Goodbye Blessed 2009 and Giveaway Winner!!!

There, all my sewing in 2009. I only started in May, so I'm still amazed how did I manage to sew all those??

Still, 2009 was a great year for me, I can't complaint about anything. I thank God everyday for giving me the chance to experience this beautiful life and especially for my two precious daughters.

And I welcome 2010 with open arms!! With many adventures to come, I look forward to a colourful life in the new year.

Now, as promised, I've picked a winner for my giveaway.

But before that I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time and making the effort to participate. I LOVE all your creative ideas, thanks so much for sharing them with me. In total there were 96 comments, but since many have combined 2-3 entries in one comment, I've listed each and every entry in Excel Spreadsheet so that everyone will get a fair chance based on number of entries. The total entries is therefore 175!

I'm so happy with the stat and Mr. Random.Org has spoken. The lucky winner is......................

Wan Anis Sorfina!!!

Congratulations! I'll get in touch with you for the address. To others, try again in my next giveaway, who knows, you might be the lucky one! :)

This is my last post for 2009. Here's wishing all of you Happy New Year!! May 2010 bring much inspiration, joy, success and happiness to you and your family.

I love meeting so many like minded friends on this space, your support and friendship means a lot to me. I can't thank you enough for reading and sharing a few words here.

Till tomorrow, take care and *HUGS*!!

Love,

Zura

A Sundress - Why Simple Is So Much Better

In all my eagerness to sew, sometimes I forget that less is definitely more.

I wanted to try something simple and sweet that could still feature the fabrics I'm using. This sundress is perfect and easy to sew too!

The construction is basic pillowcase dress style, nothing complicated. I used bias tape I made from the same contrasting fabric for the bottom band. It's loose fitting, great for layering and can also be a top.. The fabric here is light weight Japanese cotton. I also utilised the French Seam to finish both side seams. Great solution when I've yet to buy a serger and want an alternative to the zig zag stitch. It's a clean finish and very durable too.

I'm happy how this turned out. And this will also be the first style I'll be offering for custom orders! :D

Yup, you read it right. If you're interested to purchase my humble work, you can do so very, very soon! Figured it will be great to share my work with others and the proceeds from the sale will go to supporting my great need to create. This will be under a separate label I've chosen for the venture. Wait for the unveiling in a few days :)

Till then, happy sewing!

Totally Winging It - Shirred Floral Dress

I dabbled a bit in designing today.

Found a pretty floral rayon cotton blend (cue Malaysian readers : many call this fabric as viscose, but no, it is actually rayon cotton blend) in my stash. This is an old one. I think circa 2000. I purchased and stashed in my usual manner a long time ago :P

So I looked at it and fell in love again with its soft and supple texture. Such lovely, flowy hand, it begs to be sewn sumthin' pretty. So I designed a dress using 3 rectangles and my favourite shirring technique.

The result is satisfactory. The ruffled effect is exactly as I imagined it. But the straps need to be taken off 1 or 2 inches. I will also have to find the best way to attach the straps to the body so that the stitching is completely concealed.

Other than that, little miss Hanan is happy with the dress. Mainly due to the cool feel of rayon cotton. This make a nice garden party or attending-a-wedding dress I think.

Am working on another project, till then, thank you for reading and have a great day! :)

Cheerful Hobo Bag for Lin, My Little Sis

Well, not so little anymore, she's in college now :P

My baby sis Lin (she's the youngest of my siblings) asked for another bag and she keeps writing on my Facebook wall for me to make this one for her. I only have the time to finish it over the long weekend. So here goes Lin, a simple, slouchy, cheerful Hobo bag for you. Hope you like it! :P

xoxo,

Along

Aisha’s Nina Top and Hanan’s Tiered Dress

As I've blogged about the handmade bag birthday gift for Aisha here, now lemme show you what I sewed for her to wear on her birthday celebration at my parents'place.

I practically begged Aisha to sew her a birthday party dress ( I know, I can't believe I did that too lol)...but she was adamant and wanted a long sleeves top to wear with her favourite jeans. Remember I told you how Aisha is never a big fan of dresses? I guess because she's growing up and just wanna assert what she likes and building on her personality.

So I granted her wish and sewed a long sleeve purple top with tiebacks. Purple is her current favourite color so I try to stick to the theme with these Lila Tueller fabrics. The pattern is View D of Nina pattern I blogged here.

I love how the top turned out except the length. It's a size 7, the largest on the pattern. I usually sewed her a size 8. However, the pattern is loose fitting, so size 7 fits her well except that it's a bit short. With Aisha's tall & skinny frame, I'd have to lengthen the top next time I make this for her. Nonetheless, this top gets tonnes of compliments at the party. What stands out here is the faux placket with buttons embellishment. I also love the wider, bell sleeves design. I personally think Aisha looks beautiful in purple and somehow she reminds me of a pretty Spanish princess in that top J

Well now, little miss Hanan should never feel left out, right? I was pressed for time. I had only one hour to sew before going to my parents' house and I wanted a simple dress for her.

I fell in love with a Japanese pattern number 58 in Cucito Summer 2009 and sewed a size 80 for her. It is a tiered dress. I chose soft coral and pink combo. The middle tier is sweet Alexander Henry print, Spring Mix in pink. The other fabric is a sweet coral damask print by April Cornell for Moda.

To my surprise, it is already a bit tight. This could only mean one thing. Hanan has moved up a size! I can now sew a size 90 from all the lovely Japanese patterns, plenty of designs to choose from, yeay!

I made a few mistakes in making this dress. Lucky they are not very obvious once I put it on Hanan. Still, I love the carefree, trapeze like design. She was running around in it so comfortably and lavishing on the attention doting adults showered on her.

So that's it, my latest creation. This week I'm aiming to make a few bags. Will get there when I get there ;)

Meanwhile, have you joined my giveaway yet? Plenty of time left before the draw on the last day of 2009, you're welcome to join. I love reading all your creative inspirations! Thanks for reading and have a creative day! J

Fabric Giveaway!

***The Giveaway Is Closed, Thank You for Participating!***

Inviting all readers to my first giveaway!

As mentioned in my previous post, I have too many fabric in stash, would love to share some with all you wonderful people :)

You'll receive 5 different cotton fabric, each one a full meter. Meaning you'll get 5 full meters of fabulous cottony goodness! (1 meter is almost 10% more than 1 yard).

In this stash - 2 designer quilting cotton from Tanya Whelan's Darla and Barefoot Roses Collection. The other 3 fabrics are lightweight, soft 100% cotton.

And yes, this giveaway is open to the whole wide world! :)

To win, please leave a comment, I'd love to know what you want to make with these fabrics. Please make sure to leave your email address too.

Be a follower and/or blog about this giveaway for an extra entry each.

I'll pick the winner randomly on the 31st of December 2009. What a great way to close my 2009 posts! There will be many more giveaways in 2010. Till then, good luck!

I love all my readers, I love all your comments! :) *HUGS*

Old Curtain, New Tablecloth

This morning I sew 2 long rows of straight stitches.

I found at the back of the closet - an old kitchen curtain from my previous home. This does not fit into any windows in current house.

Okay, need to do something. I just want it out of the closet.

So, I cut them in halves, joined 3 long piece and turned it into my dining tablecloth.

The balance? Just enough to spread on top of the oven.

Hmm...not the most sophisticated of prints but this will do for now. Cheers!

My Fabric Fetish

When I reassesed my sewing room early this morning, I realized that my habit needs a little bit of controlling. It's not news that I love fabrics and I have been a constant gatherer for many years already. I just love fabrics especially natural cotton and linen. I used to sell fabrics too but decided to stop and focus more on creating/sewing. However, since I work fulltime, I can't sew/create fast enough to deplete my stash, so now the fabrics are taking up space. I mean they are everywhere!!

Here, bursting in the closet (I don't even have time to refold and organize 'em).

Peeking from inside here in the WIP bucket.

Some more in this box.

In drawers down here.

And more boxes up there!

And many more under the table and behind the door in rolls!!

Hmmm...what do I do? I might destash one day (or perhaps not! I love 'em all **hoard,hoard** :P)

Okay I got it!

An atonement.

I'll be having my first fabric giveaway soon and share some love with all you lovely readers.

Check back often ya? **Hugs!**

My Garden Party Wristlet

Oh how I am in love....

You know, I am the type of girl who loves big, slouchy bags. But that puts me in a dilemma whenever I wanna go out for lunch at the office or a girly girl gathering with my girlfriends, or a movie date with hubby, where I don't wanna lug all those junk in my big carry all....and now I've found the perfect solution.

It's another one of keykalou design. It's aptly named Garden Party Wristlet. Oh I love it! So girly yet modern. Just the perfect size for my mobile, small wallet and a lipstick.

However it is not the easiest bag to sew. I mean, it looks really like an easy one. But the round shape and fiddly elastic casing and gathers takes a lot of maneuvering. Most of the problem comes from the stiff sew in interfacing I used. But...since I love the design so much, I will sew another one, definitely.

The outer fabric is a sweet Heather Bailey Pop Garden Lime Sway print. I lined the inside with same green polkadot used for Aisha's coin purse. I purposely used contrasting pink thread for effect.

The bag doesn't have button or zipper, just the straps looped to close it. And I love that it comes with pretty bow detail. It completes the garden party theme look.

I love this one. So glad I made it. Just the thing to lift my spirit up.

Thanks for reading lovely peeps, have a creative day! **Hugs**

Lazy Days Skirt 2

I made another pair of Lazy Days Skirts for the girls before going to the mall for some grocery shopping. This time I used printed fabric along the brown and pink theme.

Hanan gets the fun Wendy Slotboom. I only have 1 yard of the fabric so I cut it in half for the skirt and have half a yard left for other projects. But, I noticed after sewing that the skirt is a bit long on Hanan. There goes my measuring skill again (or obviously the lack of it lol!).

Aisha chose the fabric herself. She wanted the Matryoshka Russian Dolls print by Heather Ross. The thing is this print is so precious to me. It's cute and whimsical and I've had it in my stash for a long time, I just couldn't bear cutting it.

But for the love of my daughter, I let her have it. Figured, the whole purpose of me purchasing cute fabrics in the first place is to sew something out of it! I still have around a quarter yard left which is plenty. Aisha's so smitten with the dolls and she just love the skirt.

Wishing you a creative weekend, have a great one!

Aisha's 9th Birthday Present

For the first time ever, her birthday present from mommy this year is 100% handmade with love. Birthdays for my children have always been a private family affair. We usually celebrate at my parents' place.

Aisha, my sweet girl, she's always at a loss when I ask her what she wants for her birthday. She says she has everything, she doesn't know what else to ask for. My Aisha is a very undemanding, contended little lady and my heart warms up to her. She's so unlike me, her want-it-all mother lol. While browsing the net for bags pattern, she was sitting beside me and suddenly a pretty bag catches her eyes. So I asked her if she'd like me to sew the bag as her birthday gift, she said yes!

So, I purchased the half-moon handbag pattern from keykalou and made her the purse. It is a petite bag, which makes a perfect purse for my girl. She said now she has a purse just like mommy's to bring to the mall :D

Aisha chose the fabric herself from my stash. Her favourite color at the moment is purple. Explains why she was attracted to the bag pattern :)

This is my first purchase of keykalou pattern. I love it! Her designs are really pretty and the instructions are very structured and clear. She also has a blog where she offers tips and guides when making bags which I find very helpful. I also like her taste in sophisticated, vintage inspired fabric print she used in making her bags. Visit her blog here.

All in all, I am glad that this purse is a part of my eldest daughter growing up years. It is my dearest wish that she lives a long and meaningful life, where happiness and smiles never cease. Happy 9th birthday my beautiful girl Aisha...and mommy's so proud of you!

Love always.

A Coin Purse

Aisha wanted a small coin purse. It's easier for her to store her small change and easy to carry when she wants to buy candy or ice cream at nearby shop. So I made her this simple small zippered pouch.

I lined it with green polkadot. I used a free tutorial but I could not find the site now to link. I'll update once I find it again.

Stash Swap Group 3 - Received

I've received the stash from my partner, Kak Noor and I'm so happy! So many cute stuff! I love ém all!

These are the FQs, ribbons and buttons. They are super cute! Am so happy to receive many large shank buttons as I really wanted them for making bags.

I especially adore this lady...so very vintage!

The felts. Love the color and especially the polkadot printed one, wow! I've never done any felt craft before, I think I'm gonna start soon.
And the surprise stash – wow what a surprise!

Kak Noor gave me her handmade bag made from LV monogram inspired cotton fabric! Her work is awesome, the bag is very well made!

Aisha took one look at it and immediately grabbed it for herself. It's the perfect size for her.

To Kak Noor, a big THANK YOU for the stash. Please visit her blog to find out more about her crafts.
Meanwhile I've sent my stash to my partner Aimila. Visit her blog to find out what I sent for this Stash Swap. I'm not sure if Hani wants us to make something from the stash as the next activity. But if she does, I'm in! This is so much fun! J