My New Purse

I have been needing a new purse.  But being who I am,  I carry a good bit of stuff with me most days.  Things like batteries for the aerobics microphone and a water bottle and lots of little things like that, to help me attempt to keep up with this crazy life. 

A couple of years ago,  Charlie's unit switched to the new style of BDUs.  When he could no longer wear the style he had worn when I first met him,  I asked Charlie to pack the old uniforms away for future projects, and just in case the kids wanted them.  And I rather thought this project would come along. 

I made a similar purse for my niece last year, and about a month ago, I asked Charlie to sit out a few sets for me to work on some projects with.  As I began to cut this out, We made a few camouflage stockings, and Wyatt even learned to use the sewing machine while making one. 

As luck would have it, the uniform which would become my new purse was one of his favorites, sporting some random paint for character. The outside reveals four pockets,  including two with unit insignia. The inside has six, formed from material from the jacket back and arm, just for fun. 

So here is the finished product, complete with handles found on after Christmas sale at the fabric store!

Here it is,  almost completely loaded,  and with room to spare! Next up? Making one specifically designed for and by Bailey.  AND this next one will have goat patches,  too!  Stay tuned for that design,  coming soon!  Though for now, this edition got Charlie's seal of approval,  telling me that it looked good enough to make for sale. 

It is pretty exciting when he likes my work! But for now, I will be doing most of my work on a by request basis, so that my time is focused on what matters. So I have to ask, if you could design your own purse, what fabric would you choose, and what features would you want?

The Cool Upcycled Camo Purse Project

For those of you who follow the Patriot's Dream Farm on Facebook, you heard all about the number of needles I broke along the way with this project. Funny, I hadn't broken a needle in 17 years of having the machine, then I broke four in as many months (not just this project, the chicken purse one too!)  In the case of this project, apparently the notion of all purpose needles doesn't really mean all purpose-  should have gone with the denim ones!

Anyhow, I have this thing about upcycling. Things which are perfectly useful but whose use has- for some reason- become obsolete or changed should be passed along for someone who can use them or should be modified for further use instead of lying waste in landfills or the like.

Over the last few years, the Air Force changes to new digitized camouflage BDUs. This meant that Charlie's perfectly good, in some case new and as of yet unworn uniforms were being mothballed.  The ones of appropriate size were held for the kids for hunting. Still, I figured that I would have some projects come along, and even had a few in mind. After all, the kids love camouflage, and this material was built for wear.

Then, I was trying to think of something neat for my camo wearing, soccer playing niece. I found a cute Christian t-shirt in the brand she likes, similar to one I found for my daughter. But grey, not camo.  And some other fun things. And when I wandered into one of her favorite stores that has her size of clothes, I saw lots of camouflage, as well as olive green.  Standing there, I came up with an idea...

And a project was born.

I asked Charlie to pull out a set.  It took a little, but he obliged. Then I got to cutting, chopping sewing...

This is the back side if the the finished project...

a camouflage purse!

a HUGE thank you to my Dad for the photos! I completely got sidetracked when I went to get camera batteries out, and the photos never happened before I sent the box off.

This is the front. I added the red, white and blue charms because she loves her peace signs!

For those of you who, like me, have ironed your share of these, you will recognize where the pieces came from, it is a little fun! And there are sure more pockets on the inside.

I thought that by the time I added the gussets that gave the purse depth to stand up, the the sizing would be good, but it turned out a little BIG for my petite niece, I will have to take that into account in future versions for other folks.

Will I do it again? Sure! I think my daughter my need one here soon! But each will be different- by the person I make it for. For that one, I think I could see some of the patched from her mom;s police owrk added on the pockets if she chooses, will be fun to see what she does with it. I sure hope she likes it =).

What have you done to upcycle camo and old clothes and items?