Patty G's Spin on my Blackwork Purse (Pomegranate & Peas Purse)

While I was attending the needlework conference at Winterthur in October, I saw an unexpected sight - my blackwork purse... on someone else!  I'm new enough at designing and teaching that it still shocks me to come across one of my designs being used by someone else.  Shocks in a pleasing way, of course.  The purse was stitched and worn by Patty Smith Gardner, from Pennsylvania, who approached me during morning break to show me that she was wearing it.  She had attended my EGA Regional class in 2009.  I remember Patty's enthusiasm for the project during class, which helped me to overcome the nervousness I felt teaching my first class comprised largely of people I didn't previously know (my prior classes had been taught at my local EGA chapter).  I believe she finished her purse, including assembly, in a little over a month.

Patty did a great job on the embroidery.  Notice that she chose to outline the scrolling gold vine (plaited braid stitch) in black stem or outline stitch.  My design did not include this.  In class,  I shared slides of period pieces done in speckling technique and pointed out that sometimes the plaited braid vine was outlined.  Patty chose to add it and it really makes the gold 'pop'.   If you would like to compare it to my purse, click here.

Also, she enjoyed speckling so much that, as she put it, she went a little speckling crazy. The speckling looks great - even though she termed it 'speckling crazy', it's not at all overdone.  She just chose to add her own individual elements, such as in the seed area of the pomegranate, where she added a pattern to the background of the seeds, rather like a shadow.  That's what's so much fun about speckling - it's a technique that easily lends itself to individuality.









I love how Patty finished her purse - completely different from mine! She added a long, beaded chain, choosing bead colors that matched those in the purse, and also chose not to add the bauble at the bottom.  In the photo to the right, you can really see the beautiful chain she made to go with it.  It's perfect for the purse.

Update:  Patty has informed me that the chain is a tubular herringbone/Ndebele with four beads around.








Here's the purse 'in action' at the seminar.  The black cord behind her beaded cord was for our seminar name-tag.  It looks great with her outfit - an eye-catching accessory.


Great job, Patty!  Thanks for sharing your photos with us.