Plastic Covered Floral Purse with Gold Lame Accents

Plastic Covered Floral Purse with Gold Lame Accents. 1960s. Maker: Delill Creation. Fabric tote-style purse with brightly-colored floral design. The flowers are outlined in gold stitching, giving it a slightly quilted look. The purse is covered in plastic and accented by gold lame faux leather handles, trim and interior. The bottom is covered in shiny silver lame. Built-in kisslock section and a separate zip pocket.

I think my new “thing” is gold lame. I’m not sure if this means I’m getting more fabulous or just… older. Eh, well. I’ll take ‘em both!

Textured Tote Purse with 3-D Poodles

Textured Tote Purse with 3-D Poodles. 1960s. Maker: JR Florida. Textured—feels like a heavy burlap—tote-style purse with a detailed three-dimensional needlework design featuring two fluffy gray poodles with rhinestone eyes and teensy red bead tongues. The needlepoint background includes a streetlight, fence, lawn, and (presumably) tennis balls. The design is framed in fringe. Inner zip pocket. Two plastic faux tortoise handles.

How cute is this? SO CUTE. I have a large number of JR (Julius Resnick) bags, and each one of them is special!

Lucite Purse with Carved Top and Gold Star Pattern

Lucite Purse with Carved Top and Gold Star Pattern. 1950s. Maker: Unknown. Wonderful oval-shaped Lucite purse with carved/molded top and handle. The base of the bag has a covering that looks like cloth, with gold threads and tiny gold stars, then covered in some sort of laminate. What makes this one interesting, besides the beautiful stars, is the ivory-colored vertical stitching beneath the laminate.

In everyday use, I prefer vintage bags that are large enough to hold all my stuff ‘n’ junk. (As some of you know, I’m a grandma, and my theory is that the older you get, the bigger the purse!) I also like ones that I don’t have to worry about as much; that is, if I accidentally knock off a bead or faux gem, I won’t freak out. Therefore, I only use Lucite bags for special occasions, like holiday parties or a vintage clothing event. It never fails, though—they’re always a conversation-starter!

Gold Lame Three-Dimensional Poodle Purse

Gold Lamè Three-Dimensional Poodle Purse. 1960s. Maker: Custom Original Pert Bag California. Fabulous gold lamè large-size purse with a peek-a-boo plastic window. Behind the window is an incredible three-dimensional fluffy poodle. It looks like it used to be white, but has discolored with age. The poodle has a gold collar and there are gold balloons behind it with handwritten locations: Hawaii, New York, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Miami.

I love poodle purses! This was a fabulous find, and is the second Pert Bag in my collection. The first one can be seen here.

Both are going to require some reinforcement on their straps, but the wonderful, creative design is worth a little extra expense.

Capricorn General Crafts Kit Purse

Capricorn Kit Purse. 1960s. Maker: A crafter (housewife), probably from a General Crafts JewelTone Kit. Tote-style linen-look kit purse featuring the astrological goat-fish zodiac sign of Capricorn. It also has numerous sequins, faux gems, beads, gold trim, and a moon-shaped emblem that says “December 22-January 20 CAPRICORN.” Two inner pockets, with one that zips.

Regular followers of this blog know that I have a HUGE collection of these kit purses. I was so excited to acquire a Capricorn, because it’s my astrological sign. Not that I’m a believer—I just thought it was cool. I had no idea that the kit came with the moon-shaped emblem, as I already have a Taurus kit purse, which did not have an emblem, possibly because it fell off sometime in the last forty-something years. (I’m over forty. Things fall off. Or, in my case, down.) Here’s the Taurus: http://vintagepurse.blogspot.com/2011/02/bejeweled-taurus-kit-purse.html

And, if you want to have a little “awwwww, how cute” moment, I’ll tell you that I’m a Capricorn and my husband’s a Taurus. Ready? "AWWWW! How cute!"

Not that he carries a purse.