Progress in my Project on Fabric Manipulation. Inspirations, Smocking with Beads, Learning Shadow Quilting.

My idea for this section was to make an object that combined a lot of different surface textures. I chose, as the basic shape for this, a box with a 'roof'. The item that gave me this shape, though I have expanded mine, was this - Die Stefansbursa, or St Stephen's Purse reliquary. The credit for this image is the Kaiserliche Schatzkammer, the Imperial Treasury in Vienna (the image can be found under the header "The Holy Roman Empire").
As you can see, this is a very early piece of goldwork (for the Christian tradition), and dates to the early 9th century. It looks quite disorganised and primitive, maybe even a little vulgar (I love it, personally, but I will admit that it does look like the jewels have been applied quite haphazardly).
I wanted to take this basic shape, and the main colour, and create an interesting little box of my own.

So let's have a look at where I am today. Firstly, here's a sneak preview of my smocking. I've included some little pearl beads that I managed to buy a pack of, and though they're not quite as regular as they might have been, the effect of them, caught in the smocking, is a good start towards a metallic-themed object.

Today I'm trying out some shadow-quilting by making a base in felt, pinning it down to the lid of the box, and trimming it accordingly. Next I'll be sewing some more lamé over the top. The idea here is to make a more architectural object by introducing a more obvious 'roof'. As you can see, the box itself is made of buckram, which I cut in one piece, folded back, and machine stitched. I then assembled the box with hand-stitching. I felt a little bad about machining the edges, but thought it would for the best, as the lamé needs to be protected from rough edges.