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?