Gilded Life - Heavy Metal Bag

As promised, here is another project for the Spellbinder's/Gilded Life contest.  I've always loved antique evening bags, and decided to create my own using a vintage purse frame and some rich, metallic fabrics that I've been hoarding for quite some time.

I used some free motion embroidery/quilting to create the base of the bag....and then the fun experiments started!

I had the idea to emboss silk velvet using the texture plates, but instead of  running it through my machine, I used a steam iron to set the fibers.  Then I inked over the raised areas to create a stronger pattern.  I embellished the medallion with a Vintage Swarovski crystal - which was the perfect color and bling.

 

I die cut several metallic fabrics, which would normally fray, but I backed them with Vellum first, before running it through my Grand Caliber, and it did great!

I'm off to work on my final two projects!