Finished Project: Pink Oriental Handbag

Ages ago I started making a handbag but you know how it is when you get a big shiney idea in your head.  I went off on a tangent and left my unfinished handbag shoved in a corner.  So when my current handbag decided to completely fall apart at the seams I liberated the poor thing from under a pile of other unfinished bits and bobs.

I was going for a slightly oriental look with the beading in the shape of blossom branch and added organza blossoms to finish it off.

A close up of the beading work.

The whole thing is made from recycled fabrics including curtains and an industrial chair foam to give it shape.  Finished just in time for a friends wedding!

The Sirona gown in daylight.

I dragged Claudia out into the garden to take some proper pictures of the finished dress.  Dress forms have got to be one of the most awkward things to maneuver through a house.  Good thing they don't make them with heads or she would have been decapitated on the upstairs banister!!!






















I love chiffon - if only it was easier to work with.

A shot of the train.

A close up of the bodice from the side.

My finished, beaded handbag.

It's been a little while since I have posted anything. Alas, the hand sewing of my 18th Century petticoat is making slow but steady progress. I have a habit of going off on a tangent in the middle of a project, I've tried to not do this but I find that if I have an idea it's best to just go with it and come back to whatever I was doing afterwards. So, here's the handbag I had an unstoppable urge to made.



The handbag itself is pretty simple and quick to assemble. It's lined and it has a middle layer of foamy type fabric to give it extra stability. It took somewhere around twelve hours to make, most of that time was taken up with the embellishing.




A close up of the decoration and beading.



The design and construction need a few tweaks here and there but I'm very happy with it.