Silver Foxy Lady

My Ladies of the Evening series continues today with the Silver Foxy Lady.  She stands six inches tall from her base to her top. Her handles extend another four inches above the opening. She's completely beaded on front back and sides with combinations of silver and clear beads and faceted silver sequins.

The bottom of this lady is an oval of silver satin. She's about 3-1/2 inches deep. All her seams are covered in a double row of clear seed beads.

The vertical columns of designs are mirrored on the front and back of the handbag. On the left are
a vine with flowers and leaves. The flowers are made of five circular silver sequins with a clear seed bead in the center of each petal. Another sequins/bead combo forms the flower center. The leaves and vine are made of rows of seed beads.

The second column is comprised of bugle beads sewn into a zigzag design.

Next we find a column of a vine and leaves, all made of seed beads.

The center column is wider than the rest and has two rows of bugle beads on each side of it to set it off from its neighbors. The flowers are large, which I'll describe in detail below. The vines and leaves are made of seed beads.

I had to study these large flowers quite a bit to figure out how they are constructed. It starts with a circlet of six circular sequins with clear seed bead centers. Close to that outer circlet is another row of six circular sequins with seed bead centers.  

It appears that these sequins/seed-bead layers are stacked, all sewn to the ground fabric with a single thread. So when the needle re-enters the fabric after going through the sequins/bead stack, the inner row of sequins pops up into that inner flower shape. I'm looking forward to attempting to duplicate that flower!

The center of these flowers is a large (maybe 4mm) silver seed bead.

Because of the way it's constructed, these flowers are very dimensional, popping up off the base fabric and adding a lot of sparkle.

The next column of flowers is like the first, a vine with sequin flowers and seed bead leaves.

The sixth column is quite geometric. It features a square (non-faceted) sequins sewn on point with clear seed bead center, surrounded by a diamond of seed beads. A short line of seed beads leads to a circular faceted sequins with a with clear seed bead center, surrounded by a circle of seed beads. A line of seed bead then leads to a cross of clear bugle beads with seed bead accents. The final line leads to anther flat square sequins surrounded by a diamond of seed beads.

The last column is quite different from the rest. There are no clear seed beads at all. The flowers are made from silver bugle beads and a silver seed beads interspersed with single silver seed beads. This is unusual and an interesting break from the other columns of clear beads.

This lady keeps her mouth shut with a nickle-size magnetic snap clasp. When closed, the handbag retains it's shape with this clever strap. The leather straps which are sewn into the lining snap together, pulling the sides into a pleat at the top of the bag. 

But when those straps are unsnapped, You can see that this lady has quite a bit of room for all her evening necessities. 

I don't recall how I got to know this lady. Memory says she is another inexpensive thrift store find. She's in remarkably good shape. There are only a few loose beads at the top which will be easy to secure. She's very clean on the inside. Unfortunately, her handles are rather soiled, so I'll need to figure out how to clean them up.

I enjoy that this little lady knows how to stand up for (by) herself. She sits atop a table very prettily.