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Creativity Is Definitely Their Bag

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By LENORA LAKE, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 20, 2007

TAMPA PALMS - Mary Detres admits she is 'obsessed' with beautiful fabrics.

The Tampa Palms resident had a lot of tapestry left from making drapes for her home.

When Detres' sister needed a tote bag for her yoga clothes, the 52-year-old former New York designer constructed one from the material. That bag turned into a business, On a Whym, through which Detres designs and makes totes for sale. Her sister, Nancy Tunis of New York, handles the marketing.

They will have their bags for sale as part of Arts & Crafts Under the Palms, a show today and Sunday at City Plaza.

About 100 vendors will offer woodcarvings, jewelry, purses and mixed-media art at the event, which is sponsored by the Tampa Palms Women's Club. Food, including funnel cakes and corn dogs, also will be for sale, said Stella Hardman, event co-chairwoman.

Proceeds will benefit local charities to be selected by the club, Hardman said. Organizations that received donations in previous years include the Outreach Assisting Students in Schools Network, Kids 'n' Canines and the Pace Center for Girls.

Detres said she and her sister, who will be here this weekend to help at the show, 'thought it would be a fun show. We wanted to get more exposure in Tampa.'

The former designer, who is in telecommunication sales, said her sister 'has gotten us into some trendy boutiques on Long Island.'

The only store in Tampa carrying the bags is Kit's Well-Heeled and Well-Dressed in South Tampa's Hyde Park Village. One bag also will be modeled in a charity fashion show this month.

All bags are fabric, usually tapestry or denim. They sell for $80 to $120 each and are trimmed with denim, braids, fringes, jewelry, belts and buckles. Some trim comes from stores that sell vintage clothing and accessories.

The bags are offered in a junior line for preteens through college and a more traditional 'missy' line. Some popular junior bags are called 'skull bags' with outlines of skulls.

'The junior market is really fickle. I don't totally relate, but I can design it,' said Detres, the mother of two sons, ages 25 and 14.

'Girls from about 12 to 22 are giving up their backpacks and going with the bags. Mothers are buying the bags for their daughters. They remember the trends back in the '70s and relate to them.'

Each takes about a half-yard of fabric. Special-order bags, using pieces from a customer's favorite pair of jeans or accessory, can be made.

Detres said a prominent fashion and style magazine recently named an oversized, 'ginormous' bag as a must-have item. 'All the celebrities are carrying them,' she added.

Each 'theoretically' takes about an hour to sew, but they seldom are made that way, she said.

'Every one is a work in progress,' she said. 'If I am not happy with it, I rip it up and change it.'

Detres, who has trouble sleeping, said she often gets up in the middle of the night and takes pieces of material and accessories out of a closet where she stores them. She mixes and matches the pieces, trying to come up with the perfect look for the next bag.

'I love playing around with the trims. I throw the stuff around. You know when it is right - and you know when you are forcing it,' she said.

Detres isn't the only vendor whose sister will be in town to help her with the sale. At least one other exhibitor has a sister as a partner.

Hardman, 57, a Tampa Palms resident, will be a vendor, as well as serve as the show's co-chairwoman.

Hardman and her twin sister, Ella Froman, who lives in California, will have a booth with 'quillows,' a combination of quilts and pillows.

Made of soft fabric, usually flannel, a 'quillow is basically a lap quilt that folds into a pillow,' Hardman said.

Each quillow is about 40 inches by 60 inches. One side has a colorful pattern; the other is of a matching solid color. A pouch or pocket is attached and used to fold the quilt into a pillow. It also can be used for a person's feet when the quillow is spread out.

'They were popular 15 years ago. They died out, and we are resurrecting them. Everybody who has seen them loves them,' Hardman said.

Each takes about three hours to make. She has to spread the material across her dining room table to hand-stitch parts of it. Each sells for $50; if two or more are purchased, they are $45 each.

Hardman said she had attended the show for a number of years. Her sister, who was here last year at the time of the show, suggested they sell quillows.

Hardman said, 'I had always wanted to do the show, but I didn't want to do jewelry, which is my other passion.'

The Tampa Tribune is among the event sponsors.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Arts & Crafts Under the Palms

WHEN: From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: City Plaza, Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Tampa Palms Boulevard West

HOW MUCH: Free admission

INFORMATION: Call (813) 977-2261.

Correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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