The Daily Drift Cross Body Bag~ pdf & Video by ChrisW Designs

I had fun testing The Daily Drift bag by ChrisW Designs. I upcycled about one leg from hubby's denim jeans to make this bag. Before I did any sewing, I used my machine decorative stitches to have the fun part of decorating the denim. 

I was eager to get going on making this test bag and that is when I discovered a few issues with the pattern and why my exterior pockets are on the opposite side of the bag than the other tester's bags 😬 (don't worry as all is good now though and that is why Christine has many bag testers) 😉I didn't want to have to start over after I had already decorated my pieces so nicely, so I just went ahead and did my pockets on the opposite side. I have been using my bag since I finished it and I really LOVE it! It is a nice size too. Finishes at 11" wide x 7" high x 4" deep.

The front features a zipper pocket, great for keys or your phone, shopping list, etc. The back has a slip pocket is you prefer your phone to be accessed from the back side of the bag. The main bag closes with a zipper and double zipper pulls. There is NO binding inside the bag because of Christine's unique way of sewing the lining, which is no hard if you just take your time. I love the double sided strap too! I used the accent fabric on the strap that is also my lining fabric. You can add the optional bag feet, but I don't usually add bag feet to cross body bags, however I did quilt the bottom of the bag with a decorative stitch. Inside the bag is a zipper pocket. 

The pattern is on SALE now and no coupon needed. Scroll to the end to find the link.

Isn't my Daily Drift pretty? I think so.

I added this stitching to the bottom to not only make her look pretty, but I wanted to really secure the stabilizer at the same time. This wasn't part of the pattern, but you can do this if you want on your own like I did.

I added 2 bag charms to each zipper pull. As you can see the top zipper gusset I also stitched decoratively (and the side gusset too).

This is the back side of the bag. One large appliqué peace sign too.

She holds all my stuff. Large wallet, coin purse, reading glasses in case and a few things in the zipper pocket.

Empty view.

Side view of gusset and stitching.

Here are all the links, so grab your pattern while it is on SALE! Be sure and check out the other tester bags as they all look different in their fabrics.

The Daily Drift:

International Website: https://www.chriswdesigns.com/product/the-daily-drift-crossbody-pdf-bag-pattern

Aussie Website: https://chriswdesigns.com.au/product/the-daily-drift-crossbody-pdf-bag-pattern/

Introductory Video with tester Photos: https://youtu.be/Blu3QAJagyU

Video Tutorial: https://youtu.be/oooVvu9iBX0

Blog Post: https://www.chriswdesigns.com/2025/09/the-daily-drift-crossbody-bag-new-pattern.html

Happy Sewing!!!

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Sew Powerful Purse #22 for 2025

I finally made a purse this month with a heart. In the Sew Powerful Purse Project Facebook Group, we have monthly challenges just for fun and this month was adding a heart or using heart fabric for Valentine's Day. This was a heart appliqué I had for years and thought I would add it to this purse flap that I made using circular decorative machine stitches.

Rather than making a scrappy pieced flap, I made the entire purse body scrappy pieced instead. It was fun to do an all scrappy body this time. I think I prefer making just the flap scrappy, but this certainly opens up new ways to use up those never-ending pile-O-scraps!😂😁😄

Donating this purse to Sew Powerful.

I made the entire purse body in a patchwork using purple fabric scraps. Even the gusset was pieced scraps.

The back and the back pocket are scrappy pieced.

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Sew Powerful Purse #1 (for 2025)

This is my first finished purse this year (2025) to donate to the Sew Powerful Purse Project. I used my circular attachment on my sewing machine to create the decorative stitched circles, or partial circles for this flap. It's so fun to play! I added some embroidered flower appliqué trim flowers and even made French knots by hand on stitch that looks like an asterisk. It sure jazzed up this plain purple fabric. 

I may set this purse aside and use it for the Picture Your Purse fundraiser campaign. I joined in last year (the first time they did this), where you make a purse and later send it to one of the people going on the trip to Zambia (which will be this May) and they find a girl to give your purse to and take a photo of them holding your purse. Later you receive an 8"x 10" color photo of the girl holding the purse that you made and they tell you the first name of the girl too. That connection makes it more real to be able to see one girl with a purse that you made. Since I cannot go to Zambia myself, this is the next best thing. 

Decorative stitches done in a circle.

Front pocket under the flap. I love this fabric. Has metallic dots and what looks like paint brushed metallic too over the pretty fabric print.

The back pocket and the entire flap shown here. The top 2 inches or so of the flap folds to the back and isn't seen, but here you can see that orange was a full circle that was stitched.

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Sew Powerful Purses #328-336 (2024)

9 more purses donated to Sew Powerful. These purses have various techniques that I used: decorative machine stiches using a circular attachment, painted flaps, appliqué flaps, upcycling, machine decorative stitches (non circular) and lots of embellishments.

These 2 purses were made with a wool (or wool blend?) suiting material. I shared one purse yesterday made with a purse body using this material too. For these purses I wanted to play with the circular attachment for making round decorative stitches. I am getting better using the attachment, but still have a lot to learn. The hardest part is knowing how to end the circle when the stitch design won't make a complete stitch to the very end. Either I stop short and there is a gap of fabric showing, or I stitch until the stitching touches, even though the stitch pattern isn't complete at that end, so it looks a bit off, which I don't care for. Sometimes I am lucky and it completes a perfect circle of stitches, but that has been rare. So embellishments to the rescue! 😂Adding a button or little stitched embroidered flower adds a nice touch, but also hides those wonky joins! 😉 I also just stitched partial circles which looks nice and takes care of that situation too. I found that with some stitches that are going in a circle, the material didn't want to move as easily, so stitches weren't formed perfectly either. I told you there is a lot to learn still. Perhaps some fabrics work better? I did have the material interfaced on the back. Still overall I do love how these flaps turned out and I like the material a lot! Wish I had more of the gray fabric and knew exactly what is was? It washed and dried beautifully, has a great feel to it as well.  

Notecards to the girls in the front pocket.

On the back side I added pockets and I had already stitched a bit more on the piece I had cut for the flap, so I added it as a pocket on the back with the stitching.

5 decorative stitched corduroy flaps, with added rickrack, couched yarn & buttons too.

Cards in the front pockets for each girl.

Back pockets.

 

 Two painted canvas flaps with added appliqué on top. The left purse appliqué is from a rainbow tie dye tank top that I have been cutting appliqué shapes out of and the purse on the right is a batik fabric butterfly.

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Sew Powerful Purse #180 (2024)

Another purse made to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project . This is my first attempt at using the circular attachment I bought for stitching decorative stitches on my sewing machine. I stitched some decorative stitches out on a white canvas material. After I was finished the white background was just too stark white! So I got out the fabric paint and painted the background, which the paint ended up on the stitched thread too 😬😢!!! The paint color is pretty, but the thread colors don't stand out as well as I would like. A good learning experience so that I will know what to do next time (I did stitch up some more flaps, but they haven't been sewn into purses yet). All in all it turned out good enough to donate. 

Painted flap with circular decorative stitches. Kind of fun to use that circular stitch attachment.

The full flap.

Batik purse body and little pumpkins for the lining. It's pumpkin time of year now too.

 I also stitched the strap in batik fabric with a ribbon down the center.

Back with a slip pocket.

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