Meet The Maine Bag Lady
Hello there! My name is Michele Barrette and I am The Maine Bag Lady. I live in the beautiful State of Maine with my sweet dog, Miles, not far from my three beautiful daughters and 6 adorable grandchildren. I fell in love with Maine my first time visiting 16 years ago and had a feeling I might retire here. Low and behold, here I Sew!
My youngest daughter, Rebecca, enjoys helping me in the sewing room and also on my website. She likely knew that I would not get back to editing this Bio anytime soon and took it upon herself to write all these nice things about me after all...
You're welcome Mom 😘 I'll take it from here while you get back to sewing.
Like I mentioned earlier, my name is Rebecca and I am Michele's youngest daughter and the lucky one who also took an interest in sewing. I am a busy working Mom myself but decided to take the advice of several and get right to work launching a website for Mom. This was after I assisted her during the last fiber arts festival and witnessed the mass hysteria surrounding her booth with eagerness to obtain one or more of her products, for the second year in a row. Nevermind all the lovely compliments myself and my family have recieved over the years when sporting her works of art ourselves.
I have been on a mission to share her beautiful work with the world ever since.
Please consider supporting her. You can help spread the love by perusing her shop for a one-of-a-kind, hand crafted item for yourself or to give as a gift!
But first, back to braggin' on my beautiful Mama....
In her free time, you will find the Maine Bag Lady in front of her sewing machine, listening to her favorite music (the purr of the machine of course), spending time with her family, joining friends in various knitting circles, rug hooking groups, quilting groups, and TONS of small charity events. Mom has donated more handmade hats, scarves, blankets, bibs, booties and tons more items, than you can even imagine.
As a litttle girl I can recall many nights falling asleep to the hum of her old Janome while she sewed the night away in her sewing room. I think it is safe to say she has started and ended most her days in the sewing room, for as long as I can remember.
Matching fabrics together, designing and creating unique, one-of-a-kind handbags, tote bags, zip bags, purses, and all sorts of other handmade items is her specialty. You will be hard pressed to find another item made just like hers with the same quality construction and measure of love.
For years friends and family have called her the "Bag Lady" because she is always sporting a new handmade purse or wallet. Or carting around more bags, making bags, sending us kids with bags, packing her car up with TONS of bags for road trips.. you get the idea. Hence, the name, The Maine Bag Lady.
It has been a dream come true and a true blessing to have the opportunity in working alongside Mom over the years. Learning her remarkable and invaluable skills not only in the sewing room, but also throughout life is something I will always treasure.
I dedicate this website and all its proceeds to The Maine Bag Lady, (aka my AMAZING Momma) herself, so naturally, she can go buy more fabric, ASAP!
I hope you enjoy perusing her shop and please feel free to reach out with any questions or custom order requests.