Size 10 Rocalle beads. The photos do not do the beauty of these beads justice.

In order to string the beads, I had to use a looped piece of thread between the bead needle and the Lizbeth thread.

Using 4/0 HiyaHiya needles.

The beads on this purse are vintage ones I acquired a number of years ago. I never did what I planned with them (an antique reproduction dress), so figured I’d better do SOMETHING with them. A beaded purse seemed to be a nice project to use them up.

I am going to put a gold expandable gate top purse top on it instead of the tabs and drawstring that the pattern calls for.

Second Incarnation

The purse weighs 280g with just the beads and thread. I used 16g of thread and 254g of beads.

5/2022 - Round #2 on this purse. It’s small opening bugged me so I am redoing it. There are 28 points on the purse top so I am going to make 28 repeats so there is one for each point. I knit three rounds at the top before beginning the beading and will also add more rows in the center to make it longer.

For reference, the top currently has a 10” opening stretched so I have to beat that size. ;-)

There are three stitches between repeats so am going to cast on 49 sts and then reduce 14 stitches (every third stitch) on the first beading round. That makes the opening nice and wide, but still allows for 28 repeats.

There is some question on whether there are four or six rows of two beads between repeats since the pattern ends with four rows of two and then begins again with two rows of two. I followed that and did six between the first two rows, but didn’t like it so did four between the rest.

Five rows increased to 10 beads.
One row increased to 8 beads instead of two rows.

First Incarnation

05/09/10-8/22/13 - A few last-minute changes have been made. Once I got the knitting done, it was the consensus of everyone that the 2” gate top was too large looking for it and a 1” one I had was too small. To make a VERY long story short, I added 1” onto the top with light beading and purchased a few vintage purses with gate tops off eBay and Etsy. I’m very pleased with the one I ended up putting on it.

After finishing the purse, I decided that I didn’t like the look of the plain beaded addition so added fringe to cover it up. I’ve added a picture for reference.

The weight of the purse with the lining and tassel (but without the top) is 260 grams.

Note to self: The fringe on the top took 20 grams of beads.

Even though I redid the purse, I am leaving some of the old photos up for reference.