Later this month we are attending a Formal Dinner in Cairns, which is not a frequent event in our lives.

I was tempted to make a new dress, however time was not on my side, so I decided that I would wear the dress I had made for me whilst we were in China in 2008 that was for a Ball that I was attending the night after I arrived home. At the Ball the dress was accessorised with bronze, burgundy and olive.

In an attempt to make the outfit look different, I decided to change the base to charcoal/silver to start with. I did have the dusty silver strappy shoes and was given a beautiful charcoal wrap for my birthday this year, so all I needed was the necklace, earrings and a bag.

So I headed to Goddess Beading at Beverley Hills where I have been having my beading classes with the dress and shoes, and discussed the options with my teacher. This is what we came up with.

Next was the evening bag, so the other week at The Remnant Warehouse, Alison and I found some charcoal wool (that matched the wrap perfectly) and then when reading the Bag’n-telle website I saw a reference to clutch play by the very creative Don Morin. I was lucky and managed to borrow a copy of the Vogue April/May 2011 magazine, so this weekend I have been making my clutch bag.

This is my very first bag and I am rather pleased with the result. I got to play with the quilting attachment on my sewing machine and also had the opportunity to use the Professional Touch Applicator Wand that Alison gave to me for my birthday last year to attach 3 rows of Swarovski Hot Fix Crystals (another gift for the same birthday from a sewing buddy).

Thank you Alison for showing me your bag and the tip about the metallic thread and the cord, it worked a treat.

The clutch has a divider inside.

Here are all the pieces with a small part of the dress (sorry it is not warm enough to wear the dress tonight, but I will try and remember to get a photo at the dinner so you can see the outfit) together with the charcoal wrap.

Next, fingers crossed, is the cargo pants.