A trio of purses

A short while ago I received an email from someone who had purchased one of my little purses through my Etsy shop . . . with an inquiry about whether I might be interested in creating a purse for each of three of her friends . . . to remind them of the costumes they wore to a masquerade recently.

I was sent photos of each of the costumes and given complete freedom to create . . . what fun! You can click on the photos to see more detail of the purses.

Here are photos of the costumes (with permission) and the bags that I created, as well as the costume and the bag that I made for the customer initially (I didn't know it was to go with a particular dress.) The costume photos are a bit small but I think you will see enough to know where the inspiration came from.

The first purse was made for the "ice witch". The purse is made of black and white dupioni silk that is pieced in a soft curve and is beaded in black and white . . . with a few of the black beads drifting into the white and a few of the white beads drifting into the black. The strap is also both black and white and it is lined with charcoal cotton.












The second purse was made for this costume that I initially had a bit of trouble identifying . . . but we referred to her as an "owl person" as her costume included a beautiful cascade of feathers down the back as well as around her neck and she had an owl perched on her shoulder. The bag is constructed of brown silk noile and has a little black tulle ruffle at the bottom of the flap which echoes the ruffle beneath the hem of her dress. The purse is stitched to look like a tree trunk and has "moss" and "fir boughs" made of thread lace that I constructed separately and then added. There are a few feathers tucked secured under the branches and a smooth polished stone weighs the flap closed.












The third purse was made for this "princess". I was concerned about matching the colour of her dress so I was delighted when my customer was able to obtain a piece of the fabric that it was made from (the photo of the purse was taken indoors and the colour appears different from the dress -- but it is the same!). The flap on the purse has been made in the same shape as the top of the dress and beaded to invoke memories of this beautiful gown. It is lined with silver dupioni silk.













The final costume is my delightful customer who commissioned these purses and her purse, which was made for her a couple of months before the other three. All she told me at the time was that she would like to have a purse that was black with silver stitching . . . the one I made is constructed of black dupioni silk and the swirls are metallic silver thread as are the beads. The beads on the lower edge of the flap help to weigh it closed. There are also more beads on the back of the purse.