Most of you know I love making bags/purses and I am passionate about making and donating purses to the Sew Powerful Purse Project, which is a charity that sends the purses to Zambia and fills them with feminine hygiene products (that are made by seamstresses right there in Zambia and they get paid a living wage too). This enables the girls to stay in school all month/year long so they do not miss school anymore. That in turns enables the girls to continue with their education and allows local women to sew the reusable pads and to make soap that is needed for the girls. All those items (plus a couple of pair of underwear that is outsourced because the cost is less than making the underwear) is placed into each purse and handed out to the girls at the various schools in Zambia. This is an ongoing need forever.
So with that in mind, here are the purses that I made to donate with words on them. I used selvages for a lot of the purses, I also used a fabric panel that had lots of lovely Positive quotes on them, which is perfect for these purses too. The fabric panel has about half of just flowers as well as half with just quotes. Here is the panel I used:
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| Choose to Shine designed by Cherry Guidry |
(I am also making flower flaps for the purses I am sewing now too).
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| I added strips around the panel quote to bring it up to the size needed for the flap. I added a handmade label and some embellishments too. |
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| The main body of the purse and the lining can be seen here. |
.JPG "Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purses #18-26 (2023)") |
| I took this photo when we had snow one morning. |
.JPG "Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purses #18-26 (2023)") |
| I like to experiment with how I sew on the buttons I use for embellishing the purses too. |
.JPG "Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purses #18-26 (2023)") |
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| Next I made several purses using selvages. I like to play around with different settings for the selvages. I had a large scrap of that pink-blue-green-orange-white print, but not enough to make much out of, so I used it as the center of the flaps and because the colors in that print were also the colors in the main body of the purse, which is a fine wale corduroy print. I grabbed that corduroy print from a freebie table at my quilt group. The other fabrics used in these purses were fabrics that were directly donated to me by a couple of women from the Sew Powerful FB group. |
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| I thought the corduroy print in the crazy quilt print made a great purse body. Soft, yet sturdy material. |
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| Four more purses with that colorful print and selvages set in various ways. |
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All using the same body corduroy print fabric..JPG "Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purses #18-26 (2023)") .JPG "Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purses #18-26 (2023)") |
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| I made a slip pocket on the back sides of all the purses like this. |
Check out the other bloggers too!
Monday April 17
Tuesday April 18
Wednesday April 19
Thursday April 20
Such darling pouches and so cheerful. I love "This is your Moment Shine" - too cute.
ReplyDeleteYour purses are beautiful, powerful and inspirational! I'm sure they will be much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYour bags are beautiful and your commitment to the girls is wonderful. Thanks for the background on the group these are going to.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you are still making the purses! Good for you, such a positive thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to see you in our hop today. I love your mission and am sure the girls receiving your works of art do, as well. You amaze me with your creativity and beautiful purse making ability. I keep saying one of these days...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful purses for a beautiful purpose. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all you do for the 'Sew Powerful Purse..." group. It is a great way to share talents. You are a whirlwind all by yourself. This panel is perfect and you did outstanding work. I appreciate how you always seem to make fabulous purses and (I'm sure.) make many people smile, including me.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful purses, and what a great heartwarming project!
ReplyDeleteYou make such beautiful purses, Daryl! These donation ones are really treasures for those girls, I'm sure. I'm amazed at how many you've made and donated. Thank you for helping them!
ReplyDeleteYour purses are sure to brighten anyone's day! Love them!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful purses for a worthwhile charity!! Love it!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a worthwhile charity. I started a bag one day but didn't have the headspace for following directions at that time. You've reminded me to go find those directions and get back to it. Thank you for sharing your incredible bags. You clearly have a great talent and knack for them...and those selvedges!! So clever and unique. If you ever want more selvedges, I collect them for no real reason but would be happy to send them from time to time. I tried projects with them but it's just not my cup of tea. Do you know if those bags go just to Zambia or to other countries as well? It's so sobering to be reminded of the things we take for granted...like feminine products that we don't think twice about!! Imagine the need to miss school for that reason?? Thank you, thank you for all that you do...and for the love you clearly put into each bag.
ReplyDeleteYou can follow along making a purse with Misty Doan (of Missouri Star Quilting) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS9gJNm5iPY or follow Cinnamon Miles (co-founder of Sew Powerful) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIhZW1DT5bs to make the beginner style purse. That might be easier for making your first purse. Sew Powerful only sends the purses to Zambia as that is the charity that SP started there. There are other organizations that do something similar as far as the hygiene products, but they ask volunteers to make them (whereas with SP we only make the purses and they employ seamstresses right there in Zambia to sew the reusable pads, make soap, make uniforms for the girls too, which helps to empower other women by earning a living wage). When the girls miss school they cannot make it up. So they would drop out and end up having babies earlier and a lot ended up in prostitution. This is why I love SP for helping not just the girls, but other women there so they are able to care for their families with the money they earn from SP.
Deletelove the purses especially the "mod" one. the girls will love them
ReplyDeleteThe purses are wonderful! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love lifting the flap to see the little surprise affirmation. What a great idea!
ReplyDeletedaryl all of your purses are beautiful! They are sure to encourage the girls, bring a smile to their face and be ever so much lay appreciated! Good on you. 🤗 Carol QuiltSchmilt@gmail.com
ReplyDeletehttps://quiltschmilt.ca/2023/04/17/my-weekly-recap-to-do-tuesday-137/
Your purses are so pretty, I love that they go to the effort in Zambia.
ReplyDeleteAs always, these are beautiful, Daryl! This is such a fantastic cause and I know these young ladies appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteThese turned out fantastic! Such a great charity!
ReplyDeleteWOW, you are such an inspiration. Your heart is so big and giving. Love the purses.
ReplyDeleteFun purses!! The pattern worked SEW perfectly for your panel and those selvages.
ReplyDelete