Cammie Purse Tutorial...picture heavy!

We recently had some dear friends retire from the Marine Corps after 29 years of service. I needed something special for my dear friend Donna, it couldn't just be "anything"...we share a love of papercrafting, but nothing paper-y was going to suit this special occasion. After some careful thought, I decided a cammie purse would be a fabulous idea! I'm no expert when it comes to sewing and I'd recently seen a presentation of the Accuquilt at Joann's. I love this machine, but with all the die cutting machines I own (see previous post!), I decided I could accomplish the same cuts, but for far less of the price of the Accuquilt...do love it, but with the price of the dies, I would have to work 3 jobs to support that habit! This post is very picture heavy, so I will be doing simple instructions!Joe and Donna Baes. Donna was the first person I met and became dear friends with when we were stationed here nearly 10 years ago (this is our 2nd tour in Jacksonville, NC). Our friendship made the move back here an easy transition :).There are a few prep instructions before cutting your cammie fabric:
1. Pre-wash (I did not do this as I used a recycled pair that had been washed many times!)
2. Heavy starch, then iron to make your fabric stiff...no frays is what you want.
3. Choose your die size...Nestibilities-large classic scalloped rectangle...you will need 48 rectangles total, 24 for each side of the purse. You may have to crank your die through a few times depending on thickness. The scallops make it tremendously easy to line up your edges. I sewed scallop edge approx. 1/2 inch on the seams. This the back side......front side.After both sides were sewn, I went back and decided to add a quilted look in pink thread :).Next comes your pocket! Since I recycled this pocket, I needed to use a seam ripper to get the backing off the pocket.Use a seam ripper to rip off the backing.Center your pocket and sew.Now it's time to add your fun fabric on the inside. This is a Waverly pattern I chose here. You will need to your cammie fabric facing UP and your inside fabric facing DOWN for this sewing step.
Once your inside fabric is sewn on, fold it down 1 inch, starch and iron.To cover my fold-down, I added some polka dotted ribbon to hide my stitching. Keep the ribbon pinned until you do the top stitch, when sewing the bottom end of the ribbon, remove the pins BEFORE you stitch or it will cause ruffling...that is not the look we want here...lol!Ribbon is nice and flat!
Time to sew both sides together...sides are face to face...then sewn.When sewing both sides together, match up your seams with straight pins. This will ensure your seams will all match up when you turn it right side out.See!
Trim the corners before you turn it right side out...this creates less buldging in the corners.
Turn right side out. Check for any imperfections. If you have any trouble getting your corners to poke out nicely, you can use the back end of an ink pen and gently push them out.
Fold your purse back inside out and add the bias tape. I don't have the patience to make my own tape, so I purchased mine in the thread isle of Hancock Fabrics.

The bias tape gives a nice finished looked on the inside and also hides the raw edges.
Almost done! Add your nametapes and......voila! Your purse is now complete! You can leave it just as it is, or add a fun vintage flower as I did here!I did not take any shots of how I put together my flower...but you can find all the steps HERE and HERE if you'd like to give it a try! Check out Jen del Muro's flower as well...I love the scalloped edges!I cut some felt and added a pin so the flower is removable for washing. Over time, this flower will fray and look even more vintage! I'd love to see other fellow sewers recycle those cammies and see what you come up with. If you do, please link it back here and I will share it ;).