Claire's blog

On Saturday I went with Mum to the Venetian Glory textile class run by Janet Humphrey.  The class was to make an over-the-top embellished pouch bag inspired by some that Janet had seen in Venice.

Here's the bag I made

We started off with a base fabric (I used some Indian silk, Mum used a piece of hand-dyed velvet), and stitched on ribbons, lace and fabrics to embellish.  After making the outer part of the bag it was further decorated with flowers, beads and sequins, before making a lining and finishing off with a tasselled drawstring and loop to hang it from.

And here's the bag Mum made.

It was a lovely day.  We didn’t really learn anything new, but it was great to have a day making something just for the fun of it.  And always fun to meet people who don’t look at you oddly when they see the size of your fabric stash!  We’ve got another one in two weeks on Victoriana – not sure exactly what’s involved but it does include dying lace.