My love of beaded purses began in my teens, with a small, flapper-style fringed bag that I found hiding in the bottom of Grandma's cedar chest.  I had always been attracted to beads, especially seed beads, but viewed them only as a supply that jewelry-makers used to create necklaces and earrings.  The idea of a purse, made totally with beads, was intriguing.  A few years later, a friend's mother gave me a 1950's beaded sweater, and I was again fascinated with the beauty of the beads and the rich vintage design.  In college, I rummaged through local thrift shops for vintage sweaters, beaded bags, and other goodies, most of which needed repair.  I discovered how to mend the numerous moth holes in beaded wool sweaters, and how to wash and lay them flat so the holes were undetectable.  My ability to repair antique and vintage clothing turned into extra college income when the owner of a local vintage clothing shop agreed to let me take special pieces home and repair them.  Most repairs paid only $5-10, but as a sideline, the extra money bought meals and clothes.

The shop owner, Patty Fairbanks, invited me along to work at her booth spaces at flea markets in Lakewood, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina.  These large shows attracted beaded purse dealers, who offered exquisite bags with landscape scenes, figurals, and floral designs rendered entirely in beads.  The bead sizes spanned a huge range, from Deco-era size 0/11 hex-cuts, to the tiny size 0/24 Czech beads that are no longer produced.  I had never seen such magnificent works of art, made from luminous glass specs of color, joined together to create fabrics of solid beads.  To me, the purses were even more beautiful than paintings, because the medium was so rich and variable, and the detail and execution more calculated and precise.  I could not fathom the hours it would have taken to create such intricate items by hand, and felt deep respect for those who had created such masterpieces.

As a financially challenged college student, I could not afford those impressive scenic purses, so I began by collecting bags with larger beads and less intricate designs.  They often needed repairs- fringes restored, lost beading replaced- and I experimented with various techniques.  I observed fringe patterns on bags and began creating my own designs, attempting to preserve the antique styling of each purse I repaired.  To repair holes in knitted bags, I studied the bag construction carefully and experimented by entering the rows of existing beads, using thin English beading needles.   I counted the number of missing beads in each row, matched them closely in color and size, and threaded them into the hole in the row, then brought the needle and thread through several beads on the other side of the hole.  If more than five or six beads in a row were missing, someone advised me to back the hole with fabric, to stabilize the area.  One of my best finds was the discovery of a bead supplier that sells antique seed beads, purchased from a warehouse that had been sealed since WWI.  I began buying small packets of antique beads and beading needles, and practicing my repair techniques on inexpensive flea market bags.

Over the years, I've tried making a few purses, but I much prefer knitted or bead-embroidered antique bags to my crude, woven replications.  As my repair techniques improved, and my personal stock of antique beads grew, I was able to purchase more desirable purses, with more intricate designs, that had holes or missing areas of beading.  Once restored, these bags are worth considerably more money than before.  During this time, in the late 1980's, beaded purse collecting became more popular, and good bags were becoming harder to find at antique malls and flea markets.  Whenever my then-husband and I would travel between Kentucky and Florida, I would run through the antique malls along the interstates, and browse for purses.  Over the years, I have acquired about forty purses that are very special to me.  Among my favorites is a large bag that has a rug design on the border, roses in the middle, and a landscape design of a castle in the center of the purse.  Another interesting handbag features a portrait of an Oriental man, in his traditional garments, seated in an elaborate chair.   




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