Sew It - Baby Booties

Done! Itty bitty baby booties in Tula Pink Hushabye fabrics in the prettiest sage and pink combo :D

This week's Sew It we're sewing these cuties from Stardustshoes's very popular Cloth Shoe Pattern. This is my first time sewing baby booties, I tell you, it's not easy working with tiny pieces of fabrics especially circular ones. Working it on the machine, careful not to botch the seam allowance, phewww.....

BUT, I'm so glad I made it! I mean how can I not smile looking at those bunnies? And the warm colors are just awesome!

The side view, picture taken before I sewed the buttons on top. Without the buttons the top is a bit ruched as it is pulled by the elastic inside. I used felt for the soles and lined them with solid Kona cotton. I also forgot about interfacing the fabric but it turned out okay.

I don't have small feet this size in the house anymore (oh how I miss those wiggly toes). The only baby in the family now is my newborn niece I made the quilt for before. I've yet to meet her, waiting for hubby to get away from work a day or two to go back to my hometown and see the precious Asma Widad.

And of course these booties will be hers! :)

Three Little Bags, Three Times The Happiness!

Two posts in a day, I'm on a roll :D

Weekend was super hectic as I scramble to finish these bags before my nephew's birthday which was held at my sis's place last night.

It was supposed to be just one little personalised bag for Nazrin, my nephew, when the story suddenly took a twist. The storyline went something like this :

Crazy Sewing Mommy emerged from sewing room at 11 am : Ta Da! Handmade birthday present for Yayin yeay!

Little Tot Hanan : Grabbed the bag. Anan munye!! Anan munye begggg! (My bag, my bagggg!)

Crazy Sewing Mommy : Noooo....this belongs to Abang Yayin dear...

Little Tot Hanan : ANAN MUNYEEEEEEE! *stomp-stomp-rolling-on-the-floor-loud-wailing*

Super Patient cum Commander Hubby : Please make another one for her. We don't want her grabbing at the bag when Nazrin open his present tonite right? And while you're at it why not make one for Aisha too (he's really impressed with the applique *grin*)

Crazy Sewing Mommy : *sweat* Switch to super mommy mode.

And so I was in the room till 7.30pm, finished just in time to go to the party :D

The bag was really an easy one. I just winged the cutting, thus the different sizes. It's the applique and personalised names that was time consuming.

Look out! Owl behind the wheels! :P

Groovy Heart for Aisha

Three Hearts with a Peeking Owl for Hanan

Nazrin happy with his new bag :)

I love the result. But most importantly, one little tot was happy on the way to the party. And she just knew how to melt my heart with this smile of hers.

Two More Cute Wristlet and Heart to Sandra Bullock

I am never tired of cute stuff, so the above cuties deserve a highlight in my blog :D

They are for the cheerful, ever bubbly customer, Finaz. Hope you like them as much as I do! Those cupcakes make me hungry :P

Oh ya, what about the other part of the title? Not sewing related at all, but for the record, I'm a BIG fan of hers, back on the days of While You Were Sleeping. And she does NOT deserve what's happening to her now.

Oh Sandra, why does these things always happen to the most brilliant, smartest, prettiest and beautiful, wonderful women, just like you? My love to you, sending over all the way from Malaysia.

Okay, enough out of character, non crafty rambling from me. For you, wonderful readers, I'll see you when I see you! (in the next post that is) ;)

Pretty PJs and My First Collar

I was able to compelete this PJ after abandoning it for almost 2 weeks after cutting. I used patterns from Emma Hardy's book, Making Children's Clothes. The top is from the boy's shirt pattern and the pants is from the pajama pattern. Both gave me headache.

The reason is this is my first attempt at attaching a collar (this one is a flat type, round collar, not sure if it's the same as Peter Pan collar) and I had to choose a book with very little detail on how to do just that *sigh*

Have you tried any pattern from this book?

I wish I read the review on Amazon about this first before attempting the button down shirt. I am not alone!

I sewed the pants from the pajama pattern in the book, there's also something wrong there construction wise. The pants ended up funny looking and fit real bad, but still wearable. I don't know if any of the patterns were tested or not, despite it's cuteness I'm a bit scared to try the others in it.

The collar's instruction was really scant and the ugly exposed seams are just too much! I had to stitch a bias tape to cover it but still I think it's bad, just look at that! The method is wrong somehow. I wish the author would put more care in writing the instructions.

The book has some really cute girls patterns, which what made me bought it in the first place. But I am a bit disappointed with sewing books written in English, which suppose to make it easier for home sewists. Nope, looks like I've to practice more using either the Japanese books or those wonderful pdf tutorials with step by step photos. So far, I found much success using them than full fledge sewing books or commercial patterns ( I hate flimsy tissue papers in those patterns urgh).

At least Hanan is at peace with her new PJs, happy, nonetheless :)

Crazy Over Glam Garden!

Oooooohhhh......Aaaaaahh......Woooowwww......Weeeee.....

I want them all!!

That's me going crazy, drooling at Josephine Kimberling's new collection, Glam garden. Such pretty bright burst of colours and I love, love, LOVE the Bohemian chic designs!

(all images via http://www.josephinekimberling.blogspot.com)

Just my kinda prints for clothing. Perfect! Aren't they pretty?

p/s : Malaysian friends, these divine fabrics are available for Pre-Order in my shop plus many, many more fun prints! Click here to view.

Thanks! :)

Darling Sundresses Done And Bias Tape Woes

I finished making these two darlings yesterday. They are for a loyal customer cum good virtual friend, the sweetest lady 'Ainn, meant for her 2yo sweet little princess. I just realised I sewed my tags on different sides on the 2 dresses lol....well, the little quirks that define handamade!

I had fun making the dresses as the serger made it so much easier and faster too. My only woes are with attaching self made bias tapes to the armsyche. Am I alone or does anybody else face the same problems with attaching double fold bias tapes at a curve?

I tried hard not to stretch the tapes as it reaches the curves but still at one time the stitching failed to catch the folded tape at the back as I topstitched. Help! If you know a good a tutorial on this I really appreciate a link. I saw Amy Karol video tute on the subject but it did not mention curves.

With the help of the trusted seam ripper I managed to finish attaching the trim, but know that I need to learn the secret to sewing bias tape on a curve. Thanks for reading ladies, today is Monday and I've a lecture going. See y'all fabulous peeps later! :)

Look What Mr Postman Brought Me!

Yeay! I've been eagerly waiting for these babies to arrive. Mr. Postman came knocking yesterday and I practically jumped up and down in glee!

I bought these fabric with writing from Ayumi of Pink Penguin fame. Such a talented sewist, no stranger to Malaysian crafters as I've seen many of her creations and tutorials popped up in local blogland, cherished by many.

I personally LOVE her pretty, fresh patchwork especially those cute pincushions! And in each one there will always be some fabric with writing peeking. I love it and when she made these herself, I just had to snap some up. And how sweet is Ayumi, she included a pink one in my order as I was a bit late and missed all the pink ones! Thank you Ayumi, you're wonderful!

And today, she's listing a few more of these fabulous writing fabric in her store, with many irresistible candy colors. I just snapped two more, hurry up, these will be gone in no time! :D

Dance With Me Skirt and Malacca Day Trip

It is the school holiday and we owe Aisha a trip as we've planned so many times but unable to go due to work commitments. So hubby and me took 2 days off work to spend some quality time with the girls. Had to as hubby gotta work this weekend, it's now or never *sigh*

Yesterday we went to the historic Malacca. And I managed to whip up a skirt for Hanan an hour before the trip. I call it Dance With Me Skirt as the fabric, gorgeous Kayla by Jennifer Paganelli is from a collection of the same name! And talked about playing with new serger, how about this :

NICE...... :D

Presenting the little miss in her new skirt....I think it's fun and you cannot go wrong with pretty prints like that. I still have these fabrics for 1-2 more small size skirts, email me if you're interested ya?

And these photos are just for fun as I love how tourist-y they look hahaha...

We were at Taman Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN. So funny how in every house, hubby would use the props to act out a scene for the photos. Yes, that hunk is taken *blush* :D

They were so in awe with the props and Aisha actually made some notes for her history lessons :) It was scorching hot when we were in the park. But later as we moved into the city to see A'Famosa, it rained cats and dogs. We were only able to sit in the car watching from far as hubby told Aisha the history of the place.

I love Hanan's could-not-be-bothered-with-mommy-taking pictures-blah look....LOL

Day trip well spent, in happy mode! :)

A Dream Came True, I'm In Sewing Heaven

At last, my own serger! :)

I received many requests for custom made clothing but dare not agree, for the very fact that I did not have a serger. Children's garment especially need to be finished professionally for it to last. So I did some soul searching, or shall I say "pocket digging", and found THE ONE. Well, decision was mainly made on the one that fits my budget, which is of course, very little with all my other addiction to support :P

Brother 3034D Lock, my dream just came true! Easy threading too! Can't wait for the weekend to play with her :)

Don't they look handsome together? I need to find a sturdier table though, the weight of these two simply too much for such a small table lol

And this one, Evelyn Hobo for a lovely customer, Dyla. Fabric is Fashionista Lorenza in Aubergine by Alexander Henry. I owe her another bag, I'm gonna try and finish this weekend.

Cheers to sewing on and creating more ladies, have a great day! :D

Perfect Little Party Dress for The Pretty Tot

Warning, this will be pic heavy, as I'm drinking Hanan's loveliness in this Perfect Little Party Dress! :D

I used Heidi and Finn pattern of the same name. I love the unique middle band of contrasting fabric. And the little miss was so obliging today, posing tirelessly for the photo shoot!

Instead of front ties, I opt for back ties. It really works both ways. Fabric is Darla by Tanya Whelan.

I just love her pretty smile....Oh I just hope she stays at this age forever!

Sew It - Wall Organizer

Yeay, I finished my Wall Organizer for this week's Sew It!

I've missed a few weeks of Sew It mainly because I usually sew along with a project that I voted and really wanna make for myself. Was so happy this week the wall organizer project won coz I've wanted to make one for so long. It is made from this instructions.

The construction was easy however I found the material is just too thin. Once hanged and stuffed, the pockets sort of pull the backing forward making it a bit floppy.

I assumed when the instruction says Canvas for the backing and pockets, it means cotton canvas. So I chose heavy canvas cotton from Ikea for both the backing and the pockets plus medium weight, quilting cotton in zebra print for the background. The pockets have deep 1" pleats which I'm not sure I did right.

But still, I love my wall organizer, more room to store all those little sewing trinkets! :D

Inspiration: Japanese Pattern Books

I received many inquiries from readers about Japanese pattern books I'm using in my sewing projects, so I wanted to make an entry on this to share yet another of my addiction J

In this picture are half of the books in my collection. Really, I am a junkie : P


Why I love them? The patterns are just so gorgeous! I am not Japanese and I don't read Japanese. Still, most of the patterns in the books are easy to follow, with the help of pictures and diagrams. Every pattern has its own diagram showing numbers that represent the steps. Example here:

The number 1 means you sew the neckline lace first, 2nd the bias ties, 3rd the elastic back and so on. The book will also show some details on a few salient techniques as well as fabric cutting guide (pattern position on fabric). Sizing for children's clothes goes by the height of the child in cm.
Every book has 2 or 3 designs shown step by step in colour pictures:


Seam allowance is NOT included, you have to add it yourself, there usually will be a picture guide on how to do that :


I used to buy the books according to the designs I see inside. Nowadays I go by how the folded pattern looks like. Because I realized that some books have patterns that tightly overlap each other that gives me headache just by looking, let alone attempting to trace it. Example is this one:


This one makes me breathe easier:


Be careful when selecting the books as I once received a book without patterns, yikes! This one was purchased online and I was surprised to see that there is no attached pattern to trace inside.


It turned out we have to draft the pattern ourselves, with the diagram guide as shown. The measurements in Japanese books are all in centimetre (cm) not inches. I've yet to draft anything from this one *sigh*....


The designs are always cute! I realised most of the children modelling for the patterns don't even look Japanese hmmm….and I think many designs in Japanese pattern books have French influence.


Some books offer mix and match suggestion:

Of course there are many with boys patterns included:


But I'm always drawn to designs such as this:


And I love the mommy and me patterns too! I just wish I am as pretty and slim as the mommy in the books though lol


All in all, these books are fabulous, but I still think that a little experience in sewing is needed as there are quite a lot of guess work to do when you try to decipher the step by step instructions. Complete beginner will have problems trying to make sense of some of the techniques. There are many blogs offering English translation of the Japanese writing on the patterns. Try and have a look at this, I found it really helpful when I first started using the pattern.


If you sew and haven't tried one, I highly recommend them. I buy my first 3 books on Etsy, and later locally when I found out KLCC's Kinokuniya bookstore carries shelves and shelves of these in their Japanese books section (and cheaper too).



Malaysian readers, if you ever find a lone woman making herself at home, sitting on the floor in front of the Japanese craft books shelves, browsing for hours, please say hi! :D

I always spend at least 1 hour browsing before I buy. Lately I am into their bag pattern books, oh my, I am so in trouble, I need to go to fabric and pattern books rehab or something….



(hear that? Me singing "No…No..No…" ala Amy Whinehouse haha).