Sew Powerful Purse #1 for 2023

Hello Lovelies. The past 2 months I have been cutting out kits for making the Sew Powerful Purses. I wanted to have them ready to sew when the mood strikes. I cut out 213 kits since November 2022. In the process of cutting out (mostly donated) fabric, I used up quite a bit of fabric and of course ended up with bags of scraps too! I make the flaps scrappy, so the scraps get used there and I try to make a matching postcard for each purse as well, which uses up more scraps of fabric too. But I still have loads of scraps leftover and those will be sewn into string quilts to be donated to Project Linus. It is so satisfying to use up fabric scraps!!!

This is the first purse I made this year and it is made using denim jeans. For the flap I sewed a variety of blue denim colors to make it more interesting that just using one blue shade. I sewed it QAYG (quilt as you go), with the quilting showing on top. The stitching on top not only adds interest, looks good, but it also helps to really flatten those thick denim seams, making it easier to sew the flap lining on later. 

I love to embellish the flaps with buttons, appliqué, touches of ribbon or crystals, usually. For this flap I added appliqué flowers, a couple of buttons and I also added a belt loop with added rivets to this flap as well. I had been wanting to use the belt loops in a creative way and wasn't sure quite how. So I started off slowly and just added one belt loop.

I love how this purse came out! There is even a surprise on the back side as you will see on the last photo.

Added belt loop for fun and riveted the 2 sides.

I like to add a Handmade button or a ribbon that says handmade, which you will see on the next purses I share with you.

The front pocket and inside flap side.

Peeking inside the purse is a beautiful fabric that was donated to me. I had just enough of this fabric to cut linings for 2 purses. 

The side view. I like to add a rivet to secure the straps at the upper side gusset.

This was a fun addition to add! The pocket came from my daughter's jeans (the main body was from hubby's jeans). Hubby's jeans are larger and therefore hard to find a place to use them on these purses as they are too tall. But daughter's jean pocket was the right side to sew to the back for a fun added pocket. I dressed up the pocket first by adding the appliqué hearts. 

This is the intermediate purse with the beginner flap. I love the beginner flap as it is like a blank canvas that I can get creative with. I also love a purse/bag with a gusset, rather than boxed corners. I used gray thread throughout and I love how the topstitching shows the thread. I may just use a neutral gray thread for making these purses from now on, as long as it looks good. It sure makes it easier & faster not to have to change thread colors to topstitch all the different pieces.

I will be sharing more purses with you as I complete them. Oh and this purse (plus 14 more that I make) will be heading to the Atlanta Quilt Show in March. I was asked by one of the volunteers of that show if I would send her some purses to display for the show. Of course I said yes! Now I just need to make them and mail them off as soon as they are done, along with the added card for each purse too.

Happy Scrappy Sewing!

Pin It Now!