The revival of an old bead bag

I was rummaging through my wardrobe the other day and came across an old bead bag that Mum had given me to play dress-up when I was a kid. It belonged to Mama, my grandmother, before being handed down to Mum.

Finding it brought back fond memories of the childhood fun my siblings and I had of decking ourselves out, and preening and parading in front of the mirror. A couple minutes of happy reminiscence later I was hit by a brilliant idea! Why not bring back the glory days of the old bead bag with some embellishments?

And this is what I did.

It was obvious that I could not ‘bling’ it with rhinestones as that would diminish its vintage charm. So I decided to go natural with some lovely coconut shell buttons and buckles. My first step was to use organza ribbons to accentuate the beads.
 

 
Next, I slipped in heart-shaped coconut shell buckles onto the front, leaving the back buckle-free.
 

I was having such a good time! There were many possibilities to choose from. Should I end the encircling ribbons with a bow and more buttons or buckles? Should I add different shaped coconut shell buttons to the design? Should I dish out the bag with more frills and furbelows?

Resolving to keep it as simple and tasteful as possible, I sewed on light purple and maroon mulberry flowers and a small heart-shaped coconut shell button on a bow. Then I left the ribbon ends to cascade down the side and, voila!

Now the old beaded bag has been transformed and finds itself in demand again. It’s been to a summer wedding with my cousin, for a dinner date with my best friend and I’ve caught Mum giving it some furtive glances too. I suspect it will be following her for tombola night at the club very soon.

What a success my save-the-old-bead-bag project turned out to be! I look forward to embarking on another one soon...

...and somewhere in heaven, I know Mama is smiling to see her old bead bag revisiting its glory days. ;)