Tonya Mason had trouble finding the perfect bag to complement her style.

So what did she do? She got out there and made it herself.

That's how things started out. But fast-forward a few years, and you'll find the creative, tattooed 37-year-old doing the same for others.

Mason owns "dafal," a business specializing in custom-made leather goods. Mason operates out of a small studio space in the Sherman Mills complex in East Falls, a community she also calls home.

Mason was born in Hershey, Pa., but spent most of her formative years in North Carolina. Since her southern childhood town of Greensboro wasn't exactly a creative Mecca, Mason decided to pick up and move out West in 2000, "with the aspiration of being in the fashion industry."

She spent 5 1/2 years in Los Angeles, doing styling work for fashion shows and creating products for the stars, including custom bags for actress Christina Ricci.

"I kind of ended up having a demand," she said during an interview at her studio last week.

Soon, however, she became homesick, and decided to come back to the East Coast. She briefly ended up back in Greensboro, where her father still resides, but realized it couldn't accommodate her professionally. So in 2006, she moved back to Pennsylvania.

Since Mason had been creating custom-made accessories during her time in California, she already had a steady client base. And although she was back in Pennsylvania, she was able to sell her products to a number of chic, Los Angeles boutiques with which she had developed relationships with in the past.

For Mason, the decision to move back had more to do with family ties than anything else.

"It seems like the older I get, the harder it is to be away from my family," she said.

She learned about Sherman Mills on Craigslist, and thought it sounded like the perfect spot for her business.

Mason saw Philadelphia as a great alternative to New York City, where she also lived, since it's cheaper to reside here, and it offers the same opportunities for culture and creativity.

While Mason creates some items made from fabric, many of the products she sells are leather goods. And though she comes from a long line of sewers - a grandmother, mother, and aunt - none worked in animal hide.

Mason had to outfit her trusty sewing machine with special needles and parts that could accommodate her newfound passion.

Today, Mason appears quite comfortable at the sewing table, cranking out custom wallets, bracelets, dog collars, handbags and other items.

"Anything short of clothing and shoes," Mason said on what she makes, although she admitted she would like to try her hand at shoemaking somewhere down the road.

In Los Angeles, she made accessories for the stars and custom seat cushions for posh eateries. Today, she makes name-engraved bags, leather messenger bags, and wallets, to name a few of her products.

"As long as it's sewing-oriented, I can knocked it out," she said.

Mason enjoys working with leather because of its appealing and enduring qualities.

"I like the feel of leather, I like the smell of leather," she said. "I think that it's something that you'll always have."

Mason has learned a lot about the different animal hides that can be used, everything from the ultra-soft lamb skin that can be used to create a wallet that needs little to no breaking in, to the sturdier cow skin leather that can make a great canine collar.

Because she has kept in contact with many of the Los Angeles stores and boutiques that purchased her items in the past, Mason still occasionally flies out West to source her products. But now that she's based in Philly, her goal is to sell locally, since it's a way to boost the local economy.

"I would like to put money back into where I live," she said.

Since she was in virtually the same line of work while in Los Angeles, Mason already had a decent collection of hides when she opened shop in East Falls. This was a good thing, considering she can pay anywhere from $200 to $400 for a hide, depending on its animal of origin.

When it comes to fashioning her own prices, Mason said it can vary greatly from one product to another, since everything is made to the customer's liking.

"It's always relative to whatever product I'm producing," she said.

Because Mason is not just a business owner, but an artist as well, she said the amount of time needed to create an item is also taken into consideration when figuring out pricing.

While Mason does spend plenty of hours in her studio, she doesn't necessarily consider it work, since she loves what she does.

"I'm surrounded by creative people and I get to have my baby girl with me," she said, referring to Hoss, her black lab.

Working and living at Sherman Mills has also served as a great opportunity to meet likeminded artists and network with possible business contacts. One thing Mason has her sights set on is working with a resident watchmaker; they could supply the face while she could create the band.

Another future goal of Mason's is to offer sewing classes to kids and adults in the community. The idea is to open up new creative opportunities at the Mills.

As for the business, dafal, (Mason's middle name), is mostly an online operation, although customers can stop in her studio to place orders. (Dafal is not a retail store, and Mason does not sell products outright at her studio). An order can take between a week or two to turn around, she said, although the time would vary depending upon the product and Mason's workload.

While she admits most of her customers have been women up until this point, she is starting to see more men interested in her product line, especially the wallets. She said she hopes to see more men purchasing dafal products in the future.

As for the reason she got into this line of work in the first place, Mason stands by her belief that creativity and originality is lacking in today's retail industry.

"I think anything handmade is so much better than anything store-bought," she said.

Sherman Mills is located at 3502 Scotts Lane in East Falls, and dafal is in suite 3019-A. To learn more, visit www.dafal.com, or call 336-420-2505.

Reporter Jon Campisi can be reached at 215-354-3038 or jcampisi@phillynews.com