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.

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #119-123 for 2026

I upcycled denim jean scraps to make these purses. I covered the denim scraps with tulle and quilted each piece to hold it all together. On the flaps I added yarn couching, rickrack, buttons and some French knots on the rickrack. The front, back, pocket and gusset pieces were just scrappy denim covered in tulle and quilted. I made quite a few purses using just denim scraps. The purses are quite sturdy. Donating to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Good way to use scraps of denim, and yarn scraps too!

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #106-110 for 2026

5 more purses finished. Donating to Sew Powerful Purse Project. These were all made using denim jean scraps leftover from making upcycled denim jean purses. I placed a black tulle over the denim scraps and quilted it to hold it together and cut out the various purse pieces needed to make the purse. I added appliqué on the flaps and stitched with a blanket stitch around each appliqué piece. The second purse was stitched with decorative stitches without tulle on the flap, but all purse pieces do have the tulle overlay.

Decorative stitches and no tulle overlay on the flap.

This was a fabric postcard I made many years ago, so I decided to add it to this flap.

Hope is a die cut. 

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #460-464 for 2025

5 more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project are done.

I added an appliqué bee to this scrappy pieced flap using bee & honey fabrics.

Front of purse and flap lining.

I used some scraps of denim fabrics that upcycled from some denim jeans to create the flap, and then added the flower appliqué. The fun decorative stitches were machine stitched with variegates thread.

Front of purse material was a fabric that my mom gave me more than a decade ago. I made a couple of crossbody bags and a travel bag using this material and now I am using it up making these purses. It is a beautiful large floral print in my favorite colors.

Another scrappy flap with a flower. I pieced together webbing scraps to make the strap long enough. Ribbon was sewn over the joined webbing.

Appliqué flower on another scrappy flap.

This is another scrappy flap with appliqué flower. The flowers on these last 3 purse flaps were made from an old tie dyed rainbow tank top that I rarely wore, so I cut a lot of flowers out of that knit tank top to use as appliqué flowers for these purses.

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #392-395 (for 2025)

4 more purses for Sew Powerful Purse Project. These were made in September during the Sew-a-thon. I had lots of scraps of denim from the jeans I upcycled, so I thought I would make some all scrappy purses. I did machine decorative stitches over the raw edges of the jeans that were placed next to each other. I didn't want thick seams to have to sew over later, so I didn't piece in the traditional way with seams (except I did sew seams on the far right purse flap I made). Appliqué flowers were added on 3 of the flaps.

All have pockets on the front, 2 are the jean pockets and the other 2 are scrappy stitched.

The backs are all scrappy stitched together, some more scrappy than others.

Sort of a Shabby Chic look. 

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #354-358 (for 2025)

2 days left for the Sew-a-thon & fundraiser for Sew Powerful. My goal was to make 80 purses this month, but I have exceeded that by nearly making double that number. I need to cut and sew 4 more purses today and finish by tomorrow in order to double my purse goal and then I will have made 160 purses this month! 🎆🎇 I think I can do that! 

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.

Meanwhile, here are some purses that I have completed. Upcycled denim jeans, folded log cabin quilt blocks on 4 flaps, and added ribbon on one flap.

These are folded log cabin blocks that I set on point and added denim around to create the flap.

Pockets on the fronts of the purses.

One more folded log cabin block and a scrappy denim flap with added ribbon.

2 more denim pockets for the fronts. 

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #322-326 (for 2025)

Another 5 purses sewn. All kinds of happy scrappiness.

A long time ago I experimented with making tiny pieced Friendship Stars. Sewing this tiny is harder than sewing larger quilt blocks. I had no idea what to do with them back then. I find things I put away from time to time and came across the stars and knew they needed to be on purse flaps, of course! They sure look good on purse flaps and I hope the 2 girls who receive these purses will love them. The purse bodies are upcycled denim jeans.

All scrappy flaps here.

The fronts of the 3 purses.

And the backs of the purses are also scrappy! I just didn't have enough left of any of the fabrics to create the back sides, so I had to piece together scraps of whatever I thought would work. I kind of like having a scrappy back as well.

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.

Hugs!!!

Or use QR Code:

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #318-321 (for 2025)

4 fun purses! Each different. There is some appliqué, embroidery, and piecing, along with denim jean upcycling. 

This is me sewing away at making all these purses I sew year round 😂. I had a selvage that had Brother written on it and I used that so it looked like a Brother brand sewing machine, which I had years ago until it stopped working. I have other machines now, mostly vintage machines and a couple newer machines too. When I say newer, I mean 10 years old or thereabouts.

Denim jeans upcycled for the purse body.

These are 2 cute little gnomes with sewing items. They came from a couple of kitchen towels that were embroidered by some quilting ladies from the group I used to go to and gifted to me. I knew I wouldn't use them as towels for a few reasons (the embroidery makes them stiff and hard to use the front of the towel and they would have gotten dirty too quick as a towel, and husband doesn't like stuff like this as he wants a plain dark towel), so I put them away to think how I could repurpose them into something else. I found them a month or so ago and decided they would make cute purse flaps instead of towels. I used the rest of the towel as my foundation/interfacing. They are pretty cute on these purses.

More upcycled jeans for purse bodies.

This flap was made from bee theme fabric scraps I was given. I added the bee appliqué.

The purse body fabric was also given to me along with the bee fabrics.

UPDATE: I have completed 96 purses for the Sew-a-thon. My goal was 80 purses, which I achieved and I am continuing to sew more purses as I have a lot more kits cut out ready to sew. I know I will make more than 100 purses by the end of the month, but how many is anyone's guess?

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!

Hugs!!!

Or use QR Code:

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #315-317 (for 2025)

3 more purses finished for the Sew-a-thon. 2 made with upcycled denim jean purse bodies and one with a Starbucks upcycled apron purse body.

I reached my goal of 80 purses for the Sew-a-thon and have even sewn more purses beyond my goal. Yay! I am sure I will sew 100 purses or more at this rate during September. 

These flaps were fun to create.

Denim jeans and Starbucks apron upcycled to make the purse bodies.

Thank you to all who have donated to the Sew Powerful fundraiser. You are all so appreciated!

If you haven't donated yet, please go HERE to make a donation in my honor. 

Thank you for your support, it means a lot! The sweet girls who receive the purses will be able to stay in school and have a better life.

Sharing this post would really help too!

Hugs!!!

Or use QR Code: 

Pin It Now!

Sew Powerful Purses #310-311 (for 2025)

For this purse, I had a scrappy neutral background already made, that I was going to use for something quilted, like a small wall quilt. I never did anything with it though. I found it recently and decided to make a purse flap, so I added the appliqués and stitched around them. I like the large circle with the decorative stitching around it as it really pops, and the center flowers add the focal point. I added some crystals to the flowers.

Denim jean upcycled into the purse body.

I sewed denim scraps with machine decorative stitches to create this flap background and then added the appliqué flower. I added some French knots around the flower.

Denim jeans for the purse body too.

Thank you to all who have donated to the Sew Powerful fundraiser. Go HERE to make a donation in my honor. Thank you for your support, it means a lot! Sharing this post would really help too!

Hugs!!!

Or use QR Code: 

Pin It Now!