Tammy Bag Blog hop - first day

So, today is the first day of the Tammy bag blog hop.

Madam Samm herself is cheering this time - for a good reason, she developed the pattern herself.
Who ever tried to make a tiny tutorial for something knows that it is much more complicated and painful and time consuming than one would ever think - all the pictures one has to take, all the texts one has to write...
So thank you very much for doing this for us.

Disclaimer: All the faults I made and that you will see here have nothing to do with the pdf-pattern, they are all my personal addition and invention. Learn from my faults :-)

So, I finished my Tammy bag early - three weeks ago.
But: I had only two sorts of purse frames: 6 inches wide to glue or 5.5 inch wide to sew in.
Problem: the patten said to sew in a 6 inch wide frame.

So I researched the Internet and some link suggested Gorilla Pod.
It was not the best idea to try to glue a purse in a frame at 1:00 am, but I was eager to finish my project.
Guess what?
Right.
TOTAL FAIL.

I threw the frame in the waste, I tried everything to get the Gorilla of my hands (hard job) and the purse now looks like this:

Totally stained

and it became so stiff it brakes

Bummer!

I threw everything in the corner and went to bed.

It took my some days to recover, but I eventually did. Found out, that there is special fabric glue one should use to glue the fabric into the purse frame.

I ordered some, but guess what? Not here yet.

So I had to come up with a different approach:

Adjust the pattern so it fits in a 5.5 inch purse frame. 

As these frames seem to be easier to buy than the 6 inches one (they even carry 5.5 inches at my JoAnns) , this might be interesting to others too:

To keep the shape of the Tammy bag, I made what I do when I need to narrow clothing:

Take the pattern piece for the front (and back) side of the Tammy, fold in half and mark a line 1/4 inch apart from the fold.

Now fold your fabric so that it has a fold and lay your pattern piece so on the fold, that the 1/4 inch line lays over the fold. Cut out two pieces this way.

You have to adjust the piece for the pockets the same way.

Now you can sew on as directed in the pattern.

 So, did it work?

Yes, it did!

I present my now 5.5 inch wide Tammy bag:

front:

 back

It would be fun to see if you can guess what will be in a purse saying "keep calm and aks mom"

but I will tell you anyway:

My mobile pharmacy.

I am a mom of four, I carry around the equivalent of a one bedroom apartment in my big, heavy mommy bag, and of course I know it is never a good idea to leave the house without the things a mom, because if you do, you would have needed them.

So, what is inside?
That depends a little bit on the season, but for sure
hand creme
allergy medicament
antibiotic ointment
anti stich ointment
Advil ( I bought a travel pack once and refill it now)
lip balm
my super-power german migraine pill
band aid
tooth cleaner
something for the ladies
diaper rush cream

There should be on top:
motion sickness treatment (two of my kids suffer from it - no fun!)
and for the sumemr sun protection.

I used the two outer pockets for more band aids and scissors. One always needs scissors :-)

And for toddlers, band aids have some kind of magic power...

These cute ones are from JoAnns (register area), 20 pieces for 1 Dollar (You might even use a coupon *g*)

and of course, they fit totally in, this was just for the picture.

 I think a bag like this would be a very nice present for a baby shower too - put in some more child related stuff (Childrens Advil, Diaper rush creme, saline nasal drops,  a pacifier, some wipes, wick vapor up for babies, a rattle) and the new mom will for sure have use for it.
Or give it to a bride with all the things she will need for her honeymoon *g*


So, I wanna thank Madame Samm for the organization and for giving us this wonderful pattern for free.

Please visit the other awesome ladies on the schedule for today too:

Tina 

thegermanmom.blogspot.com <------ you are here

Melinda 

http://tildastwistedlife.blogspot.com

Mary

Ipiece2-Mary.blogspot.com

Thearica
http://www.pigtalesandquilts.com

Frederika

feltfree-p.blogspot.com

Liz

liz-moments.blogspot.com

Grethe

aquiltlady.blogspot.com

Daryl

patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.ca

Patty

hangingbyathread.blogspot.com

Inga
http://inga-mormor.blogspot.se

and come back the other days too!
You might even win a price :-)


And I have a give away, too:
I will give away 1 frame of my shop (look at the right side), you choose - 6 inches to glue, 5.5 inches to sew, with or without beads
and enough fabric to make your own Tammy bag - or another purse frame bag.

To win, please tell me which frame you want to win and what color you would like to have for you purse and the lining.
And if you want this embroidery (ask mom...) on your piece, too, please tell me so (and the color).

thanks for stopping by,
have fun!
Tina

pattern: The Tammy project bag
Fabric; linnen: JoAnns, lining: happy mochi yum yum (Lecien)
embroidery file: free gift for mother's day (THANKS A LOT)