17th Century Style Purses – The Lady Evelyn Purse

4 days: 11th-12th, 14th-15th August 2025   Fee: £495

This delicate design is inspired by the work of Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray (1868 – 1940). Lady Evelyn was a daughter of the Duke of Atholl and was born at Blair Castle in Perthshire.

She suffered ill health in childhood and was highly intelligent, wishing to study almost obsessively. She loved to chat to the local highlanders and collected their folk tales. None of these activities pleased her parents who expected her to marry well and become a dutiful wife. Eventually, being considered an embarrassment, she was sent to Belgium with a companion, and never returned to Blair. However, life in Belgium allowed her to study the fine embroidery which was still being produced at that time. She began to collect and study embroideries with a particular fascination for whitework. She set about  embroidering the British coat of arms in fine whitework and spent seven years at the task. This is considered to be one of the most skilful embroideries in existence worldwide.

This little purse echoes Lady Evelyn’s love of fine whitework. It depicts delicate wildflowers, harking back to the memories of the local people she loved, who recalled her gathering wildflowers on her way to visit craft cottages.

The design incorporates delicate cutwork, inspired by the British Arms, net darning, padded satin stitch, ladder stitch, and beaded eyelets, with beads and crystals. The bag is finished with a tassel worked in needlelace and beads over a wooden form.

The design space on the reverse is for you to add your initials, a date and a place (e.g. ‘Bath’), recording where the piece was made. You may choose your initials when ordering your design. There is also an optional flannel needlebook, which can be made to place inside the bag. Each page of the book is embroidered with the numbers of key needles.

The Lady Evelyn Purse also has the option of a tiny sterling silver-fronted flower press, with blotting paper pages. The idea of this being to press special flowers, as Lady Evelyn would have done.

During the course, we will concentrate on the embroidery of the front panel of the bag and making the cord and tassel. You are unlikely to finish in class but we will cover the required techniques, and you will receive comprehensive instruction and video access to allow you to complete confidently at home. There will also be some time to begin some construction of the bag in class if you wish and we will discuss the techniques involved.

Class kit

You will be provided with a full working kit for this class containing all the materials required to work the embroidery and to construct the bag and tassel. This will include a comprehensive illustrated instruction book and all needles required in a presentation box.:

• Lady Evelyn Bag £220
• Optional needlebook kit £18
• Optional silver-plated flower press £148