Looking After a Pearl or Beaded Bag

A hand-beaded bag is thousands of small pieces held on thread. Treated carelessly it comes apart at exactly one point and then unravels. Treated sensibly it outlasts most leather bags, because there is nothing on it to crease or scuff.

Carry it by the base

The single most useful habit. Lifting a beaded bag by its beading puts the weight of everything inside onto the threads. Lifting it by the base or the handle puts the weight onto the structure, which is what the structure is for.

Keep perfume away from it

Spray perfume and hairspray before you pick the bag up, not after. Alcohol dulls the coating on faux pearls, and the dulling is not reversible. The same goes for hand cream — it transfers from your palm to the handle without you noticing.

Store it stuffed and in its bag

Fill it loosely with tissue or a soft cloth so it keeps its shape, and put it in the dust bag it came with. Two reasons: beading catches on everything around it in a cupboard, and an empty structured bag slowly flattens under whatever is stacked on top.

Do not hang it by its strap for months. The strap stretches.

Cleaning

A dry, soft cloth is almost always enough. For a mark, use a barely damp cloth, go over the spot lightly and let it dry flat and away from direct sun.

Never soak a beaded bag and never put it near a hairdryer. Water gets into the thread and dries loose, and heat does the same thing faster.

If a bead comes loose

Deal with it the same week. One loose bead is a two-minute repair with a needle and matching thread. A row of loose beads is not a repair, it is a rethreading job.

What this means for the ones we carry

Everything in evening bags is hand-beaded, so all of the above applies to all of them. They arrive with a dust bag, and it is worth keeping.

Anything you are not sure about, message us on WhatsApp at 0311 445 9443 — we would rather answer a question than take back a parcel.