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White Blossom Handbag by Mary Alice Sinton

White Blossom Handbag is an advance bead embroidery project that requires extensive knowledge of silk embroidery. Ms. Reiko Matsukawa, author of “Bead Embroidery Bag Textbook” created the White Blossom Handbag utilizing both Japanese embroidery and beadwork combined. Many individuals right after WWII, could not afford to commission embroidered kimono from the Japanese Kurenai-Kai community which was established by the late Master Iwao Saito. Master Saito asked Ms. Reiko Matsukawa to develop the bead-embroidered handbags to sustain the community during these hard times. This style of bead embroidery is unique to this community. The actual White Blossom motif models antique lace designs. The fact that only one color of silk thread is used in the entire motif creates very little margin for error and thus makes this design technically challenging.

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