Sunday 3 January 2010

Flat-End Miser's Purse



I am enjoying experimenting with different miser's purses. This one was knit on 1.75mm/00US size needles and used approximately twenty-four skeins of seventeen different colours of DMC Six Strand Embroidery Floss. The same flat-end trellis pattern is knit on the reverse side in similar but different colours in an effort to stash bust. The two shaded green section was knit in the round and the floral part in two flat sections which were then sewn together. (Click on the photograph for a larger version.)

The purse measures 2" across at the middle of the flat end and 2 ½” across at its bottom end. The floral section, not including the blue rows on the top and bottom, is 1 ¼” long. The circular green part measures 3 ¼” at its widest part when laid flat. The slit in the middle (not visible) is 2" long and the length of the purse, not including the pompom, is 12".

I based the floral design on an early 19th century French purse from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=47438&coll_keywords=miser+purse&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=0&coll_sort_order=0&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=21. The original purse was knit in silk with glass and metal beads.

The pompom at the dark green edge was suggested by the Nelson Purse (see a previous post) and plastic rings were wrapped with silver thread to mimic silver rings.

7 comments:

Chris Laning said...

That is EXTREMELY cool!

Chris Laning said...

That is EXTREMELY cool!

Alwen said...

Oh, VERY nice! What are the dimensions on this one?

One More Stitch said...

Careless me! Thanks for the reminder. The measurements are now listed in the text.


Thanks for the compliments from both of you!

=Tamar said...

Very nice indeed!

Knitting Out Loud said...

Just found your blog, will you use the purse? Love the French painting and your comments on it. Yes, it is odd she chose to be painted knitting.

One More Stitch said...

I will use the purse in living history or historic textile presentations. It is very sturdy in spite of its appearance.

Glad you like the French painting. It is very intriguing.