A tale of 2 handbags

Before heading to tea in my 1920's outfit, I needed a handbag.  Obviously my giant modern handbag would not work.  I ran across a tutorial for 2 1920's handbags on Your Wardrobe Unlockd. This tutorial was based on 2 surviving bags owned by the author of the article and were just perfect!  (For those who are members of Your Wardrobed Unlockd, I used the tutorial for Bag 1)

My only concern is that the handbag looked very small and I was worried it would never fit the amount of stuff I needed to carry. So what is a girl to do?  I made a mock up of course!  Since I figured there is no point in making a bag I wont use, I made a steampunk version of the handbag first. I used some left over silk velvet I had dyed red for a different project, a cute eyeball themed cotton remnant and some faux bamboo purse handles I had laying around.  The original bag had fancy carved jade tassels, so I used some sculpy, 2 antique glass eyes I had laying around, some gears and 2 black tassels to make tassels bits.

The whole handbag is deceptively easy to make! It is basically a rectangle with some pockets sewn to the inside.  The shaping is due to the handles and some gathering on the side.  The final bag is also deceptively small looking.  I put 2 pockets inside, one for my cell phone, one for my keys and still have room for a wallet, fan, glasses and makeup.

OK, with the mock-up done I assessed the plan.  The only real issue I saw with the mock-up is that the bamboo handles are way bigger than the original handles and i think it makes the purse a bit floppy.  I knew from the original article that the bamboo handles were too big, but I had them in my stash so I went with it.  For my recreation for the 1920's event, I wanted smaller handles closer to the original size.  I found a purse at the thrift store with handles that were close so I bought it and tore the cheap purse apart.  For the final bag, I used some of the silk left over from the 1920's slip and a fancy brocade remnant from my stash for the outer shell.  A fancy cotton remnant from my stash for lining and the handles from the cheap purse.  I am still on the lookout for some good tassels and will add them when I find them. The pictures below are of the 1920's bag and I think the smaller handles are much better, although they are really hard to find.  Also, I think the details of construction are easier to see in these photos. 

  

1920s dress

I would love to do a 2014 year in review post, but alas I did not start the blog until part way through the year.  So I did not blog about all my creations, in addition, I did not have a dress dummy and often don't have someone who can help with pictures.  Due to this, I have been woefully bad about blogging my sewing.  My lovely husband bought me a dress dummy as a belated Christmas present on Jan 5th so I am going to try to blog some of the missing items. 

This dress has been at least a little seen, as it is the dress I am wearing in my profile picture.  In March 2014, I was invited to attend a Great Gatsby tea party at the local St. James Tearoom.  I own nothing and know very little about the 1920s but thought it sounded like fun.  I quickly decided on a peacock theme as I had left over peacock lace from my teen's dress.  I also had some silver trim and some pretty black embroidered and sequined net that would work for the rest.  This meant the whole dress would be sheer and a needed a colored slip for underneath it all.  Lauren at American Duchess has a nice tutorial and pattern for a 1920's slip that worked wonderfully.   I used some emerald green silk Crepe de Chine I had laying around.  I did not follow her tutorial exactly but used her pattern, as you can see I have 3 pleats in the front instead of 4 and I did not bind the top edge the same way.  I like her binding method better than my simple hem and will likely bind the top edge if I make a slip like this again.  To get the pleats right, I put the slip on and figured out the pleats while wearing the slip.  This made the fit perfect and I love my new slip.

After the slip, I needed a dress.  I am fairly curvy and the standard straight dresses look terrible on me.  After browsing surviving dresses, I figured out that some (probably the less fashionable ones) have a slight A line to them.  I also hate totally sleeveless dress and found that some, again likely the less fashionable dresses, have short sleeves.  So I made my dress a slight A line with short sleeves.  I used the peacock lace to make a tail in the back that hung from the shoulders.  The tail was inspired by a dress I found on pinterest with curved layered pieces and several fancy dress costumes that had longer backs that fronts (for example). None of this is likely all that common, but I wanted a dress I would love so I went for it. 

 I then used some left over trim and lace, plus a button and some peacock feathers to make a quick headpiece.  Amazingly, this whole dress was made from my stash!

Here are some pictures from the event.  I actually loved this dress and had so much fun!