The Artisan: Millie Erb
Daughter of a mother who loved to crochet and a father who loved to garden, Millie Erb has long been connected to the process of creating. Her love of fibers began somewhere during her childhood playing in pink houses with her brother and four sisters, who were each kept warm by quilts and afghans crafted by her mother. When she began her art studies at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, she asked her mother to teach her to crochet, and she used it in her sculptures and wall hangings, along with sewing, weaving, and macrame.
As she and her husband raised a daughter and son in their geodesic dome home, Millie continued to pursue her crafting interests through Halloween costumes and prom dresses. More recently, one winter break when her daughter visited home from college, the two began their first knitted scarves together in the elementary school where both Millie's children attended and she now works as a Teacher's Aide. Three years later and with her daughter graduated and son in his second year of college, Millie continues to knit, caringly crafting the felted bags sold on this site and in craft fairs in the St. Louis area.
Care Instructions for your Felted Bag
Each Pink Button Bag is knitted from a combination of high quality wool and decorative fibers.
As you use your bag, you may notice balling of the felted wool. This process occurs for the same reason that felting wool creates solid fabric--the wool fibers become fused together through friction. To de-ball the bag, simply pull the bits off by hand.
If the felted wool becomes soiled, surface wash with a soapy sponge, using gentle clear soap with a small amount of cold water. Allow to air dry before continued use.
Treat it is as you would a favorite wool sweater, and your finely crafted Pink Button Bag will give you many years of service.
The Rest of the Family
While the handbags of Pink Button Bags are crafted start to finish by Millie, her husband Ron and their daughter Veronica can't help but sneak their way into the operation.
Ron takes and edits the photos of the Pink Button Bags and manages www.pinkbuttonbags.com, and has even manned Millie's booth at craft fairs on occasion. When he's not helping Millie out or working on promoting electric vehicles, Ron is a videographer for depositions in the St. Louis area.
Veronica designed www.pinkbuttonbags.com and wrote its code. In addition to collaborating with Ron on the site's management, she has taken charge of other tangential projects, including designing Millie's business cards and the tent cards attached to each bag. She first learned Adobe Photoshop and HTML from her dad while she was still in middle school, and has since picked up a good portion of the Adobe Suite (favoring Illustrator) and CSS.
family photos
In the first photo of the header, Millie, her mother, and her eldest sister pose in matching outfits sewn by Millie's mother. The other photo captures Millie with two of her sisters and their only brother. Two more girls are yet to be born! In both, the family stands in front of their pink house in Texas.
