An Evening Bag

I have taken a break from the Swamp piece to make an evening bag for a friend. Tomorrow night is the Picnic Races Ball here in Roma. The Picnic Races are huge here - it is not unusual to have a crowd of 3000 - 5000 for the weekend. This is the best opportunity for all the glamour and glitz beginning with the Ball on Friday night and then followed by the race meeting on Saturday. Each year there is a Fashions of the Field competition - for both ladies and men - and in my previous life as a dressmaker, one of my clientele actually won the competition one year. Choosing an outfit was a big event and I would start receiving bookings from January onwards, hoping they could find just the right piece of fabric for their outfits. I enjoyed making these wonderful creations, but not the stress of the deadlines.

Here is the first take - throwing down some fabrics for the beginning of the base fabric. I did not have much time so couldn't really go to town.

Since I didn't have a lot of time I did some very simple, but I think effective, machine embroidery over the base fabrics.

And here is the finished item:

And a closer view...

I added some beads just to finish it off. If I had more time I would make it much more elaborate with more beading and a lot more stitching, but that cannot be tonight. I need to sleep!