Saturday, February 25, 2012

Maud Hundley Needlepoint Handbag

I bought this 1960s Maud Hundley handbag at Goodwill yesterday for a ridiculously cheap price.

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This is the perfect mix of two of my greatest loves: embroidery and vintage handbags. The bag is in exquisite condition, and worked in wool. The scenes on each side are of Paris. Notice how the details are worked in petit point ?(super tiny stitches, most often 1/4 the size of the regular stitch required by the canvas or linen you're working on. I have worked a few pieces in petit point and it is not easy. Takes forever, requires a tiny needle, and when I did it, I was working the canvas right up next to my face.) The Eiffel tower is worked in great detail; as are the buildings, people on the sidewalk, and even the tiny street lamps. Wonderful!

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I had never heard of Maud Hundley; I guess she is not as well known a handbag designer as, say, Enid Collins. From what I can tell, she is known for custom made embroidered (mostly needlepoint) handbags. When I Google her, all I get is shopping results.

Although I know I can get a pretty penny for this lovely thing, she is staying in my collection of odd and unusually gorgeous handbags for now.





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I knew Maud Hundley well. She had a needlepoint shop in Anchorage, Kentucky. In her shop she sold and finished needlepoint anything including shoes, purses, needlepoint ornaments, pictures etc. She also did needlepoint design or would translate a picture to needlepoint canvas. A vvery talanted woman and wonderful friend to our family.

Anonymous said...

She was an amazing artist whose eye for color and design took blank canvases and turned them into works of art . She also was my grandmother.

Angels,Icons,etc. said...

Is there someone who is finishing needlepoint bags now??

felici

Anonymous said...

Really, anonymous? She is your grandmother? I believe we are related then, because she was my cousin once removed. Was Maud's father Oscar Francis?