Sew Powerful
 

For people who sew and often have an abundance of fabric, this is a charitable opportunity that I just came across. There is a free download of a cute crossbody purse pattern - definitely nice enough that you might use one yourself or give as a gift, but the idea here is to make one or more to donate to girls in African villages to carry things young women need to have handy. Remember the main reason you started carrying a purse at a certain age? The site explains their mission, and it's a very important one. They've found that many girls in these circumstances miss days of school every month because they have no practical way of managing their periods. The full explanation and link for the pattern is here: https://sewpowerful.org/pages/sew-po...ogram-overview

I downloaded the pattern for intermediate skills, but there's a simpler one that would probably be faster as well as easier. I haven't tried it yet, but I read through the intermediate one and it seems well written. If you have a young girl in your household, perhaps making a purse for someone less fortunate would be a good project for her to practice sewing skills, while helping her to understand what life is like for some other girls in the world. As we approach Thanksgiving, it seemed to me a timely reminder to be thankful for yet another blessing I took for granted.

Finally, to tie this in with quilting, of course some fancy quilting or applique would be a nice design feature that could make a purse special.

this would be an excellent idea for a 4H group! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing this! It's a nice project for me to work on, and use up those pretty trims, buttons, and fabrics. :)