Sew Powerful Purse #165 (2026) for Marsha M.

When Marsha M. saw the fabric panel and the 2 elephant purses I made using the panel of the elephant/Congo piece, she messaged me asking if she could have one of the Zambia/giraffe pieces. I told her that I had already made all the flaps and cut out kits for all the countries/animals from that fabric I showed (see last photo). So then she offered to pay me for a purse with a giraffe, or swap a flap. Since I had already cut out the kits to go with the flaps, I offered to make one of them for her and messaged her photos of all the giraffe flap I made along with the exterior fabrics that I had cut out for each one and I numbered them and asked her to tell me which number that she wanted. She chose number 12, and then said it just happened to be her lucky/favorite number. I asked her to pay the postage or send Sew Powerful a donation instead of paying me, which she said she would do both. She received this purse on Thursday.

We normally include a notecard for the girl who receives purses we make and donate, so I included a card for Marsha in the front pocket. It was a postcard I made years ago using used teabags and then I quilted the teabags to batting and added a backing. The tea stains of the various paper and silk-like tea bags were also stamped with some various stamps that I have. It was a fun experiment to try. I am sure making that postcard look as long or longer than making this entire purse! If I had enough hours in a day to create nice postcards for each girl to place into the front pocket, I would love to make them, but then I wouldn't be able to make as many purses and I really would rather make the purses and use up my fabric first. Maybe one day, I will switch to making postcards only for an entire year and keep them all to include in the purses that I make for the following years. I might consider that if I get in a creative mood and want to use up lots of smaller bits and bobs of stuff I already have on hand.

Thanks again Tara! She is the sweet friend who donated this fabric panel to me.

African countries/animal fabric panel I used for center of purse flap.

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Sew Powerful Purses #163-164 for 2026

2 more finished purses for Sew Powerful Purse Project.

I love how sweet this appliqué turned out and it was just the right size for a purse flap too.

Scrappy pieced flap with added palm trees that was from a partial Hawaiian appliqué design.

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Sew Powerful Purses #161- 162 for 2026

Scrappy pieced purse flaps with flower appliqués. Donating to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

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Sew Powerful Purse #160 for 2026

I love having fun using decorative stitches on my sewing machine to create an artsy looking flap. I like adding rickrack or yarn couching sometimes too and buttons, crystals. Donating to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

I used only one variegated thread color on this purse flap. Normally I would use a variety of thread colors in solid or variegated colors. I made the strap to match the purse body.

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Sew Powerful Purses # 158-159 for 2026

These 2 purses were made by using a small fussy cut panel (the elephants) and then I appliquéd the elephants onto a fabric square on point and hand sewed tiny rickrack around it. There are 5 African countries each with a different animal. I wanted to mimic the perforated postage stamp look of the print panel (see 2nd photo below). In order to use the country/animal, I had to cut the rickrack looking perforated part of the print or lose using most of the countries/animals. I was able to cut 81 total animals, with one elephant that I had to trim off the partially printed Congo & 7 cents because it was on the end and I could only save the elephant part. 

Here are the first 2 completed purses I finished. Others will slowly be made or I will save the kits I made to sew up in September during the Sew Powerful annual Sew-a-thon. 

This fabric was given to me by my good friend, Tara. You can see what I mean about the rickrack parts that I had to cut on them to divide the sections and if I pieced the countries/animals, it would have been lost in a seam anyhow, so I appliquéd instead and added my own rickrack to give it a similar look. Thanks Tara for the fabric! I love that Zambia is one of the African countries in this print, since the purses I make go to the girls in Zambia. The others are nice too.

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Sew Powerful Purses #155-157 for 2026

I have been busy making flaps and cutting the fabrics for the purse body, lining and interfacing and making purse kits to have ready to sew for Sew Powerful Purse Project.

These 3 purse flaps were made using only ribbons that I sewed around the squares on point. I used a variety of ribbon widths, colors and prints. I have a lot of ribbon and thought this might be a fun way to use them. I might make some more like these another time to use up some more ribbons I have.

I added some French Knots around the appliqué embroidered flower.

More French knots were added in the tiny holes of the blue lace around the center cotton fabric print. Wool appliqué in the center of the cotton print was stitched by hand.

The wool heart was stitched by hand. The heart got slightly crooked and didn't notice it until later when it was too late to fix 😜. Oh well, wonky is good too 😉.

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Faith & Natasha Holding the Purses I Made

I made this purse with my own hands, and a girl in Zambia gets to stay in school because of it. Her name is Faith💖Did you know something as simple as a handmade purse can keep a girl in school? I sewed this one for Faith in Zambia — now she won't miss a single day of school. This is my #PictureYourPurse. It just took a little fabric, a lot of love. Learn more about how you can support keeping girls in school at: https://keep-girls-in-school.raiselysite.com/

I made this purse with my own hands, and a girl in Zambia gets to stay in school because of it. Her name is Natasha 💗Did you know something as simple as a handmade purse can keep a girl in school? I sewed this one for Natasha in Zambia — now she won't miss a single day of school. This is my #PictureYourPurse. It just took a little fabric, a lot of love. Learn more about how you can support keeping girls in school at: https://keep-girls-in-school.raiselysite.com/

It is such a special feeling to see a couple of girls holding the purses that I made for them. 💜💗💖

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