Market Skirt Done!

It's the Independence Day holiday, Happy Merdeka to all Malaysians! And I've finished a Market Skirt for Hanan, as if I ever bring her to the market lol!

I used the ever popular tutorial by Dana from MADE. I love everything that she does. Very talented lady and she has great eye for colours.

This skirt ended up a bit on the bigger side for Hanan. I think the 1 inch elastic I'm using is too stiff, it won't stretch much. I need to find good quality 1" elastic asap. The skirt is so easy to make. The gathered pocket is a different story though. Gathering & keeping it together and working with a tiny piece of material is difficult for me. But, it paid off! My first ever buttonholes and those smiling, happy buttons made up for all the hardwork.

I used the cotton poplin fabric leftover from this project. The skirt should fit Hanan nicely by early next year I hope. Have a nice day!


The gathered pocket, real cute but challenging for me

Too big on Hanan for now...She's fascinated with the bright buttons on the gathered pocket

Down With Flu & Tunic Sewalong

Long time no blog...I was down with terrible flu last week and received a 3-days sick leave. Should be able to sew but it was so bad I ended up just sleeping the flu off. The fever was mild so the doctor did not send me for swineflu screening. I think it was just seasonal flu...

Despite that, I managed to finish a tunic sewalong with my darling sister,Angah. She lives in Semenyih and is by miles a better sewist than me! She's the creative one and her work is always very neat and detailed. So far she has not blogged but I managed to persuade her to setup a blog, I guess it will be up soon and will definitely link to it.

We are just 2 years apart. I have 2 girls and she has 2 boys. We did this sewalong to keep each other motivated with sewing and creativity. We chose a unisex pattern that could be adapted both for girls and boys. It is a pattern from my Japanese craft book Simple + One.
The pattern tracing from this book is a real challenge! The lines and drawings overlaps each other so tightly combined with the fact that we can't read Japanese! But we had fun trying to figure 'em out. The sewing part was fairly easy though. I love Japanese pattern books because the pictures are so easy to follow.

We both use linen for the tunic. However the red linen I used for Aisha is the crisp, slippery type (not the slubby cottony linen). So difficult to work with this one. But Aisha loves the colour especially when I added the tie string detail at the neckline. My sister managed to sew for both my nephews and I must say they look so cute in them! My sister's comment on this project "I feel like I'm transported to the 16th century sewing tunics for the heroes in those historical romance books!" LOL must be the natural green linen she's using haha...

All in all, this sewalong was considered a success and we're already planning our next sewalong project!

Nazrin and Imran - my nephews with their green linen tunic

Aisha's red linen tunic

Hanan so used of being in the limelight seen here a bit miffed that only kakak Aisha has a new tunic lol!

Ruffle Top Done!

Errr...I started the PJs for Hanan I mentioned in last post, almost finished it, got sidetracked with a new project and ended up finishing this one instead. Is this normal in sewing world? :-D

I love how this one turned out. Made from Carson Ruffle Shirt Pattern I purchased on etsy. Fabric is from the lovely Chocolate Lollipop Collection by Anna Maria Horner.

The pattern is fairly easy, I liked the chic ruffle design. Challenges I faced at my current novice sewer stage - the top ruffle refused to overlap the middle ruffle as it curled up in U-shape when gathered, had to cut another longer piece of fabric; the top ruffle ended up a bit stiff (not flowy) when the front and back pieces were sewn together. I must have did something wrong somewhere. The valuable lesson from this project - I made my own matching bias tape! The one sewn at neckline and armholes matches the bottom and back ruffle. Almost got my fingers burned by the iron, but I totally love it!

Cutie Pie Hanan and cue the runny nose!

From the back

Hanan, as usual so happy when I put it on her for the photo shoot, even when she's actually down with flu and coughing heavily (am a bit worried actually with all the H1N1 scare going around).

Dreaming of more projects...til then...have a productive week lovely peeps!

Story Of Rustic Pants, Bohemian Dress and The Dress That Ran Away

You think I'd let last weekend by without any sewing? No way!

I managed to sew a pair of rustic looking linen pants for my nephew Imran. A Bohemian Style dress for Hanan and botched a dress from an old shirt lol!

The story begins with...

I love the look of rustic linen in natural color. I experimented with topstitching with contrasting thread. But looking at the pocket - I don't know whether I should laugh or cry! It's suppose to be front pockets sewn to the side reaching over to the back. It became Giant Pockets simply because I miscalculated the position lol!

This one turned out like a dream! Being totally freakish when sewing without a pattern, I purchased this from ManiMina, a talented seller on etsy. So simple to sew and I love the possibilities with fabric combo, definitely a keeps! The fabrics here are Amy Butler from my shop and a green polka dots cotton. Very bohemian look I must say. Hanan as usual is always happy to try it on and smile for the camera.

Hmmmm......what do you think? Really appreciate if you'd let me know :-)

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY......
(click to enlarge)

Well...what to say...it's a learning process rite? I wanted to turn my old shirt into a dress after being so inspired with this, this and this. But instead of following the tutorial to the T, I made an unwise decision to try and jazz it up with my own version. The rest is history. It went so wrong, the shirt was really meant to be thrown away after all LOL! This has thaught me that at this stage of sewing skill I'm at, better stick to following tutorials or patterns closely......

Next project - PJs for Hanan & another skirt for Aisha (she's feeling left out and I don't have the heart to tell her that mommy is a bit scared of cutting precious fabrics for bigger girls, in case I botch the project again....)