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!

Finished project - Poison Ivy hooded cape.

Last halloween I made a Poison Ivy costume for myself to wear to a party and this was the cape that went with it.

It's made from forest green and deep red polycotton.  I wanted to make this as economically as possible as I needed 6 meters of each colour.  

To make the cape a bit more interesting I machine embroidered trailing vines using a satin stitch up the entire length of the garment.  Each panel was decorated separately before joining all the panels together.  Once all the seams were sewn, including the hood, I then embroidered across the seams to ensure the pattern had good continuity across the cape.

I love capes with giant, oversized hoods!!

During the construction of this I thought, hey! this really should be reversible....... you know.......just in case....