Sew Powerful Purses #76-77 for 2025

I made 2 purses to donate to Sew Powerful. The one on the left is the Intermediate purse body with the beginner flap that I scrappy pieced, while the one on the right is the Beginner purse body and beginner flap with a quilt block on the flap. I hadn't made the beginner purse body in a few years and wanted a true in life comparison side-by-side. What I found was the beginner purse body appears to be slightly taller than the intermediate purse. What's the difference between the purse styles? The Intermediate purse has a full gusset to create the depth of the purse, while the Beginner style has boxed corners to create the depth. The pieces are cut different measurements too. Unless I did something wrong, I don't really understand why the beginner purse is taller? The flap on the intermediate always seemed to be longer than the beginner flap too, and this could be the reason why. After sewing the beginner style again, I still much prefer the intermediate with the gusset. I find it easier for me to sew and those boxed corners are rather small (3/4" cut squares) and a bit more fiddly to do. Plus, when I sew the gusset, it is one continuous seam from the top side to the other top side, so I don't have to sew the sides and stop and sew the bottom and stop and sew the boxed corners and stop as I do with the beginner style. I like the one continuous seam on each side. But each to their own preference and sewing skills. I also find adding a pocket on the back (or even inside) is much easier with a gusset as I can just sew the pocket into the seams on the sides and bottom and not have to sew a pocket that I need to to turn and then topstitch in place, like on the beginner style.

Here they both are:

Intermediate purse on left and Beginner purse on right, both with Beginner style flaps.

I pieced webbing scraps together with ribbon covering the joins on both purses.

Added back pocket to the intermediate purse on left.

Pin It Now!