Every Bag Has A Story!
About CreateTricks
Our History
Since starting in 2018, CreateTricks has become a well-known small business in the Rockville, MD-area selling one-of-a-kind, handmade project bags for knitting and crochet, tote bags, purses, and specialty bags.
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CreateTricks donates 10% of our profit annually to organizations working to provide equal access to justice.
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@thecreatetricks
Sharon Elstein
Founder
The CreateTricks Story
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"It started with buttons. Hundreds of them, maybe a thousand. I’m not making that up. My Mom is a 'collector.' She loves going to thrift stores to find treasures--buttons, jewelry, and other shiny objects. I offered to take the buttons off her hands to clear some space and she said I could have them but only if I used them. I found a small knitting project bag pattern I liked and made it, adding one of the buttons. Then I made another. And another (there were a LOT of buttons)! I started changing up the patterns, adjusting them to fit my needs. Friends started asking whether they could buy my bags.
Fabric for my bags comes from various sources. Most comes from estate or garage sales. I have found fabric from the 1930’s, batiks from Indonesia, curtains from the 1970’s, sheets from 1960. Friends and coworkers who hear about my small business love to gift me fabric from their mothers/grandmothers.
I’ve been given upholstery fabric remnants of dining room chairs from 1969, corduroy fabric left over from overalls made in 1974, and fabric purchased in 1980 for curtains but never made. I also have obtained fabric swatches from interior design firms, often quite expensive silks and tapestries. I love the idea of recycling and reusing materials, and also keeping production costs reasonable."
- Sharon Elstein, Founder