Sew Powerful Purses #216-221 for 2026

Six more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

My friend Tara donated some fabric to me recently and I made these purses using some of the fabric she gave me. I added a starfish appliqué to each flap. The whale & dolphin fabric I used for the purses bodies and I made the straps using the fabric too. 

I used an Asian fabric for the bodies and one strap and scraps for the flap, along with other fabric scraps I had.

Tara had some pieces of sewn strips in the fabrics she gave to me, so I made a couple of flaps. I added some vertical strips to the sides of the flap on the right. I added some decorative stitching, yarn couching, rickrack and buttons for added interest. Thanks Tara for the fabric! I have some more purses to finish from other fabrics she gave to me.

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Sew Powerful Purses #200-204 for 2026

5 more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. I completed over 200 purses now and I have cut out probably another 200+ purse kits to sew for the rest of the year. The September Sew-a-thon and Fundraiser are coming up in September, so I will be ready to sew those kits I have waiting then. The Fundraiser part starts in August-September and the sewing part is in September only. I wonder how many purses I can complete in the month of September this year? Last year I was one of the top ten purses makers, completing 160 purses for the month of September. Can I top last year's number? I hope so.

 I pained the background using a stencil and fabric paint and quilted the flap too. I fussy cut the dress form from a piece of fabric and appliquéd it in place. I had a gold plastic sewing needle and pair of scissors that I stitched on by hand for added bling.

Another X-Block quilt block with added fabrics around it to make it large enough for the flap. I shared one of these recently and this is another one I had made into a flap.

I don't recall where I got this fabric, but thought it was perfect for a flap. I had to cut the height of the fabric down a few inches. The fabric showed their entire skirts, making it too tall to use for the flap. 

I used a quilt block I had and a 4-patch quilt block I had and sewed scraps around to create these two flaps. 

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Sew Powerful Purse #95-98 for 2026

Four more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Scrappy pieced with a fussy cut heart appliquéd to center.

Another flap like the 2 above, but with a flower instead of a heart in the center.

Zentangle flap. I drew the Zentangle over a fabric that I colored first. I did this Zentangle so long ago, before turning in it into a purse flap, that I do not recall if I used paint or crayons to color the white fabric? Being the color is light, I would guess it was crayon, which makes me want to experiment with more crayon on flaps now 😄. It has also been a long time since I did any Zentangles on fabric, so I might be playing with those again too.

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Sew Powerful Purses #91-94 for 2026

Four scrappy pieced fabric purse flaps. One has appliqué added over the piecing. Donating to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Batik fabrics scraps on both flaps.

The purse flap on the right was neutral fabrics pieced together and then I added the appliqué leaves and butterfly I fussy cut from a fabric, using Mod Podge fabric formula. 

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Sew Powerful Purses #61-63 for 2026

 I made these teapot appliqués years and years ago. Wanted to make a table topper with them, but my layouts just never worked quite right. So when I found these again, I decided they needed to become purse flaps. I had hand blanket stitched around them all those years ago because that was probably when I didn't have a sewing machine that did blanket stitches. So I added some scraps to make the flap the correct size and finished these 3 teapot flap purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Happy tea drinking and/or sewing!

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Sew Powerful Purses #58-60 for 2026

3 more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. The flaps were all made using prints of African women that were meant for framing. Since they are a canvas and similar to vinyl, but stiffer, I wanted to use them for purse flaps. I had to cut the bottom part of each print off to fit the size of the flap, but also since part of the top of the flap is on the back side of the purse when used, I had to cut off the right amount so the head could be seen on the front, which was a bit tricky to get it right.

I had purchased several prints a couple of years ago and forgot about them. When I found them all recently, I started to finish them into flaps for the purses. Most of the prints, I bought one of each, except the two down below I bought 2 of the same print.

I tried to cut off just enough of this print so her head would still show. In doing so, the rest of the dress at the bottom had to be cut off. I could have cut more off the bottom, but it was hard to know this beforehand. This print was narrower than most and so I added fabric strips to the sides to make it wide enough.

These 2 were the same print, but when I cut off the excess from the bottom so it would fit the flap, I cut one slightly higher than the other. You can see more of the women's hand on the right one.

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Sew Powerful Purses #15-16 for 2026

Here are a couple of scrappy pieced purse flaps with added flower appliqué. Buttons for the flower centers and extra buttons for bling, plus the flap on the left has some hotfix crystals too. Flower appliqué I upcycled from a rainbow tie dye tank top and die cut the flowers myself. I will miss those rainbow flowers when the tank top is all cut up into flowers. I will have to find a rainbow dyed fabric to die cut more flowers, or just cut other colors.

Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Purple denim for the purse bodies.

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Sew Powerful Purses #13-14 for 2026

2 more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. I appliquéd partial Dresden Plate blocks to the flaps and added some buttons.

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Sew Powerful Purses #506-507 for 2025

I had fun playing with the leftover scraps of denim that I had from making purses from upcycled denim jeans. The decorative stitches add a nice touch to the flap, along with some buttons and hotfix crystals. I even made the other purse body pieces using up scraps of the denim as well. All will be donated to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Upcycled denim jean scraps and decorative machine stitches to create purse flap.

Upcycled denim scraps from jeans for purse body along with decorative machine stitches.

Scrappy pieced flap and appliqué curved center with decorative machine stitches.

Zentangle piece I made years ago that I used for the flap lining.

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Sew Powerful Purses #500-502 for 2025

3 purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

The appliqué I added to this painted flap background is an Ankara design meaning beauty, so I also added the word, beauty. The smallest alphabet lettering I had was still a bit large to fit onto the flap, so I got creative with the placement of the letters. As you can see, beauty just barely fit. The painted background was done by dipping sliced pieces of pool noodles into paint and stamping onto the canvas fabric. The darker circles were the first dip into the paint and I continued to stamp without adding more paint to the pool noodle to get the lighter circles.

This African fabric was given to me by my fabric fairy, 😄.

I made a second flap with the Ankara symbol for beauty, but on this flap I used a computer font to write onto the flap with an acrylic pen. The background was paint-sticks rubbed over a lid I saved from a frozen dessert that had a raised interior design. I sewed on some buttons in the centers of some  of the designs.

Another African fabric from my fabric fairy. 😂

I found this piece of fabric that I had played with years ago, trying Zentangle designs on a stencil Monstera leaf. I added a few crystals and turned it into a flap for a purse.

Yes, my fabric fairy gave me this African fabric print too. Every few inches was the word HIGH-LIFE printed throughout this fabric.

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Sew Powerful Purses #362-375 (for 2025)

Happy October! I love the Autumn months with the cooler weather and pumpkins, the smell of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and other spices, the fall leaves in a variety of colors, and pinecones. I am not a huge Halloween fan, like most, but I do love seeing the various Halloween decorations around. I just prefer natural Autumn things. 

These 14 purses were made during the Sew-a-thon for Sew Powerful, which has now ended, but you can donate anytime in any amount year round as well. The Sew-a-thon was a success for me! I made 160 purses and received donations way above my goal, so thank you all for supporting me in my effort! The goal for Sew Powerful was not met, but they did receive quite a lot of donations. They received about 4/5ths of their goal. 

I shared one purse using this African mask fabric print recently, so here are the rest of them that I made using that fabric.

The flap lining here I had painted with a stencil awhile back. It was too light for the flap as it could get dirty too quickly, so I used this for the lining. The white fabrics were scraps I pieced together first and then stenciled with flowers. I like the stencil, so I need to find a better background fabric so I can use it on the exterior front next time.

I took this photo of a hot air balloon flying over my house on September 30th. This Saturday starts the annual Balloon Fiesta. The fiesta is a 9 day event in Albuquerque. I will be seeing lots of balloons of all shapes flying in the sky. I see balloons all year long, but the most is in October for the fiesta and during the cooler weather to get the lift the balloons need.

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Sew Powerful Purses #327-329 (for 2025)

3 more purses finished during the September Sew-a-thon for Sew Powerful.

Scrappy pieced flap, a partial Dresden Plate with a button bee, and a painted heart flap with added appliqué flowers.

Purse fronts.

Backs of purses. Center purse is scrappy.

Won't you please consider a donation to fill these purses and more with the monthly hygiene items the girls in Zambia need to help them to stay in school all year? It takes $10 to fill one purse with these items. You can donate anonymously if you want to as well.

Please go HERE to make a donation in my honor by September 30th until midnight Pacific time.

Thank you for your support, it means a lot to the sweet girls who receive these purses with the hygiene items inside.

Sharing this post would really help too! If I don't ask for donations then Sew Powerful won't receive any donations to help the girls, so I just have to ask, which isn't easy.

Hugs!!!

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