stripes, here are a few of my favorites from handmade and vintage sellers on Etsy.com I even included some yardage in case you want to make your own striped lovely! To view this treasury collection visit: Bold Stripes for Spring

Note: Image of Page 177 from the February, 2011 Bazaar magazine is copyright Harper's Bazaar.

Designer Doll Purses by YazBerry

I've been working in a handmade doll clothes store, Buttons, Bows & Babydoll Clothes, which sells clothing and accessories for 15"-18" dolls...Bitty Baby to American Girl size dolls.

Inspired by the adorableness that is the doll world, I have made mini-YazBerry purses for dolls and little girls. Some purses are just for dolls, others are sold in matched sets for little girls too! Have an adorable little girl in your life that needs to accessorize her doll? Stop in The Shops at 5th & Division in Northfield, MN. I have a rack featuring my clothes, purses and jewelry too!

Doll & little girl purses are available exclusively in store.

What's Black and White and Red All Over?

My newest collection of purses (pink not red though ;) ). I've opted not to make any strongly Halloween themed creations for my store in Salem, MA, Witch City USA, and instead opted for some strong graphic black and white pieces and some jewelry featuring hand carved skeleton beads, mala beads, used in Buddhist meditation. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Wee! Stuff on the Shelves!

My good Skidmore College buddy Kate Bradley helped me populate the store this weekend. Steve & I did a couple of finishing touches and voila, I present, the almost ready store!
This is my vast window display, the other windows are occupied by the potter.

The wall of yummies. Obi belts, newly designed hair barrettes (only available in store), some of my purses and leather cuffs...

The converted letterpress drawer earring display.

My new handmade mannequin (yesterday I built this mannequin from newspaper, strapping tape and plastic grocery bags. I made a cover for her from a t-shirt. I'm rather pleased with the end result). A glimpse of the jewelry case, which we plan to light with a string of white x-mas lights.

The dressing room, made from a hula hoop. We rigged up a wooden stick to serve as the rod for clothing. Still need to come up with a lighting solution so you aren't in a super dark tent trying on clothes. Any ideas?

The corner shelf with a couple more purses and wine glass charms. What you see on the left hand side is some of the potters work.

Oxidized Copper Treasury - Verderame

Visit the treasury to help us make the front page! This is definately front page worthy.

Thank you lunica (designer of fun purses and totes) for including my handmade copper leather corset in your treasury "Verderame" which features a gorgeous collection of copper and oxidized copper hues. Gorgeous!

Be sure to check out lunica's etsy store. She makes fun purses and totes with faces and floral motifs. Love the faces! Here are a few of my favorites from her store (made in Italy ;) ).

50-75% OFF SALE! Many Items $10-20!!!

50% OFF SALE original handmade YazBerry skirts and men's shirts. Vintage purses, dresses, skirts, jackets scarves and more!

75% OFF SALE vintage purse and clothes including a pair of crimson red Versace Corduroys!!

Be sure to check it out!

yazberryfashion.etsy.com