Welcome to my world. I make bags...it's my hobby, it's my business. If you like to sew, but have never tried making a bag, you're going to love it! Why? Well, sewing is a great hobby. It's creative, meditative...and you have the satisfaction of making something useful and different from anything mass produced and sold in most retail stores. I've made clothes...blouses, pants. I even made a coat once. Okay, it ended up being a coat that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing, not even to go out on the porch to get the mail, but a coat, nonetheless. Did I mention that I'm not a great sew-er? By the way, "sew-er" is my preferred word to describe one who sews. Well, seamstress is too archaic and gender-specific and I HATE sewist. I'm not sure why, it just sounds really silly to me. So, I like the rather clumsy, hyphenated "sew-er." Hyphenated to distinguish one who sews from...uh...septic systems. Ahh...I digress...hmm...I do that a lot. Anyway, I am not the best sew-er. I've also tried quilting. I've made half a dozen quilt tops. I sort of liked the patchwork part of it....meditative...cutting out the bizillion pieces, creative...designing my own pattern of blocks, challenging...getting the bizillion pieces and then the blocks to line up perfectly. Okay, to be completely honest, I wasn't very good at the piecing part...because those #$%*! pieces NEVER lined up perfectly. But then....I .....ummm....DETESTED the actual quilting part of it. I just found it really...well....boring. I truly admire great quilters (and even not-so-great quilters...who the heck am I to judge!) 
But it's NOT me! So, back to bags. I haven't been bagmaking for very long. I made my first bag in 2009. I've been absolutely hooked ever since. First of all, it's easy. There is a completely professional-looking bag that one can make at ANY skill level. Mostly, though, it's the instant gratification part of it that I love. Well, maybe not INSTANT, but definitely couple-of-hours gratification! Plus, there's the show-off in me, and probably most of us, that loves getting compliments on my latest creation. That's the beauty of the bag: They're MEANT to be carried around! I suppose you COULD wrap yourself up in a quilt that you've made, and go to the grocery store....but...nah! Never once have I been asked in that condescending tone, "Oh, did you MAKE that?" Implying, of course, that it's got a shabby, homemade look about it. That happened A LOT with the clothes I made (the ones that I had the bad judgement to actually wear!) With my bags, I'm likely to get a "Oooh that's a cute bag!" Which is MUCH better.