Making an embroidered clutch bag
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Clutch bags seem impossibly glamorous to a vintage girl who spends most of her days in Jeans, but this one is pretty special. In fact this posting has been marinating in my draft box for a very long time and I am so happy to finally be able to write about it. During these long months of lockdown, ‘making things’ has been so important to me and I know to lots of other people too and it has also been a chance to finish up some things that have, for whatever reason, been dragging their threads…so to speak. This charming project has been one of them and I really can’t explain why it has taken me so very long to get around to finishing it.
A few years ago at my first Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show, I found my stand situated next to Emma Pavier from Ann’s Orchard. The whole process of having a pitch at a big show like this seemed very daunting and I was so happy to meet Emma, who was so supportive and to see her work and the beautiful products on her stand. I was especially taken with the flower purse which came in several colours and decided to buy the green one before the end of the four days. Something else I learned at that show was that so many creative people have so many unfinished projects and kits in their stash and as someone who has never really done this, I wondered why. Of course I came to understand that at these amazing shows, it is just so hard to resist all the beautiful things that you see and I became a member of this clan without really realising it.
I had also bought a pack of assorted metal threads which I found completely fascinating and some of these were not the sort that you could thread in a needle and stitch with, but more the kind that you ‘couch’ - which means you lie it along the line you want to stitch and then use a fine thread to secure it in place. These seemed like they might work on a project like this and also be a bit of a statement, adding some sparkle and vibrance to the embroidery.
In conjunction with the metallic thread, I used silk thread from The Silk Mill (there is a link at the end of the post). This is a wonderful family run business and they have over 700 hand dyed shades to pick from and the thread is 100% pure chinese monofilament silk. I have to confess that I have been hoarding these skeins for really rather a long time too, probably because I wasn’t sure that I could really do them justice. In fact they weave their magic themselves, gliding effortlessly through the background fabric and laying flat but in such a way that their natural sheen is just gorgeous. I only used three colours, Ivory, emerald and a rich red that is called ‘Vin Rouge’ - which seems wholly appropriate for an evening bag.
After I had completed the first side, I decided to swap the red and white around for the second side. This makes the bag a little more interesting and completely unique and even though I was a bit concerned in the beginning, I soon began to be pleased with this decision.
It is slow and careful work, especially with a single strand of silk thread, but it was also rather therapeutic and with a thoroughly binge worthy tv series on in the background (more about that later), it was completely absorbing. As the red embroidery started to fill in, the project was starting to shape up to being a wholly unique little work of art, which is rather lovely if you think about going out for an evening somewhere rather special. I know there are so many machine embroidered bags out there, but with the raised metallic couching there is no chance that this could be mistaken for being anything other than hand embroidered.
The overall effect was so lovely I was so thrilled and felt a real sense of accomplishment. I realised too how much fairly dense embroidery can be really beautiful - it is always easy to just make a stitch a small motif on something but this kind of larger piece is bringing the work to a whole other level. Once they were finished I confess I did feel a little apprehensive about constructing the purse. Cutting out was probably the worse bit. I used the printed template in the pattern and a pin to line up the design on the fabric. What you can see when it is cut is how much the floral embroidery will cover the clutch bag and how beautiful it will be.
After I had got everything ready to assemble I did make a decision to change out the lining fabric that was in the kit. It was fine white cotton lawn and I thought it would probably show the dirt rather too much and so I used a piece of Tilda fabric from my stash which seemed to fit the bill. The instructions for putting it all together were clear and easy to follow and as soon as I had got it all turned through I was suddenly so excited. The embroidery really popped and filled the whole space of the bag exterior - it seemed really rather glamorous already!
When it came to attaching the frame, I did watch a really helpful tutorial on youtube (see link at the end) and this gave me that little bit of extra confidence to go for it. It was actually pretty straightforward and the purse seems snug and secure in it’s frame.
I think I may be completely hooked on making embroidered bags now and have a lovely piece of pale blue wool fabric just itching to be made into more of day bag. Having had a bit of browse around the internet, I think the next frame I buy will have the option for a chain handle on too. I feel that making up this kit has really given my confidence a boost and really like the idea of designing my own embroidery for the next project.
Thank you Emma for an absolutely lovely kit and all I can say is never underestimate the power of ‘making’. For more information on the things mentioned in the posting, follow the links below.
For Ann’s Orchard website click here
For the Silk threads from The Silk Mill click here
For the video from Zakka Workshop about adding a metal purse frame - click here
Meanwhile…. all I need now is somewhere rather lovely to go……. Love Ruby x
ps. I have been watching ‘Leonardo’ on Amazon while I have been stitching this project and have fallen completely in love with Florentine textiles and costumes from the Renaissance period. I am off to do some more research on these but feel some dressmaking projects might be on the horizon.
