Tudor drawstring purse

A simple drawstring purse; the inspiration for the decoration of this comes from Durer's Melancolia engraving. I thought that the knops at the top were an interesting feature.

Hand sewn throughout, the outer is a silk mix fabric supplied by the client. The purse is lined with linen.

The side seams and top edge are finished with a braid technique often found on historic purses. Akin to tablet weaving with two tablet through two holes, a weft is sewn through the fabric to strengthen and form the seams.

The drawstrings and handle are fingerloop braids in hand dyed silk. The drawstrings are finished with silk gimp turks head knots.

The tassels at the bottom of the purse are finished with turks head knots made of silk gimp. This was my first attempt at making my own gimp thread; it took a while to get the tension correct!