Let's hope there's no pants in there (Abdone via Dreamstime)

An open letter to the nations husbands and boyfriends.

Dear Sir,

You’ve left it until the last minute, haven’t you? Well don’t panic – and certainly don’t go anywhere near the knicker department of a department store.

Apparently by the end of Christmas day 24 million pair of knickers will have been carefully chosen, wrapped and presented by men to women.

And the shocking statistic is that half of those pants won’t get worn. Instead they get stuck in the back of the drawer behind the every day M&S and the super comfy Sloggis.

They might get worn, just the once probably, before all the left-over turkey is finished. And then they’ll find their way to the back of the same drawer.

We appreciate the sentiment fellows, really. We understand that you probably had to gird your loins for a trip into the lingerie department. But there is a better way.

So, were you planning to buy some scanties for your babe? Hmm. Oh dear, you’ve actually shelled out on something frilly, lacy and colourful.

Gentlemen, for the good of our over-crowded knicker drawers and our over-used “oh how lovely” smiles, stop buying nasty scratchy undies for us. We don’t like them.

For the record, pant buying is a personal thing. There are a great many things we would love for you to do for us instead, just ask.

If you want to be sure to put a genuine smile on your lady’s face you won’t go wrong with a gift voucher for something special and classy such as a VV Amore bag.

PS Visit the VV Amore site for gift vouchers and much more.

One of my customers tells me she can’t keep her hands off a tiny strip of soft pink leather. No she hasn’t lost her marbles, she’s a perfectly sensible working mum in her forties.

She came to visit my studio the other day to see what we do here and to talk about her ideal bag – the one I’m going to make for her.

We started by talking about what really annoys her in a bag: not bring able to find anything, straps too short to go across her body, no pockets on the front, straps too thin, no zip pockets.

She needed a bag large enough to hold everything, tough enough to stand up to quite a lot of abuse and still look fairly smart.

Oh, and she wanted it to be unusual, colourful and still grown-up looking.

We discussed all the options and got totally side-tracked by all the bags – old and new – in my studio. Eventually we concluded that what she needs is a Townie Chic but not in orange.

Very nearly a dream handbag

In the studio there are stacks and stacks of hides in a rainbow of colours with different prints, finishes and dyes. The smell alone is fabulous.

After oohing and ahing over the shades for quite some time, my customer plumped for a rich deep pink.

She said: “I’m really looking forward to seeing the bag. I think it’s going to be brilliant. After all you use a handbag every single day so why not treat yourself to one that you love?”

If you can’t find the bag you want on our website, then have a chat or come and see me. I will be able to create exactly the bag you’re looking for.