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 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 #113-118 for 2026

6 more purses finished to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. One purse flap is made with a variety of ribbons, including some Renaissance Ribbon. The other 5 purses was from a print of African women.

The flap here is only ribbons, except for the square of cotton fabric in the center that I set on point and the wool heart appliqué I stitched to the cotton fabric. 3 were Renaissance Ribbons and 2 ribbons were from fabric/craft stores.

The African women all came from one fabric that also had borders in prints like the dresses or head wraps they are wearing. I had to cut the height of the woman shorter to fit properly on the flaps.

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Sew Powerful Purses #200-201 (2025)

2 more purses for Sew Powerful Purse Project. 

Debbie Mumm print in center with selvages sewn all around.

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Sew Powerful Purse #179 for 2025

Another purse with leftover units from a quilt border. I shared a couple of these purses a few days ago showing the exterior fabric, so just sharing the front this time and I used only 3 border units on this flap as that is all I had left.

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Sew Powerful Purses #175-176 for 2025

Here are 2 more purses donated to Sew Powerful that I finished. The pieced flaps were units leftover from a border I made for a panel quilt (that I donated). I set one flap horizontally and one vertically for different looks. Do you have a preference? I think I am partial to the horizonal one just a tiny bit more, but I like them both.

Pieced flaps from leftover border units I used for a quilt. I oriented each differently.

Front pockets.

Back Pockets.

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Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purse #109 (2025)

Another purse flap made with a quilt block that I pick up on the freebie table at a quilt group quite a while ago from a stack of quilt blocks. I added a few fabric scraps to bring it up to the flap size and completed the rest of the purse using upcycled black denim jeans. Donating this purse to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Quilt block flap and webbing that I joined together to make the correct length for the strap. When I save a few lengths of webbing that is not long enough for the strap, I join them together to create the length needed and that way I don't waste any webbing at all. I sew fabric or in this case ribbon to cover the joined webbing and sometimes I have more than one join, depending on the webbing lengths I have. The fabric or ribbon adds a bit of color and interest to the strap too😉. I sewed that center button on creating a little flower, if you look closer you will see the flower.⁕

Extra front pockets when I use the front jeans pockets for the purse front.

I made a back pocket here, but sometimes the jean back pocket is used if it fits.

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Patchouli Moon Studio~ Sew Powerful Purse #108 (2025)

Scrappy flap with upcycled denim jeans for the purse body. Donating this to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

I love using up scraps to create the purse flap. I also wanted to use up some small squares that I cut from yardage that had sweet prints like this basket of flowers. Other squares on the same fabric yardage are a few different hearts, gift wrapped presents, various single flowers, coffee pot with cup and saucer, plates of sweet desserts like a slice of cake and a cupcake. They all have the colors like this basket of flowers with orange, pink, white and a touch of purple in some. I was able to make quite a lot of purse flaps using those square prints along with fabric scraps or selvages. I used up most of my bag of selvages just making those flaps! Yay!

Upcycling denim jeans is a great way to use up jeans that were given to me by hubby and daughter. I have some jeans of my own that I will upcycle one day too, but I wanted to use up the ones I have been given first.

Back pocket.

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