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A bag lady with style
Design ideas have been raging inside Rebekah Scott’s brain for as long as she can remember.
When she was four years old, she would draw sketches and beg her mother to sew them.
As Scott tells it, her mom, a master seamstress, would get frustrated because her young daughter’s early artistic renderings were too difficult to decipher.
“So she gave me a sewing machine and taught me how to sew because she couldn’t figure out what the designs were in my head,” Scott says, laughing.
Once she learned to sew, Scott took matters, literally, into her own hands.
“When I was in fourth grade, I made hats and sold them on the playground,” she recalls. “I was always digging through my mom’s scraps. As a little kid, when we’d drive from West to East River, I always thought of the (utility poles) as dress forms and think about what kind of dresses I’d put on them.”
Today, Scott, 27, lives in Valley Springs with husband, Nick, and 3-year-old son, Gus. She grew up in Philip with her twin sister, Sarah, and two brothers, Philip and Joshua. Her parents, Bud and Peggy Eggers, moved the family to Volga just before her junior year in high school.
She graduated from Sioux Valley High School in 2001 and earned a degree in radio and TV broadcasting from South Dakota State University in 2004.
As driven as she was to succeed in her chosen career — working in radio throughout high school and college to pay for her education — Scott kept circling back to sewing and design.
For a poor newlywed, purses were an affordable fix to update an outfit. And, sewing purses fed Scott’s creative fire. Like the utility poles of her youth, inspiration is everywhere.
What’s more, ask any woman about the allure of the handbag. They are the ultimate wardrobe piece. You don’t have to try them on. You don’t have to fit into them. You can’t look fat in them. And, you can’t have too many.
For those with a heightened awareness, purses take on human quality. It is no longer a just a purse, but a “she” or a “her.” Scott gives them names — Andrea, Barbie, Gaylin, Cassidy, Lucy, Pretty Megan, Mabel and Trixie are just a few of her creations.
Scott explains: “A purse is a quick thing to grab. It’s a statement piece. You can be wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but if you have a great bag, you look well-organized and you feel good.”
During the 2003 Christmas season, Scott sewed and sold 13 purses. The idea took off. She would come home from work at the radio station in Brookings to find an answering machine full of orders.
“It literally shot out of control,” she says. “I’d work all day and then come home and sew until 3 in the morning.”
Starting her own business wasn’t so much an “aha” moment as it was Nick telling her to decide between radio and purses: “He said, ‘I never get to see you anymore.’”
Scott says she gave her notice at work and turned her attention full-time to designing and sewing purses. Five years later, she had three employees.
Every design, the fabric choice, Scott says, spring from within. She finds inspiration in nature, in buildings, in basically all that surrounds her. Most of her fabric comes from online sources so that the purses are unique and have a boutique or limited feel.
Always continuing to evolve, Scott’s current line of purses use leather, they are completely washable (an appreciative quality particularly for mothers) and they are lined with pockets. They range in price from a $15 cosmetic bag to $95 to $100 for a tote.
Scott has introduced a children’s line, Olive Branch, which is selling romper dresses. There is a new photography line, where she designed and produced 16 period outfits for people to wear in photos. She hired her mother to sew duvets and curtains. Her sister is making hair accessories — fabric-covered buttons attached to bobby pins.
With a Web site, a blog, Facebook Page, home trunk shows and art shows, Scott says she knows “this is what I was supposed to do all along.”
Jessica Hardt and Ashley Munsterman, friends and Rebekah Scott purse devotees, say this passion of her life’s calling and tireless creativity is part of the allure of the designer’s purses.
Even with a flourishing business, a young child and a baby on the way, Scott generates a vibrant force.
Says Hardt: “I wish that everyone who bought her purses got a chance to know her personally. She is so passionate about creating purses with quality, purses that are unique.”
But, she adds, Scott is more than handbags: “When you’re around her, you just leave being energized and excited. She’s an awesome businesswoman, an awesome mom, awesome woman.”
Munsterman says, “I’m just drawn to Bekah’s creativity and her purses really are a part of her.”
Scott also meets every week with several peers to share ideas and encourage each other. She speaks to groups and encourages people to find their passion and do what they love.
“It really makes you come alive,” says Munsterman. “She has a contagious energy. I always leave our meetings feeling empowered.”
And yet, Scott is far from done and has no intentions of sitting back and basking in her success to date.
Among the goals posted on her vision board is how much she wants to make and what she wants to do, such as having her purses make Oprah’s list of favorite things. She wants to expand her business to a big studio space and continue to hire others, including stay-at-home moms who can work from home.
She will continue holding trunk shows, bringing her purses to groups of women who gather in people’s homes and doing the arts show circuit. And, customers can design and buy online.
“I’m still dreaming,” she says. “I want to develop my children’s line. I want to start a women’s line as well. I figure, if I got this far without a degree (in design), what’s stopping me?”
 Where you can find Scott’s purses:
- Forget Me Not The Bridges, Western and 69th?Sioux Falls SD
- Gift Gallery 425 East Riveroad J Dock Mayo D?Minneapolis MN 55455
- Hip Chic Boutique 328 s Phillips Ave?Sioux Falls SD
- Hope Nouveau Boutique 211 SE 4th?Madison SD 57212
- Remmedez Hwy 75 Main St?Luverne MN 56156
- Spa 2000 224 N Phillips?Sioux Falls SD 57104
- The Etch Salon and Spa 405 W 69th Str?Sioux Falls SD 57108
- The Red Shoe 202 S Phillips?Sioux Falls SD 57104
- Trendz 314 Main Downtown?Brookings SD
- TumbleWeed 2100 Highland Way?Mitchell SD 57301
- Vessels and Jewels 207 Main St PO Box 1234?New London NH 03257
- Wings Parkridge Gallery 2nd floor Studio 2B?Sioux Falls SD
- You've been Framed 5015 S Western Ave?Suite 140?Sioux Falls, SD 57108
- Your Daily Dose Inc. 220 S Cliff Avenue #100 ?Harrisburg SD 57032
Photos by Amy Dunkle
Rebekah Scott Designs
48792 267th Street
Valley Springs, S.D. 57068
605.757.6655
info@shoprsd.com
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