As well as that in the 17th century something new came about. Purse were now being used as gift receptacles which is kind of what me and you would call a gift bag now a days. The reason they did this was because they didn't really have anything else to put their gifts for people in and it was also seen as a very thoughtful and impressive thing to do. The reason for that is because, it would show off how good one is at sewing and embroidery which other people would start to notice and talk about which could potentially put you up the 'food chain' as they so called it back then.