My New "Purr-se"
Finished June 20, 2003
While I was planning my outfit to wear to the 2003 Smithson Society Gala, which was being held at the National Zoo, I gave some thought to a handbag. Since the outfit I would wear was going to be relatively simple, I needed to have a truly smashing handbag. Thus was born my "purr-se".
The first step was making the claws. Each was crafted from translucent Fimo. I had never worked with Fimo before, so I was pretty nervous about getting a good outcome. However, once they were formed and baked they came out with surprisingly realistic coloration.
Here is one of the beads:
I didn't use a pattern for the bag. I cut the outer shape from a piece of fake tiger fur (purchased from HomeSew). The claws were inserted through slits in each toe and hand-stitched in place. In fact, the entire purse is stitched by hand, aside from the casing for the purse hardware.
Each toe had a dart to give it shape. The whole front was stitched to a piece of muslin and lightly stuffed with polyfill.
The back was cut from tan suedecloth, with brown suedecloth appliques for the toe pads.
The inside is a simple bag of black satin, with casings for a 9' purse frame (the kind that comes in two parts, with hinge pins).
The lining, with hardware in place, was slipped inside the main purse, and then slipstitched to the main bag body.
I stitched two D-rings to the inside of the lining at the frame, and borrowed a black satin strap from another purse of mine. The strap can be tucked inside the bag if desired to make a clutch.
All in all, I am very happy with this project!
Update: June 22
Here is a picture of Bob and me, all dressed up and ready to go to the gala:
The purr-se got a LOT of attention!! Even more so when people found out I had made it myself.