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A Victorian Key Bag to Make
A key bag was an indispensable item to any Victorian lady. It kept the household keys at hand but out of the way. Once a daily mundane item, it transformed over the years into beautiful bags women wore proudly anywhere.
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A Victorian Key-bag
Take some velvet, cut it by the pattern of the sole of a shoe. Two pieces are wanted. Tack them in a work frame.
The leaves arc to be embroidered with white chalk beads, gold, and pearl beads. Both sides may be done alike. Trace the outline with fine white cotton. Put a little cotton wool over the leaf, and tack it there. Cover it with a bit of tissue paper, and tack that down to the shape of the leaf.
Take threads and threads of beads to the centre, and from the point bead veins, just as satin-stitch embroidery is done. Use chalk beads, and let them lie very even, and as close as possible. Then mark in the veins with rows of gold or steel beads.
Put the grapes on with large beads, a bead for each grape. Make the stalks of chalk beads.
When the embroidery is finished, line the velvet with silk, tack the pieces together, and bind all round the edges with ribbon.
Coloured kid embroidered with silk is almost better for a key-bag than velvet, as it is better suited to resist the working of the keys. It can be procured to order at a fancy shop with a suitable design pierced on, and will look prettiest worked in chintz colours on a grey or Havannah ground.
it by two ribbons and a bow, behind which is a very large, strong, long hook. Sew an eye to the waistband or skirt of the dress close to the waist on the left side in front of the hip, and hang the key-bag from it.
Made in plain pink or blue, or buff linen, nicely braided, a key-bag is very pretty and useful, and most young housewives would appreciate the convenience, for it is not fit to carry heavy keys in a dress pocket, where, too, they are apt to get entangled with other things.
For more Victorian Tasty Trifles, see:(note: if the links are not active, come back soon. They will be shortly.)
A Victorian Spectacle Case
Victorian Hammock
Gentleman's Toilette Case
Victorian Shoe Tidy
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