Handmade Bags by Melted Rachel
But I love cute bags! I love pink and frills and sequins.
This is a collection of some of my favourite bags, the early bags I made and how I've resolved my rucksack vs. pink filly purse issue.
Check out my one of a kind handmade bags at Rachel's Melted Fabrics
Doodles for Early Bags
A few of my first ideas c.2003!
Melted Doodles
Find out more about my doodles in the lens below.
In this lens I show you how each of my projects starts with a really scrappy doodle. I then show you what those doodles become.-
Melted Doodles
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Are doodles a form of art? I think so! If you've visited my other lenses then you may have come across some of my doodles already. I wanted to gather some doodles here in this lens and show the textiles and bags I made from those original scribbles...
Some of the first Bags I Made
Envelope-style clutches.
Little Squares
These pieces are really simple bags to make. The fun comes from decorating them!
Pendant Pocket Purse
Keep your valuables safe with this design!
This is an early bag of mine- made around 2003.Learn how to make it from "Making Handbags and Purses" by Carol Parks featured below.
This bag is a really cute idea for keeping all your valuables safe. You have a cover that slips over the inner pouch and you can only get to the pouch by sliding the cover up the strings- not easy for a pickpocket to do without you noticing.
The best part of this bag design (for me at least!) is that technically you have too bags to cover with beautiful decoration.
Here I've chosen an autumn leaves theme. In Carol Parks's book a rabbit and turnip theme is use.
Making Handbags & Purses
50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate.
Making Handbags & Purses: 50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate
Amazon Price: (as of 12/21/2009)
I own this book- it's where I got the idea for the pouch purse from.
There are some really cute and unusual purse designs in here- a great place to start if you want to work from a pattern.
Circular
Round bags.
Winter Roses
My favourite circular bag.
I love how the red fabric melted in this piece to reveal the white underneath.
My Bag
Big enough for a sketchbook but feminine enough for sequins.
This is my bag. I needed a bag big enough to cart around all the junk I like to take everywhere- my A4 diary, a couple of paperbacks, my camera and all the usual keys, wallets etc- but i also wanted something pretty too.This bag has taken a lot of punishment over the years but is still going strong! I believe I made it in 2006.
I made it from 2 rectangles of melted fabrics and one long strip to make the width. The zips at the closure were salvaged from an old pair of jeans and I made simple straps out of 2 tubes of sturdy material
A little about me
Rachel of Melted Fabrics.
My name's Rachel Cox and I'm a textiles artist from the UK.I make wall hangings, bags, purses and figurines from layered, embroidered and melted textiles.
As you can see from the image opposite I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of woman but this doesn't stop me from making some of the girliest bags and purses ever.
Want to Know More About Me?
All about Melted Rachel
More info than you'll ever need!-
All About Melted Rachel
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The simple answer, as to why I call myself Melted Rachel, is that when I started making textiles pieces I loved to melt through layers of fabric to create interesting chaotic texture. A friend suggested I named my website Melted Fabrics and the rest,...
Some of My Favourites
Frills, bobbles and beads abound in these beauties!
Making Beautiful Beads
Glass, metal, polymer clay and fiber.
Making Beautiful Beads: Glass * Metal * Polymer Clay * Fiber
Amazon Price: (as of 12/21/2009)
This is another of the craft books that I like to flick through.
I use this book as inspiration to make beads to decorate my bags and also for inspiration. Some of my bags are based on beads featured in this book.
Bobble Bag Doodles
As you can see, I'm fond of bobbly bits on bags.
Green Bobble Bag
One of the first purses I made with a purse frame.
Decent purse frames are hard to get hold of but they look so adorable on highly decorated jewel-like purses.
I made the handle for this bag from handmade bobbly beads- clay beads with glued strings of seed (or rocaille) beads.
The Bead Maker
Recipes for creating hand-crafted beads.
The Bead Maker
Amazon Price: (as of 12/21/2009)
This is the book I used to create the beads for the Green Bobble Bag handle.
Mitochondria Purse
Just enough room for a ten dollar note!
This has to be one of my most bizarre bags. It's based on an image of a mitochondria cell.
I started by making a wire frame and then I covered the frame with my textiles piece, made a lining and then covered the whole thing with soldered organza, beads and sequins.
Melted Cells
A lot of my early textiles and bags are based on cell structures.
Visit this link to find out more.-
Cell Structure Textiles
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Cell structures and microscopic imagery were a huge inspiration for my early textiles work. I started looking at microscopic imagery when I was designing my final major project for my degree in costume. I had this mad idea that it might be interesti...
Handbags
The Power of the Purse
Handbags: The Power of the Purse
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 12/21/2009)
This is a great book packed with odd little purses- some of the handbags featured are ancient.
If I ever run out of ideas (which isn't very often) I just have a quick flick through this book.
The Power of the Purse is a must for any bag obsessed people out there!
Blue Iris
Can you guess what I used for the structure of this bag?
The handle is made from a fabulous necklace a friend found for me at a charity shop!
Index
Quick links.
Share Your Thoughts
Reader Feedback.
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Reply
- tee cee tee cee Nov 13, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
- absolutey fab ... am a textile designer myself ... asoutley love the textures!!
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Reply
- MeltedRachel MeltedRachel Nov 14, 2009 @ 6:08 am
- Thanks for visiting :D
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Reply
- MeltedRachel MeltedRachel May 27, 2009 @ 8:09 am | in reply to Stazjia
- Thank you :D
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Reply
- Stazjia Stazjia May 27, 2009 @ 7:08 am
- I love your bags - beautiful lens.
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Reply
- MeltedRachel MeltedRachel May 24, 2009 @ 11:13 am | in reply to Laniann
- Thank you :D
- Load More
Here's my favorite link:
Check Out My E-Books...
...on Lulu.com.
Coming soon- a book specifically detailing how to make the bags I make.
About Melted Rachel
Textiles Artist and Purse Maker.
Lensmaster MeltedRachel has been a member since March 18 2009, has rated 813 lenses, favorited 465, and has created 122 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "How to Make a Draft Excluder". See all my lenses
My Bio
I'm Rachel, a textiles artist from the southwest of England.
I love using recycled materials to create one-of-a-kind:
textiles art pieces,
handbags,
and figurines
which I embroider, layer, melt, and bead.
I also love felting, knitting, and spinning and I'm just getting into freeform crochet.
Check out these great lenses...
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- Rachel's Melted Fabrics
My name's Rachel. I'm a textiles artist from the UK. I make wall hangings, bags, purses and figurines from layered, embroidered and melted textiles. Rachel's Melted Fabrics is a website I started in 2003 for all my crafty exploits. Find out more a... view lens -
- The Garden of the Empress
The Garden of the Empress is a textiles sketchbook based on the third card of the Major Arcana called "The Empress" which features a motherly goddess. This textiles sketchbook is completely made out of fabrics and different recycled materials and ac... view lens -
- Felt Sketchbook
I made this sketchbook to "discover" a character in my novel. I wanted to know more about who she was, where she'd been and what she was interested in. I'd just got into felting and was intrigued by the way you could use wool and felting to bind fab... view lens -
- All About Melted Rachel
The simple answer, as to why I call myself Melted Rachel, is that when I started making textiles pieces I loved to melt through layers of fabric to create interesting chaotic texture. A friend suggested I named my website Melted Fabrics and the rest,... view lens -
- Foundling- A Textiles Sketchbook
Foundling is a Textiles Sketchbook available from Rachel's Melted Fabrics. I wanted to make this lens to explore some of the ideas in this e-sketchbook a little further and to explain some of the research behind my craftwork. The first little seed... view lens
Melted Fabrics Merchandise...
...on Cafepress.
Foundling Baby Greeting Cards (Pk of 10)
Ten Greetings cards featuring original artwork by Rachel Cox
Price: 16.99
Three Little Fishes Infant Creeper
Three cute little Fishes swim in a pool of bubbles on this infant creeper featuring original artwork by Rachel Cox
Price: 10.99
Foundling Baby 2.25" Button
Button featuring original textiles artwork by Rachel Cox
Price: 3.99
Father and Child Mini Poster Print
Poster print featuring the work of textile artist Rachel Cox
Price: 5.99
Bluebirds and Baby Small Framed Print
A framed print featuring the work of textiles artist Rachel Cox
Price: 34.99
by MeltedRachel
I love using recycled materials to create one-of-a-kind:
textiles art pieces,
handbags,... (more)
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