Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Beaded purses

Beaded purses were a popular pastime in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I once owned a beautiful collection of these antique bags and was amazed to discover many had been created from kits sold through places like The Sears and Roebuck catalogs. A lot of the bags were made using knitting or crochet with beads; that is something I have not attempted. In the 1990's there was a revived interest in beaded purses, this time made into amulet bags worn as necklaces. These are a couple of the bags I made then.

This was the first bag I made. It is the one everyone liked the best.


 This is the first large project I made using delica beads. The bag is big enough to hold some credit cards. It is very tightly woven and that makes it almost too rigid. I beaded around a support tube when I made this and didn't realize how stiff it would be. The fringe beads include some lapis rounds and sterling silver beads. I also used Swarovski crystal and handmade German glass beads.

 

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