Vale Crossbody Bag in Pixie Size~ ChrisW Designs Newest PDF Pattern

The Vale Crossbody bag by ChrisW Designs is her newest pdf pattern and it includes 3 sizes! Pixie, Petite & Midi sizes. I made the cute Pixie size. The Pixie is the smallest and measures 8 3/4" wide x 6 3/4" high x 2" deep. A perfect size for carrying minimal items, or for a teen, or younger child, or make matching mommy/daughter bags. Need a bit more room? Petite size would be great for you. Midi is larger still for the person who has more to carry or larger items to hold.

The bag closes with a zipper, has a back zipper pocket and and inside zipper pocket. The front has a slip pocket with a snap closure. An adjustable strap that clips on. 

Grab your pdf pattern while on sale. Scroll to bottom of this post for links.

I upcycled denim jeans to make this Vale Pixie size. It would have been much easier to make if I hadn't used denim because it was a bit too thick in places. The Midi size would have been much better in denim. I wasn't thinking about the thickness of denim when I chose it, but Christine added a mention of it in the final pattern so someone else won't choose too heavy of a fabric. That's why we test patterns 😉to find out where the struggles are, if any, besides the usual typos, etc.

The inside has a zipper pocket with a vinyl overlay. The zipper on the outside is the back side of the bag.

Check out the features of each size Vale bag & see the Tester's Bags here.

Blog post for the Vale Crossbody Bag, plus tester photos, info, video intro, video instructions and to purchase the pdf pattern here too. Pdf on sale for a limited time.

Happy bag sewing!

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Orange String Blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2026

These are my orange quilt blocks for the the Rainbow Challenge. I didn't have that many scraps in long enough strips in orange, so will make more as soon as I have more scraps of orange.

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Sew Powerful Purses #151-154 for 2026

4 scrappy flap purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Wool flower appliqué over scrappy piecing.

A fun appliqué flower.

I like this large appliqué flower.

Back side of purse and the purse below also has this fabric for the purse body too.

Scrappy squares on point.

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Sew Powerful Purses #148-150 for 2026

I made these 3 purses using the same print in 3 different colorways. I used a small scrap of the print in each flap too. Donating to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

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Sew Powerful Purses # 146-147 for 2026

Here are 2 purses made from scraps of denim jeans I had leftover from making purses. I used all scraps and covered in tulle and quilted the pieces. After quilting, I added rickrack or gimp braid, yarn couching, buttons, and a Handmade label. A Shabby Chic look? Donating these to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Various colors of denim scraps in this one.

On the back I added this flower that I cut from an old felted sweater.

Close up of the wool felted flower. The center felt circles were not wool. I snipped all around the lavender circle to make it look like fringe.

Here is the 2nd purse, also using a variety of colored denim scraps. I used a gimp braid on this one, along with yarn couching.

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Sew Powerful Purses #143-145 for 2026

3 more purse to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. These 3 were great scrap buster flaps! But alas, I end up with just as many scraps after cutting the purse body and lining fabrics 😬😄.

I LOVE how this flap turned out! I used 2" squares to create the strawberry. I might reduce the strawberry next time as it is a wee bit too large, but it works. I like the large dramatic strawberry.

Here you can see the whole strawberry as well as the scrappy pieced denim blue jeans scraps that I made the purse body out of.

More patchwork on an entire flap. I placed the same fabric on a diagonal row

                                                                 for each print I used. 

The flap lining is a patchwork print and the purse body is bright plaid.

A four-patch on point with scrappy fabrics all around. The same purse body as the purse above.

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Sew Powerful Purses 141-142 for 2026

2 purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project that I made from one red Starbucks apron! One apron pocket had black stains from a Sharpie marker, so I fused embroidered flowers and a heart over the stains to cover the stains and add a bit of bling at the same time.

The flaps are both made using the leftover scraps from cutting the purse body pieces. I covered the flap in tulle and quilted it and then added the rickrack and yarn couching and buttons.

The Starbucks logo I used for the flap lining. I had to piece a couple of pieces of the red apron, so added some rickrack over the seams for additional bling. The embroidered flowers and heart are covering up the Sharpie stains on the apron pocket. The apron pocket became the front pocket without having to sew a separate pocket on top, which made the sewing and cutting a bit faster to do.

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Sew Powerful Purses # 138-140 for 2026

3 purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. One is a large print for the flap and the other 2 are scrappy pieced with add heart appliqués.

I had a fat quarter of this print with the large white & red flowers and I cut 2 pieces to make 2 flaps. This is the one I finished. I had the black print already cut out for the body of the purse and this flap print went well with it so I could finish this purse. I haven't cut out a purse body yet to go with the second flap yet. The second flap shows the flowers of the print differently.

I wanted to use up some appliqué shapes that I had cut out already, so I used these hearts. Some were cut from felted wool sweaters or other felt and the 2 largest hearts are cotton fabric.

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Sew Powerful Purses # 133-137 for 2026

5 purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

I used a 1-inch printed grid to sew the patchwork, which ended up 3/8" square using a full 1/4" seam allowance. Had I used a scant seam allowance these squares would have been 1/2" square. Since I used it as a heart appliqué, the square size didn't matter, but good to keep in mind if I had wanted it a certain size as part of a patchwork block.

Pieced flap with added appliqué flower.

Another pieced flap with added appliqué flower.

Pieced flap with added appliqué flower and a butterfly button.

Pieced flap with added fussy cut flower that I appliquéd.

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Sew Powerful Purses #124-132 for 2026

Nine more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. More African women prints and upcycled denim jean scrappy purses.

I made 3 more of these. I had shared a few of these this month and had these 3 to also finish.

I am trying to use up my scraps of denim leftovers from making purses from denim jeans. The entire purse was made with the denim scraps: the flap, front, back and gusset too. I added rickrack, couched yarn and buttons on the flaps only.

3 more scrappy denim purses. I still have more scraps denim to make several more purses.

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Pieced Batik Quilt with Orange Border

Years and years ago I made these batik quilt blocks. I remember batik fabrics were stacked up and then I cut then with the rotary cutter into several angles. A stack and slice technique. Then I took a piece of fabric from each stack and arranged the block and sewed the blocks together, so all the blocks had one of each fabric in the block, but each was a different shape. The blocks were set next to each other, turning the blocks in different directions. The result was nice like a crazy quilt without the embroidery stitches. But the piece was rather small, so I put it away for many years, not sure what I would do with it. I took it out recently and thought I should finish this, so I cut a border to make the quilt wider and longer and then quilted it with a serpentine stitch. The border really made this quilt look great and it is large enough for a child to cuddle under. I will donate this quilt to Wrap the World with Quilts.

Quilt measures 34.5 " x 44.5".

Closeup of quilt.

Closeup of border and serpentine quilting.

Label on back.

Flannel llama print for the backing. Flannel is soft and warm for a child to cuddle under.

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