My TAMMY!

First of all, thank you so much Madamme Samm for the wonderful pattern and organizing another FUN blog hop!  Also thanks to the sponsors who so generously donated some terrific prizes, would you believe not one but two Dovo scissors {I heart them- such quality!} and the gingham fabric, old fashioned  appeal with a new twist goodness, {love}. 

When Mdm. Samm did a call out for bloggers who wanted to participate, I didn't waste any time and jumped on board.  Getting to test out her pattern I only had to commit to sharing it with you all on the 14th of June,  Flag Day, how easy is that I thought, so I said YES.
When I received the pattern it was very detailed. Would you believe 71 pages of detail or something so close to that, "YIKES"  I thought to myself, what did I get myself into?!@#!!!    But she had a terrific tutorial actually contained within the confines of the pattern illustrating each step so there could be no misunderstanding what was to be done next.
 Thanks it helped!

But after reading the pattern and gathering my materials together, I became more confident.  The hardest part was finding a hinged bag closure which I couldn't get the correct size in despite several shopping attempts here and out of state.  What to do?  ..... I had a smaller width frame and another that was a bit larger.   I ended up modifying my pattern to accommodate the larger and best frame I had in.   Well, before I get ahead of myself, let me show you the finished bag. 

Would you believe I didn't take any photos of my finished bag empty except for the following two.

The interior of the bag during construction.  Matched up the seams really well on the bottom inside and out,  I was super happy about that!

Okay, who is playing tricks and inserted my Mother's hand in the photo, it can't be mine, whenever did that happen?!

The finished TAMMY's interior showing the side pockets on both front and back sections of the TAMMY.

On the bottom left of the above shot, you'll see where I inserted a loop of MODA twill tape in the outer seam just above the pocket.  This could securely hold keys, a ring of shopping cards, another wallet/coin purse,  etc...

Here's a shot of one side of the TAMMY while it is closed and STUFFED.  

I did assemble this a little differently than the instructions.

I used a hand dyed cluny lace for trim on this side and then sewed the lining across the top incorporating the cluny trim then pressed the seams up.

When I flipped it down towards the inside, I left a small slip of that striped fabric showing for my faux piping, then top stitched the seam line with my favorite #10 Bernina foot.

Voila the Piping look without all the extra work.

After getting the upper portion of this pocket sewn, I lifted the exterior fabric and the fleece and stitched it onto the main purse part so I had the divisions that were in the pattern but also so they couldn't be seen on the exterior of the bag.  LOVE it!! 
The Sunbonnet Sue side with the 3" scissors behind her is the shallowest pocket.  Items can't fall into the bottom crevices of this baby!  The left side also was stabilized so it's not as deep as the actual purse and holds the needle case and the slap it pincushion bracelet. 

The photo below it shows what was held in that one pocket only.

The sunbonnet Sue doll is a needle minder that my grandmother made either a couple of or several decades ago.
While visiting my Mom this past winter in Florida she was using it.  I ooohhh'd and ahhh'd over it because my Grandma made it and Mom kindly gave it to me saying she had another one she could use.  Thanks Mom and (posthumously, Thanks Grandma too), I LOVE YOU BOTH.

  

This pocket also held my slap on pincushion bracelet I made last year.

What's in the bag you might ask? 

Yes, it's sewing paraphernalia but this TAMMY is large enough for an 7.5" hoop plus some other things!

Want to see what it held in the main compartment?

All of this and a Canon Camera and there was still a bit more room.
Magic Eyes, a 7.5" Clover embroidery hoop loaded with my latest embroidery focus, a ring bundling bobbins filled with DMC floss, a DMC 5, white perle cotton in a perle Bubble, a plastic bag for some bits of thread that could be used up and a Madeira silver floss package besides my camera,  but it took the shot and wasn't in it! 


The other exterior pocket also was ample enough to hold some more necessities.  Here I used another ribbon trim I had in,  Made two loops on each end of the trim after tacking it down in to three sections.  The loops could hold the ear pieces to glasses and sunglasses, pens, stylists, keys, smaller purses, flash drive,  etc.... and I tacked that center part down too so it wouldn't gap and flip flop.  Of course a Velcro closure on this more open side was called for.

All of these items were contained on this exterior circled printed pocket. 

I'm thrilled with the outcome on this project.  I know I have this chartreuse aqua thingy going on and have been having it going on long before Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street QAL happened last winter.  I've loved chartreuse ever since I was 5 or six years old.  The only difference now is that I love aqua with it.  Back when I was young. I  loved it with purple- J'ADORE chartreuse!!  



 

While snapping photos I thought another Tammy  would be great for this ..................................

My attempt at an unorthodox exclamation point.   I know, I need help!  giggles.

Look at all the crochet items this TAMMY can hold!  You could easily feed your yarn through the openings just under the frame and it could contain your ball of yarn without it rolling all over the place while crocheting from it too. 

Another photo of the contents with the magnetic needle minder pulled off the bag,

just in case you missed it while attached in the above photo.   ;)

 

As I mentioned, I had to make mine larger because of the ball frame I purchased at Joanns.  The mouth of the frame is 8" wide and when fully opened is 3.5" wide.  (I wish that side of the opening was larger, I can't open this bad boy up large enough.)    I was able to use teh width of a legla sheet of paper (8.5") and just angled the top towards the outer edges of my paper pattern, keeping the integrity of the rest of the pattern and it worked.  Phew!!  I was worried for a while. 

The worst part with the construction was finding the cording then sewing it to the frame.  Thankfully the local bead store had this lime green cording  in with their Kumihimo supplies, (which happens to be a class a friend and I'll be taking tomorrow).  VBG

Also I got to thinking that this pattern lengthened could be fantastic for knitting items too. 

I pulled out my knitting needle organizer that I made almost 40 years ago to share with you. 

See how old that fabric is?   I used felt for the wording and did a simplistic drawstring bag back when I was making layettes for my babies.  I had a Montgomery Ward sewing machine (White)  that worked like a tank.  It had drop in Cams for decorative stitching and I used one of them for the top of this casing.  Crocheting yarn for the drawstrings.  Simple project making without a pattern but effective. 












It's not that pretty now, but it has been very serviceable and has helped me through the years.    Now wouldn't a Large mouthed tall skinny Tammy be perfect for this?     





I surely  can see more Tammy's being made in my future. 

Thanks Madamme Samm!

It's been a blast though I do have bruises on not one, but two thumbs!  Got those by  sewing that heft of fabric thickness onto the frame,

 but I must admit,

It was so totally worth it. 

Check out these other bloggers who also are sharing their creations of Tammy.

Bente, Jane  you are here! , Wendy, Geta , , Julia , Jan, Loralynn , Selina , Joan ,  Mara , Jan

Enjoy your Flag Day
and TTFN,

Jane

PS:  I also couldn't remiss from admitting that also while younger I loved watching Tammy on the TV screen.  How idyllic a life she seemed to have living with her Grandpapi and I personally loved her freshness and goodness.  Now I'm signing off while humming to the tune of:  Tammy, Tammy, Tammy's in love...  

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