The Sunki Dress for Aisha

I rarely get to sew anything for my sweet Aisha...now that she is 12, she is understandably picky about what she'd like to wear. Luckily when I showed her this pattern few months back she said yes, so I went to work :)

I used the Sunki Dress pattern by Figgy. This pattern only goes up to size 9 and that is how skinny my girl is. It fits her just nice and yes she wore it as tunic with her favourite leggings or skinny jeans.

The pattern itself is fabulous! It's definitely NOT for beginners but using this pattern makes me feel like a real fashion designer lol. It's so modern and hip and fit for the runway. Well maybe not in the print that I made but the design itself - with side pockets, pleated sleeves, overlapped shoulders & facings - indeed is different and fashion forward.

The construction was a challenge but the pattern does come with excellent instructions. I love this design so much I wish Figgy would come up with larger size range for tweens. I still want to sew for my big girl and finding a good pattern that she approves of gets more and more difficult.

All in all, a great pattern and definitely a gratifying sewing project! :)

Life Update

It's another long stretch, what else is new?

Well I have a strong reason this time around lol.

I'm pregnant. Yup. Answered prayers and oh so blessed. I could not believe it at first and had to take the test twice! We are beyond happy for the new addition to this little family, alhamdulillah....  :)

So the first trimester was really, really bad for me. Because of the long gaps between children I tend to forget how difficult it can be for me. Sickly & basically zero energy. But, believe it or not I still sew 1 or 2 dresses per week. It's a miracle.

I sneaked some sewing for the little miss too...she's such a spunky 5yo now it's a challenge for us all lol. Nonetheless her personality blossomed from the timid toddler to an outspoken, opinionated little lady.

My sweet Aisha achieved straight As for her UPSR. It was a happy day for the whole big family. It's a first time for both sides of our family (hubby & me) of a child/grandchild in exam year. Aisha was so happy & add to that lots of cash rewards from grandparents, aunts and uncles, we hope it's a great motivator for her to excel further in life :)

I plan to blog more now that I feel better in my 2nd trimester. Just into my 16th week, I have gained so much weight it's just crazy. I have no idea how to control it now that I am extremely hungry ALL the time!

Next up would be a pattern review of a tunic I made for Aisha. And I have so many projects planned for the baby I will blog all about them as I made them.

That's all for now my friends, have a lovely day! :)

The Avita Dress - Pattern Testing

I had such a blast sewing this dress!!!

When Alviana of Sewn By Alviana emailed me to accept my application to become one of her pattern tester, I was beyond delighted! I was so proud to be a part of our own Malaysian girl making it in the exciting world of pattern designs! Her pattern shop Popolok Design features some very innovative designs, a breath of fresh air among the many peasants & knots pdfs on Etsy.

The pattern itself is easy to sew, you'll have fun sewing it! I learn a lot from this pattern too & I just love the sweet design.

Some snapshots of my little princess in her Avita. You could see just how happy she is, just in love with this dress. She even asked me to make the next one in Purple because the dress looks like what Rapunzel wears. Ermm, ok dear...whatever you say m'am... :D

Aidilfitri 2012 - The Sewing

Salam Aidilfitri, Eid Mubarak...

This entry is way too late but my motto nowadays is better late then never, in all aspects of my very hectic life lol...really it's hard for me to find the time or energy to blog these days...so I guess this post will be pic heavy!

So how was Eid? I hope you had a wonderful time enjoying the holidays with your loved ones...

This year we were in red the 1st day of Eid. In Malaysia, it is becoming a culture to have a theme for the 1st day of Eid. I guess it just adds to the fun & enjoyment of Eid & gets the conversation going when visiting relatives :) It was so hard to get a good pic of all four of us here's the only decent one I could find lol...

We spend 5 days in Kota Bharu, travelling back & forth from my in laws in Sabak place to my parents' house in KB. Some pics we snapped at my parents' on the 2nd day of Eid. This year majority of our photos are blurry due to very novice photogs handling my new manual setting lense. I try to salvage whatever I can lol...

The 6 of us....it used to be 7 and the absence of my late baby sister was strongly felt...

My handsome dad with his youngest grandchild - my nephew Faris!

Me & my lil angel Hanan...

And as for the sewing, I sewed 2 sets of outfits for my girls this year. The first are these tunics.

They are loose fitting and the girls love them with jeans. They were worn on 2nd day of Eid. Here are the tunics in action.

Sisters!

We are happy cousins!

Shadow play...

Tunic back.

 And for the 3rd day of Eid, the girls wore this Sisters Sisters set I made them. These were last minute project, I managed to finish 'em right before we pack for our balik kampung trip :)

My Spanish Rose...

That's all from me, thank you for reading my friends, enjoy the rest of Syawal, Eid Mubarak to all! :)

The Butterfly Dress

Hi there! How's life? I hope yours are not as miserable as mine....I am now going through a really crazy, topsy turvy adjustment phase of my life as a full time working mom. It's not easy, it's rough and very heavy on the heart as I mourn the fact that I'm leaving my kids for the most part of my days....story of my life, hoping that one day it will change for the better...

To brighten up, here's a Butterfly Dress I sewed for my lil Hanan few months back. The pattern is from Tie Dye Diva and it turned out so cute!

I usually limited my sewing to a combo of only 2 fabrics because I somehow feel that more than that would make the dress looks busy. But for this pattern, I went outside my comfort zone and used 3 fabrics. I actually really love it! I must do this more...The sewing part is mostly easy but I find the pattern surprisingly used up a lot of fabric. 

I am enjoying her happy face while it lasts...the saddest thing is my baby girl is turning 5 soon and she is now at that horrible stage where she just refused to wear dresses!!! I almost cried every time after her bath & I suggested a dress to wear & she would just say an outright NO! Oh gosh, I'm crushed...lol!

My lil angel is growing up way to fast...I'm missing the sight and sound of a baby in the house...we've been trying to get pregnant for more than a year now but I guess it's not written in the books for us...yet, I hope...

That's all for now my friends, thank you for dropping by and have a beautiful day! :)

Happy Father's Day

Now that I am older, I realize every day how my parents are growing older too...and I secretly have this fear inside me of losing them...sometimes I feel like clinging on to them just like how my babies are with me...I don't really know how to express my feelings all I know is I love my parents so much and everyday I pray for their happiness and good health...

Today is Fathers' Day. In my family we don't usually celebrate it but I make it a point to tell my dad how much he is loved and how lucky I am to have him as my father...He is a special man with a gentle and humble heart and his quiet strength helps me a lot in dealing with my insecurities...He has taught me so much in this life and his believe in me keeps me going...love you so much Papa...

And the other 'father' in my life....the one to my girls are their hero...my beloved husband...who's completely comfortable at home, surrounded by us girls lol...I don't think anyone could match his patience and the laughter he brings us just brings so much joy....His job now requires him to travel quite a lot...one day my Aisha, who's now are actively exploring her creative side, showed me a video she made of her dad...it was during a long weekend when hubby had to work...this is the video. It's apparent that she missed her dad so much. Nevertheless, I'm still amazed that she could actually produced the video on her own :)

Happy Father's Day to all wonderful fathers out there! Believe me, by being there, you make a difference to the girls/woman in your life! :)

Birthday Giveaway Winners!

So sorry for the delay my dearies! Work is crazy right now and last night I just wanna hit the bed - zero energy for blog time gosh!  First of all, I'd like to say THANK YOU for all the sweet birthday wishes. They truly warm my heart! :)

I have randomly picked 3 winners! Congratulations and please email me your address ya? Since most of you did not leave your email add I have no way of contacting you so please email or PM me on my Facebook page to claim your prize.

So here we go....

Winner # 1 & #2 - Vintage Sewing Pattern Packs

 Mrs Chietham

Ika Tsaiha

Winner # 3 - 2 Half Yards of Designer Fabric

Masliana

Another Birthday Another Giveaway!

*CLOSED*

Salam & Hi!

Yup it's my 36th birthday....and being thankful everyday for the blessings of this life...therefore, a giveaway!

I will choose 3 lucky winners to receive ....

2 packs of vintage sewing patterns from my personal collection!

Patterns in each pack will be randomly selected by me, one pack for one winner :)

AND

1 lucky winner will get 2 half yards (total 1 yard) of fabric from my favourite corner of the sewing room! Fabric will be selected by me.

To enter this giveaway just leave a comment. I will randomly select 3 winners on Friday 15th of June. This giveaway is open to all no matter where you are in this world.

Good luck! :)

The Sweetest Ending, Final Semester Result

I was greeted with the most wonderful news yesterday morning when a friend called me urging me to check online as the final semester results (of 2 papers - Strategic Management and Project Paper) were out. I had been very anxious about my project paper research as many knows that I had to ask for an extension and really struggled to complete it.

Alhamdulillah....Allah is great. Both subjects exceeded my expectation and this final semester result is indeed the sweetest ending to my Mba journey. This means a lot to me because of the fact that I was never an A student when I was younger and also how I was at the same time growing Lovemelots Creations as I was completing my study.

I have so many people in my life to thank for, first and foremost would be my mother for her blessing and never ending prayers. My beloved other half for putting up with my various episodes of nervous attacks & helping with the kids and for everyone here and over at Lovemelots for supporting me.

My baby girl Aisha will be sitting for her UPSR this September...I hope this would serve as a motivator for her too...as I now know, in this life, nothing is impossible.... as long as one work hard for it, Insya Allah success will follow :)

New Beginnings, New Directions

Hello friends!

Wow..do I still have readers? This blog has really dried up...so many things happened but I just didn't find the energy to blog about it somehow. But today is different. Its an important turning point in my life. And I had to make some decisions, at least for this version of me - the sewing-mama me.

Some of you on Fb, Twitter & Instagram might already know that I'm finally done with my Mba. The dreaded research paper was done and submitted last week and I am now breathing easier. Can't wait for the convocation in October!


And today, I received my finalized posting order and I have officially reported for duty at 8 a.m.

Yep, I'm back at work, full time. This time it's nearer to home & even though I'm happy that I get to be near my kids, I do miss the familiarity of my previous office. Now, in the new department, everything is alien to me and at this level, I have no choice but to speed up & catch up. It's a busy department which involves travels. Though I am excited that this time around I get to work with the industry & deals with economic matters, I also know things are going to be hectic but at the same time very, very interesting.

Now, having said all that, comes the decision. What's in it for Lovemelots Creations? Well...I will continue sewing. I will not stop. I need a creative outlet and I find bliss in creating pretty dresses with my two hands. BUT, naturally I have to slow down. I'm thinking of a limited custom slots per month for the time being. I think I can manage at least 1 dress per-week. I will re-evaluate as time goes by. So, for now, no new custom order except for those already agreed as per discussion through email/Fb etc as I am already full for June. To Lovemelots customers, I truly am thankful for all your support, you gals are amazing!

I also would like to sew more for my kids & myself. I miss that and my kids are growing up too fast...I have limited time to sew for them. And of course, I'd like to blog more. That has always been at the back of my mind, but we'll see how it goes, no promises! :)

Tova Take Two!

I told you am gonna make another one! I still don't have the courage to cut into my precious voile, so am practicing on an equally slippery fabric, a linen blend + contrasting full moon polka dots from Amy Butler.

This pink linen had been in my stash for so many years. I just didn't know what to use it for. I bought it mainly because I love this blush color & I tend to wear a lot of muted dusty pink or brown. When picking fabrics for my 2nd Tova I saw it and thought ok, a top it is. Mainly because I have enough yardage for this pattern as all the others that I'd love for this top fall short. For this top length I need 2.5 yards.

This time, it took me around 2 hours to make the Tova top (previously I lost count as I carried the project over a few days). It is still not perfect to me because there are some tiny pleats on the sleeve caps. And you can see on the neckline stitching, my obvious mistake of using white threads (some wonky stitches there too). I am just too lazy to change the thread and I blame it on my impatient self. I rushed through this project very early in the morning so that I could wear it to the library! Lol!

Me in my 2nd take on this pattern. I just returned from the library and  typical of linen, it gets all crumpled up. But I love this crumpled look so it's ok to me. Sorry for the blurry pictures, my 10 yo Aisha took the picture & the lense I'm using is not on auto focus.

I just love this pattern, I think I could just use this one pattern over and over to fill up my wardrobe. Think of all the possible fabrics I could use! And the top length is great, not too short nor too long. The perfect length for me. I hope I will not bore you to death with my future posts of more Tovas! :D

A Weekend at Colmar

This will be a picture diary of our little family getaway to Colmar Tropicale awhile ago...hubby had a 2 days workshop there so we took the opportunity to have a little escapade. We didn't get to visit many of the attractions there such as the horse riding park. We only managed to go and see the Japanese Village which was really awesome. I love Colmar and its scenic highland view. And the chilly weather, made me forget that we are in a humid tropical country lol...enjoy the pics!

This is the face of a happy girl once we're settled in the hotel room lol!

At breakfast, my Aisha's portrait of mummy reading a magazine in front of her :D

At the resort. The girls felt like they are in a princess castle, complete with swan lake! Yes, on one end there's a pond with 2 white swans & colorful fish and on the other end there was a black swan, looking all regal yet lonely. I found it almost a disturbing take on some of life's cruelties, silly me....

At Japanese Village...such a beautiful, scenic place. I felt like we were in an old Japanese movie with a tiny hut deep in the forest lol...it was quite a climb getting there..we were a few thousand feet above sea level...

Some random tourist-y pics lol...the top pic is the hotel room, I simply love the vintage French decor. All in all, family time well spent & I'd love to go again and explore other places & activities there.

My First Tova

I have been so inspired to sew for myself lately, I found myself constantly looking for inspirations on Flickr. Last week as I was browsing in the current Made by Rae's Spring Top Sewalong entries, my eyes caught some very cool tops/dresses made using a pattern called Tova by Wiksten.  One thing led to another, I found that there is an ongoing sewalong over at verykerryberry, from there I found that the pattern is available as pdf download, yeay!

So, I made my first Tova. I wanted it longer and chose the dress length. I used a very cheap lightweight cotton from Kamdar which I think I bought to make baju kurung for my lil Hanan, thus explains the little flowers lol...but I need to test the pattern fit, knowing how adult patterns can be tricky and usually I need to modify them especially at the hip area. I was pleasantly surprised that the pattern fits me perfectly, no need to modify anything. So let's just say that this is my wearable muslin now :)

I absolutely LOVE the pattern styling and details, exactly the type of top/tunic style I love to wear and perfect for us covered girls :) Overall, the pattern is pretty easy to sew with the exception of the front placket/inset. I found that to be most difficult especially trying to get my sewing right at the corners. I had to unpick twice as the fabric tend to get caught and pulled in as I pivot the needle. I found Kerry's tips in her sew-a-long post very helpful in getting this part done. After that, everything else falls into place beautifully. I even found the set in sleeves a breeze to make! :)

I wore the tunic to the library yesterday. I absolutely love my Tova, am now already selecting fabric for my next one. I really wanna make it in a designer voile I've been hoarding. This time I will make one in shorter top length, I think it would look good paired with my other straight or boot cut jeans. Till later, have a great day friends! :)