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CELL PHONE CARRIER — all things change

Everyone knows that all things change. It’s what we call LIFE. And my experience has been that nothing changes more often or quicker than the size of cell phones.

When they first came out, cell phones were for making telephone calls and were a small flip phone. So we made a Cell Phone Coin Purse to carry that and a few essentials. It was small.

Then the phones got smarter. It took a while for this older generation person to adjust, but I eventually invested in an IPhone 5. So we make a Large Cell Phone Coin Purse. Still the perfect size for me.

Then cell phones became mini computers and constant companions. They got bigger. So we made an EXTRA Large Cell Phone Coin Purse. This size has became our main product. It has a long crossbody strap, a wrist strap and two pockets – one for the cell phone and the other for money, keys, whatever. Every cell phone seemed to fit in it! Life was good.

Then last year a few people began to ask for a larger size and showed me their HUGH cell phone. So we made a BIGGIE. Whew! Just keeping current is dizzying.

In order to decide what size a BIGGIE should be, I looked at the sizes of phones that were listed in their descriptions online. I also surveyed our own family (who are probably like most families, with kids, adults and nerds) and measured their phones and tried them in our Extra Large Bag. This is a smattering of what I found:

Apple: height width depth

  • 7+ 6.2 3.1 .3
  • 8+ 6.25 3 .3
  • 10+ 6.25 3.1 .5
  • 11 5.94 3 .33
  • 11 proMax. 6.22. 3. .33

Galaxy:

  • Note 9S. 6.5 3.25. .5
  • Note 10 5.8. 4.35

Samsung:

  • S-10 6.25 3.2 .5

HOWEVER, the size of the cases differed also. For Heaven’s Sake!! So we just made the BIGGIE big!

Then we started asking people to try their big phone in our Extra Large Cell Phone Carrier for size. We know for certain that a customer’s Galaxy 9S and its case FITS; we know for certain that our granddaughter’s Apple 7+ and its case FITS; and we found almost no phones with their cases that did not fit!

Bottom line is that our Extra Large Cell Phone Carrier measures 6.5 x 3.5 and the BIGGIE measures 7 x 4.

Decided to make the BIGGIE in only a few colors as we don’t believe it will have much demand.

Large Cell Phone Carrier Bag on left; EXTRA Large Cell Phone Carrier Bag in middle; BIGGIE on right
Biggest one here is on right It’s an LGE and it fits in Extra Large Bag and swims in BIGGIE
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QUALITY CONSTRUCTION Makes the Difference!

We at MKI Bags take quality seriously.  As previously mentioned, both of us are perfectionists.  It’s important to us to have sturdy and well-built bags, in addition to beautiful bags and bags that are functional.  We maybe overkill on perfection.

And perhaps this is overkill, but we serge the edges of all the Tapestries that we include as accent fabrics.   Some of our tapestries that we use as accent fabrics do not have the tight weave that we like and could be subject to fraying upon repeated use.  We expect repeated use and build for it.  So we put the edges through the serging stitch of our industrial machine.  This serves to strengthen the fabric by binding the edge, anchoring any loose threads and preventing others from becoming loose in the first place.

This is the serger:  

Our Crimson Tapestry has gold threads that like to pop up where they’re not wanted.  Serging prevents that.

   

Our Roses Tapestry is just loosy-goosey and has a tendency to fray.  Oh no!  Not on my bag!!

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BACKPACKS – Or Wear your Purse on your Back

BACKPACKING IT is incredibly convenient.  Anone who has tried this knows that a backpack is easy to carry — it feels lighter on your back.  Then there’s the issue of having your hands free for other things —  Wahoo!!    AND  if your purse is attached to you, you are less likely to lose it.

Here at MKI Bags, we’re serious about backpacks.  Not only do we make a very nice Tapestry Backpack, but we make a smaller and very nice Tapestry Backpack Purse.  And DID YOU KNOW!  that our Tapestry Tall Purse and our Tapestry Tall Plus Purse can be worn as backpacks?  Regularly a shoulder bag or a cross-body bag, the Tall and Tall Plus can be easily converted into a backpack.

  Backpack in Black/Dartmouth    Backpack Purse in Dartmouth

  Tall Plus in Purple/Bouquet     Tall in Tan/Crimson

For directions on how to thread the strap of a Tall or Tall Plus through the handle in order to make it a backpack, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GOkKTTovlM

 

 

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CROSS-BODY BAG – Easy Modification

With a bit of Creativity, almost any bag can be worn cross-body.  The BagMan models three ways to wear a Tapestry Shoulder Bag, a Tapestry Flap Purse, and a Tapestry Satchel.  The crossbody style is achieved via a longer strap.  We can supply you with a strap any size you need.  They are easy to make.

    TAPESTRY SHOULDER BAG

    TAPESTRY FLAP PURSE

  TAPESTRY SATCHEL

Don’t you just love my model?  Isn’t he cute?

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CROSSBODY BAG – Small bags

The benefits of Crossbody Bags are obvious — easy to carry, and secure — and small crossbody bags have the same rewards.  And they are smaller.  Here at MKI Bags, we make two bags specifically to be crossbody.  And Beautiful!  Did I forget to mention Beautiful?

                                                                           Tapestry Cell Phone Coin Purse                                                                                                                                                                                         https://mkibags.com/product/tapestry-cell-phone-coin-purse/

Tapestry Casual Purse https://mkibags.com/product/tapestry-casual-purse/

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CROSSBODY BAG – Convenient way to carry your purse

There’s a couple of things that I like about a Crossbody (Cross Body/ Across the body/Diagonal/whatever)  Bag:

– HANDS FREE!!  With my bag hanging onto me crossbody, I have my hands empty to pick things up, carry children, push wheel chairs, etc.)  NICE!!

-SECURE!!  When my bag hangs onto me, I have no need to put it down somewhere and then forget where I put it.  I always have it!

          We regularaly sell our popular Tapestry Tall Plus Purse, its big sister the Tapestry Plus Tablet Purse, and its little sister, the Tapestry Tall Purse, with long crossbody straps.  Yes, it’s an ADJUSTABLE STRAP!

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UNIQUE BAG AND PURSE STYLES … The Beauty of Handcrafted

There are many things I like and am proud of with owning a small business.  One beauty of small business is its adaptability … we are able to listen to the needs of customers and either make new styles or modify existing styles.  In fact, many of my designs come from the suggestions of people who walk into our booth.

Cell Phone Coin Purse.   Currently we sell our pretty little cell phone carriers with a wrist strap and a long crossbody strap.  Several people have mentioned that they would like to attach it to their belt (or briefcase, wheelchair, walker, bicycle, etc).  We now have available a short strap with snaphooks at both ends which will accomplish just that!

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MAKE AMERICA GREAT! — Doing our Best!

Here at MKI Bags, we are doing our best to make America great!

  1.  Commitment to Quality.  We regularly get positive feedback from customers about the excellent quality of our products and repeat customers are common.  One customer ordered four new purses, saying that she and her adult children had each chosen one of our bags to take on their adventure to Ireland because she knew she could count on our products to be sturdy.  Another lady loaned her Plus Tablet to a friend who liked it so much that they both bought another Plus Tablet and a Backpack Purse.  Small Business in America makes good stuff.  Check out other comments on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkibags/
  2. Uphold our Responsibilities.  We realize our duty to our customers, our vendors, our event organizer, the tax collector and our community as a whole to handle our responsiblities and be good citizens and try to make the world in general a good place for all people.  You can count on us to do what we say we’re gonna do and to do it politely .. whether on the road or in our booth .. and to clean up after ourselves.  And others!  In fact, here’s a funny story about that.  We had our tent up at an event one hot Saturday and a stressed mother with several children were walking by.  One of the kids was obviously sick and vomited on the ground between our booth and the booth in front of us.  Poor boy!!  Mother and family walked on.  Our Bagman took several of our plastic bags and went out and cleaned up the mess.
  3. Appreciate our wonderful USA.  Our grandparents immigrated to the United States to take advantage of the Great Liberties and Freedoms and Opportunities that are here.  The freedom to start your own business!  The opportunity to work hard and make it grow!  MKI Bags does not take that for granted and realizes how special that is.  So, thank you to our founding fathers whose vision created our Constitution and our Great America!!
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BLESSED WITH GOOD CUSTOMERS!

And how grateful I am for their support!

We received an order for TWO Tapestry Backpack Purses, together with this note:
Message Body:
Hi, just a note to say thank you for producing such quality products.  I bought one of your backpack purses back in 2014 and I still get compliments on it! I and my backpack purse have traveled many places together. Although this may seem strange, I count on this bag to hold up and it’s like a friend. I am looking forward to getting these new bags.
Again, thank you!
Kathleen