Sunday, April 25, 2010

This is a Clutch!


From my past business experience, I knew a family that supplied the industry with luggage handles, strap parts and various other things. My friends also had some handbag parts. When I called to see if he had any magnetic closers. They asked me to come and see what they had left over. I told my darling niece and since she was coming to visit me soon, she said "Oh, wait for me and we can go together". And that is what we did. They gave me lots of wonderful parts for purses. One of the parts that they gave me was a clutch bag frame. I had never used this type of purse frame.
I went into research mode and learned that there is a tool that is customarily needed. Although, a lot of people on my google search, do not use a crimping tool. I went an ordered one from a Etsy site. Then, I waited.
Since, I knew nothing about using a tool, it took me a while to get an idea how to do it. Since they gave me quite a few frames, I didn't panic when it took me one mangled frame to figure out how to make it look presentable. I won't bore you with all the crazy ways I finally got there except to say that one of the ways is to hold tongue in a certain way. If you hold your tongue, then the swear words are not audible.


The fabric was purchased at FIDM (favorite fabric store of ALL time). Both the Grosgrain and the satin. The really notable addition are the beads of Carnelian. This took quite a while to work on but now I know how to do it again.
If you are interested in how the frame is "worked", just ask. I found that on the Internet people, for a charge, will give you the secrets. I feel that information is for everyone.

5 comments:

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

Okay, now that is downright beautiful! One of my favorite colors to mix and love the stone. Do you happen to know the attributes of the carnelian stone? I have a ring and I remember the store owner told me they were considered very special stones. I had such a smile thinking of you and Patrice shopping...!

Pat said...

Hi MaryAnn, love the new "Do" by the way.
I highlighted the stone on my site and you can go to Wikipedia and read about it. Also they show a fantastic brooch from early times. It is a treasured stone and loved over the centuries. Fairly hard and it is basically quartz but the other elements make it that terrific color.

beadbabe49 said...

Lovely colors and gorgeous material, pat!

patrice said...

I remember when you bought that fabric! Man, I love silk and this purse probably feels fantastic. I can just feel my lipstick and keys through the fabric as I clutch in my hand.
xo

Phyllis said...

Exquisite! Exquisite design, color, shape, beads. You are a master at these!