
Classes at our Downton retreat in TX were just as fun as the rest of the weekend. Cassandra offered a velvet purse kit in pink or tan, I chose tan, and packed a lot of old lace to add to my creation. (including the salvage I'd trimmed off my kitchen curtains when they got torn while blowing around on a very windy day)
I was slightly dreading the production, because of- ick!- sewing- but once I got going, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Cassandra had the bag and liner pre-stitched, we embellished the bag, put them together, sewed on the clasp. It was sewing optional in a lot of areas, we could use glue on some parts. But, I dove in with needle and thread, and conquered my fears.
My skill level is not high, and I didn't change that. But, when I dropped a camera and phone into the finished bag, they didn't fall through, so I guess I did okay.

She had great supplies for us to use, but I had an idea about how I wanted it to look.

This is her example. Lovely as can be, isn't it?
And while I tried the embroidery and beading, I knew I'd never master it that fast, so I stuck with what I knew.

My first step was placing different lacy bits on the bag to see what I liked, and then it grew from there.

One trick I did pick up was making a ribbon rose. I want to make more of these!

And I did just a little bit of embroidery, using some vintage metallic thread, and I added a few crystal beads from a necklace I'd bought at Canton Flea Market.
You can see I didn't do much of that. I discovered that embroidery is hard enough, but throwing in old, metallic thread, was crazy. It kinks, twists, and it was trouble. Still, I was pretty dang proud that I actually stitched something.

We had 24 hour access to the craft room, so Guncle Randy and I took advantage of that. We hung out til late every night. I made not only Cassandra's bag and our other pretty project from Molly, but TWO snippet rolls and a little make and take from Waxahachie.

This is a teensy, plastic trophy, and we were given paints to tarnish it up.

Guncle Randy had been wanting to make a steam punk bird like the one in this picture, for quite a while. I made the base of it for him one night after I finished my purse, and he found a cool, old bit of some sort of twisty metal to turn into a base next time we are together.

And that isn't all I got done! We had a second project for the Downton theme. Molly's necklace is a lace collar. Here is her example. Lovely, huh? It was also a glue/stitching optional project.
I chose glue.
Both pieces were a nice challenge, not my typical style. I wanted to be able to make them look like I made them, but still be true to the theme, since the projects were so pretty and well thought out.

For this one, I darkened the cameo with markers and paint to age it a bit. And added some sequin trim from a shredding flapper dress, that Sissy shared with me.

Basically, the rest of the layout was the same as Molly's. She had hand dyed the lace for us, and it is the prettiest pink. I might foof mine up a bit more, like hers is, I liked the pink fluffy flowers she had added.

Here is a little bit of one of the snippet rolls I made. I'll have more pictures of it after our swap in June at Birdsong 5. The rest of it is a surprise for its intended owner.