17th century frog purse- Done!
I finished something during my vacation! And a UFO of long standing too- namely the 17th century frog
purse. I fell in this frog purse five(!) years ago and decided I wanted to make one. Apparently, frog
purses were quite a thing in 17th century England, and there are several extant ones. You can see a
post about them here.
I almost finished mine, but then I realised the back legs were too heavy and long, and I balked at re-making them. Until now.
It’s not a perfect replica of the original one. For one I had very few construction details, so I had to
guess a lot. What I did know was the measurements of the body, and how the legs and arms were
made, as well as the stitched on the body and the eyes. I tried to follow that as close as possible.
The body was made in green silk taffeta covered with needlepoint stitches made from gilt silk twist.
It’s padded with felt.
The arms and legs are made of wire and very thin millinery wire, which was first covered with linen
thread to bulk them up, and then they were covered with gold thread.
The eyes were made of vintage glass beads.
I attached the arms and legs on the front, then lines both front and back with gold silk taffeta, before
sewing it together. I still need to find a suitable cord.
It’s very small- I guess I could fit a lipstick inside it. Maybe.