A-Line Tops for The Girls

One of the most successful clothing projects to date! I made these A-line tops using Carla C pattern. One happy mommy I am! :D

Not only because of the perfect sizing, but also the perfect buttonholes, the girls loving the tops as they actually picked and chose the prints themselves, and last but not least, these babies are reversible! I've never done anything reversible before so being able to complete these is truly an accomplishment for me. However, I don't have photos of the reverse sides here. I mean we were in a public place. How crazy would I look changing my girls tops just so that I could take photos of the reverse side? LOL

Aisha's a bit longer. She chose a subdued grey Alexander Henry print which I love.

Little Miss Hanan pointed to a groovy Caleb Gray print. I LOVE how retro this fabric is! Even that green shade reminds me of the 70s. And as usual, Hanan had this "Mom, could you put down the camera already???" look which I totally adore! lol

Here they were vying for daddy's attention. These kind of pictures always, always warm my heart...

Location : Fountain Park, Alamanda, Putrajaya

Romancing The Grey…Pleated Wristlet

I really wanted to make one when I saw a few beautiful similar designs on Etsy. I could not find a pattern or tutorial for this design, so this is a result of another one of my wing-it-and-pray projects. I made it using a 2 inches interval pleats.
This design actually looks better using silk-satin material, but I wanted to use this beautiful medium grey Kona cotton I have in stash. Well, add interfacing and flannel interlining, the seams are a bit too bulky for comfort. After a lot of pressing and smoothing and leaving it overnight, the wristlet looks and feels real pretty. I experimented with fabric flower too, had so much fun, I'm gonna make more of these beauties!


The chain is what makes this wristlet special. At first I thought of selling it but when I finished I knew I wanted to keep this for myself as I have a wedding to attend next weekend. So girly! And to think of making this in all the yummy colors, oh how fun will that be? Perhaps I'd try this in silk-satin too…What do you think? Any delicious color combo for the wristlet and the flower? Lemme hear your idea ya? J

Makeup Bag, Random Design

I realize that, sewing wise, I have not been very original.

Meaning, despite all the knowledge I've gathered about the craft, I always turn to sewing patterns designed by someone else to create. Mainly due to the fact that I find it a hassle to calculate measurements, draft patterns etc. It's easier to just print out a pdf pattern or trace off the size I wanted and follow a tutorial and sew.

But once in awhile, I itch for a certain design and I just could not find similar one in my patterns/craft books stash. So I decided to just totally wing it and just pray that it will turn out okay.

This makeup bag is exactly the result of that. Totally winged it, LOVE the result.

The main print is a really gorgeous Patricia Bravo design. I love the retro mod vibe and the teal shade is so delicious. The top band is my staple print from Amy Butler.

Very roomy, boxy design, no pocket with zipper top. Perfect for storing makeup, facial care products etc. This now belongs to the bubbly Finaz's sister. Hope she likes it.

Okies off to lunch, bye! :)

p/s: I want bigger photos on my blog. What do you think? Are they disturbingly HUGE? :D

Love From Oman

Yeay! I won the 100th post giveaway hosted by the lovely, very creative lady, Nima at Made to Treasure. I chose the Sew group as that is me at the moment. I do plan to venture into other branches of the craft such as embroidery and crochet, but will take it slow as I've yet to finish exploring the wide realm of the sewing world! So many things to learn and do, so little time...

Nima lives in Oman. So receiving the parcel is special to me. And when I open it oh how wonderful! She included 3 surprise crocheted coasters in the most beautiful of colors! I especially am in love with the purple combo. I'm also thinking these could be turned into a flower embelishment :)

Will now think of a project to sew these lovelies and turn them into a special creation. Thank you Nima for hosting the giveaway and most importantly for your friendship even if we only know each other in blogland :)

Giveaway Winners!

It's time! We have 25 entries from my fellow sewing friends and the girls and me had fun listing the names and dividing into Malaysians and International groups.

Aisha got to pick first, from the Malaysian group. And the lucky winner is......

MIS!

Mis said - hi zura! n join gak.. hope i'll be the lucky one hihiii.. (i'm ok with A or B ^_^)

So Mis, group A is for you, hope you'll like them :)

And then, Little Miss Hanan could not wait for her turn to pick the International winner. Here she is, eagerly picking 1 lucky name....

and that lucky friend is.....

Mayya!

Mayya said -Great Giveaway and i have yet to try sewing using a pattern so it would be wonderful to win this!

I choose B i love the loong jaket, the pyjamas, the long dress the girls dress and the costumes are so cute...

Thanks for hosting this..

So Mayya, you get the B group! I'm happy these will fly to Oman. Really hope you'll enjoy giving these patterns a try :)

Congratulations to both winners. Please email me your address so that I could ship these to you asap.

Thank you all for participating in the giveaway, more fun giveaway will sure to come from me. Enjoy the rest of the weekend! :)

Black & White Sewing Tools Roll

Hello! How's your weekend so far? Me, enjoying sewing time with my girls happily running, laughing and playing all around me. Pure domestic bliss. I just wish I can do this every-single-day. I yearn for it.....

That aside, I managed to finish this sewing tools roll for the sweet, sweet Far :) Pardon the weird looking photos. I took this photos near that sunny window in my ultra hot sewing room. Nowadays, I don't have to exercise, sewing in that little studio during the day makes me sweat all the fat away LOL

It's a combination of Paula Prass's Zebra print and Ikea black and white heavy cotton. I used poly batting as padding.

So practical. Slip in all your precious sewing tools.

Flip the padded cover over the tools....roll it....

....and tie the ribbons. Voila! Safe and stowed. Hope you like it Far and thank you! :)

Enjoy your weekends peeps and yes, tomorrow I'll pick two winners for my pattern giveaway, yeay!

Destash : Vintage Pattern Giveaway!

--- update : This giveaway is closed, thanks for participating! :) ---

Hello friends! :)

I am destashing my vintage patterns. These are patterns I won off eBay in 2003, they came in a big box with over 60 vintage patterns of various conditions. I've resold a few on eBay but still have many leftover, taking up space in my sewing room.

So I decided to host a giveaway of these two groups. I made sure each group has a mix of adult, children and costume patterns. Most of these have been used and cut. I just don't have the energy to sort thru to see if they are complete but the few I checked are fine. They all have the instruction leaflet intact.

Who might find use in these? Well if you've never used a commercial pattern this is a good way to practice for FREE before you decide to buy the latest designs. If you sew, there are a few good retro patterns that might see a revival with your magical, designer touch ;) If you don't sew, you can always win this for someone you know would use it.

One group will be for a fellow Malaysian and another goes to my lucky International friend.

To enter, just leave a comment, let me know which group you prefer. I also need to know if you're not in Malaysia, so please mention the country you're in :)

Oh, just to add interest here, each group will be shipped to the winners with 1 Mystery Fat Quarter of designer fabric, yeay!!

I will pick the winners randomly this Sunday, 17th of April. Good luck friends! *hugs*

Sew Along with Maya - Pleated Skirt

So sorry I didn't blog much lately, it's been a week since my last post. Real life has completely taken over. Sewing wise, I spent what little time I have to finish custom orders, and yet a few more to go.

I managed to sneak in some fun ME sewing this weekend though. A sewalong hosted by my good friend Maya at her blog.

It's a pleated skirt sewalong. So cute, I love that box pleats technique allows for many fun possibilities when choosing fabric combos. And Maya herself is churning out skirt after skirt, I can hardly keep up. Well, I don't wanna be left out in a sewalong this cute, I made one for Hanan :D

The material is Denim. Yup, my first time working with denim, what a pleasure! I paired it with a plaid print cotton from the Meadowsweet collection by Sandi Henderson. Somehow this type of skirts always remind me of plaids. And have you seen Meadowsweet prints up close?? You'll swoon, I swear!! So pretty and the colors are just so sweet!! Perfect for dresses.

(pssst...Malaysian friends can order thru my shop preorder :D)

There are 8 pleats in this skirt, phewwww! Maya has a simple tutorial in her blog if you're interested to make one. It's in Bahasa, but what's important is the measurement :)

Have you been sewing a lot?

I'm doing a lot of thinking lately, reassessing life and my priorities. And my parents had a pet talk with me too. Lots of reflections to do. I'm gonna take some time for myself this week, take things easy.

Btw, I'm still destashing like crazy in my shop. And I will be listing some vintage sewing patterns too, so good news for fellow Malaysian sewists (I have tonnes of those in my stash). And...ermm...before listing, I'll giveaway a few to my loyal readers including International, yeay!! Stay tuned! :)

Three Pincushions and A Dream

I made these 3 pincushions for the lovely Nurul. They are simple patched pincushions in 3 different themes. I had to include those fabulous fabric with writing I bought from Ayumi , obviously very inspired by her work :)

They are all of different sizes as I totally winged the measurements. The themes are Black and White Wonky Love, Bright Retro Sewing and Kawaii Japanese Matryoshka in Linen. I hope she likes it :)

And that dream?

I dream of a quilt. Yes, I'm itching to make one, and I want to make a picnic quilt. I want to spread that quilt when we go for a breakfast picnic at Putrajaya lake near the Equestrian Park. Oh dare I launch into such a big project?

Which reminds me I have a few more pending custom orders. I promise I'll finish it asap before end of April. And I'm taking a break from accepting custom orders this month to focus on some ready made items in the planning.

Till later, wish me luck as I gather some courage to attempt that quilt! :)

Take care lovely peeps and *hugs*!

Jom Jahit - Conversation Pillows :)

The Jom Jahit sew along organised by Tinihani for March is for us to sew pillow or cushion covers. I practically begged her to extend the feature till the weekend coz I have not one but eight pillows to cover!

I used only the simplest methods for this project. No buttons, ties, zippers nope. Just plain old straight stitching and overlapped backs. The front fabrics are all medium weight cotton squares to fit the inserts I already have. I used home dec weight, canvas cotton from Ikea for the backings in dark blue color, the texture is similar to denim.

FYI, I'm not very motivated to sew for the home right now, the main reason being this is not our property. We might be moving anytime soon. The eight pillows in my living room have been covered with the same blah looking vintage roses print from Tewah for the past 2 years and believe it or not I only have one set. Yup, every weekend the pillows were naked for a day as I took out the cover, washed, only to put it back on in the evening. So sad considering I can sew! LOL, so I guess this month's Jom Jahit is the perfect motivator for me :D

Let's take a closer look at the prints, shall we?

From left : Water Bouquet in Midnight and Paradise Garden In Wine both Amy Butler, Love Collection; Antler Damask In Sky, Joel Dewberry, Deer Valley Collection; Casey Scroll in Red, Jennifer Paganelli, Sis Boom Bell Bottoms Collection.

From left : Damask In Grey, Henry Glass Classic Currant Collection; Nosegay In Black, Paula Prass, Summer Soiree Collection; Michal in Fuchsia, Jennifer Paganelli, Flower Power Collection; Amanda Fleur in Black, Jennifer Paganelli, Pretty Please Collection.

I love them all! So which one do you like best? :)

Blog Awards Update

I received a few blog awards from wonderful bloggers that I am obliged to post an entry as per requests. Figured it's good to lump sum all 3 awards in one post instead of doing it separately. I'm excited to write a few things about myself too, in case any of you fabulous peeps are wondering (haha…that's really an excuse, who does not like talking about themselves, yes, I'm guilty! :P)

Award #1 - Beautiful Blogger Award from the sweet Mis. Thank you so much for the award luv, I'm truly honoured. (Oh and I also received the same award from my good friend Maya!)

The award asks for 7 things about myself, so here goes, a little peak inside the real ME :

1. Every time people see me, their first guess is I'm from Penang, coz I have the anak mami look lol. But I'm not. My entire family is from the East Coast, Kelantan. Oghe Kota Bharu :D I grew up in KL though as my parents work here. And I speak the dialect well, only if I meet another Kelantanese. If not, no one can detect the slang in my speech coz I find it easy to switch between languages/dialects.

2. I am fascinated with horoscope signs and personalities, but not the daily predictions. Based on my observation, people of each sign have similar personalities, no matter what their family/cultural background is. I manage people that way in life, I find it easier somehow. I am a true June baby, a Gemini. I could write a lot about this but I don't wanna bore you haha

3. I got married when I was still a student, in the 3^rd year of University. I was 23. Aisha was born a year later. Would not change a thing of this but I don't recommend it either :P

4. I'm a peace loving person, i.e I hate confrontation. Any type of ugliness makes me cringe inside. I just want the world to be happy, happy, happy all the time. I know, what a dreamer.

5. I love to cook, but I hate cleaning, sound familiar? I know I'm not alone here hehehe…..

6. I can act and sing well. I used to win singing competition in school when I was younger and was active in the theatre group back in uni. In fact that's where I met Mr Hubby J

7. I work for the Government of Malaysia.

Award #2 - Happy Award from my lovely blog friend, Mayya @ Sew Chic and Unique. Thank you for the happiness Mayya! J

10 things that make me happy :

1. My children – they mean the world to me, I’m nothing without them.

2. Pretty Fabrics – be it buying, touching, or even dreaming about them makes me happy hahahaha

3. Sewing – of course!

4. Good food – yummy! I love Japanese and Italian but nothing beats the variety of Malaysian food

5. A good book – I love reading.

6. Beauty – be it God’s creations or manmade, I love admiring them.

7. Great Movie – a sucker for good rom-com I am, to my husband’s despair tee hee hee

8. Family – mom, dad, sisters, brothers, in laws, niece, nephews – all makes me feel that I belong

9. Blogging and friends – it’s like my daily dose of reflections, I will be loyal

10. Lots of lovin’ from you know who – he makes me laugh, he’s my best friend and I’m insatiable when it comes to hearing him say I LOVE YOU :D

Award #3 - Sunshine Award from Diana at djstoreroom

Awww…..thanks for the cool award Diana! J

All 3 awards asked me to select a number of cool blogs to pass this on. But I just could not limit to a few blogs, I mean have you seen the number of blogs I'm following? There are HUNDREDS of awesome blogs out there and I blog hop everyday, getting inspired by each and everyone of them. So, these awards go to all the wonderful blogs I'm following, you guys rock!

Thanks for reading folks and have great day! :)