Me and My Devon

I love my Devon! And I love it even more in this precious Loopy Vintage print. Both are of course from Sis Boom, you know I'm a big fan!

I sewed this top for myself many weeks ago but only got to model it yesterday. That was my Aisha behind the camera and I think she didn't do too bad getting mommy in her Devon shots.... I am at the moment struggling with my weight....almost 21 months of study leave combined with the stress of school + meeting orders dateline...you get the picture.....mindless nervous munching + free flow of coffee..bad mommy, bad! 

Oh well, school will be over in May when I'll be back to my old full-time-working-mom mode. I have 2 more months to work on fitting into my old clothes again... I've been working out (home workout videos lol!) and trying hard to control my late nite binges....hmmm...wish me luck!

Meanwhile, let me me be content at admiring my Devon...it's the easiest pattern ever! I sewed size L and cut a 27" finish length. It took up 2 yards of fabric. Any longer than 27" you need to have more than 2 yards of 44/45 inches wide fabric (for L size). I didn't change anything about the pattern and am lucky coz the fit is spot on. I chose the elastic (faux drawstring) option. I've kept this pretty fabric for so long and now so happy I get to keep it to myself as a top.

I am revved up about sewing for myself, I think I'm gonna do this more often. It helps me to upgrade my dressmaking skills too...especially on adjusting/fitting patterns to my own body shape. I have already cut another Sis Boom pattern, the Patricia Tunic, will blog about it once I'm done. I am also right now waiting for a few Lisette  patterns to arrive so that I could sew some of those really, really pretty patterns!

Thank you for reading friends, have a gorgeous day!

Jakarta-Bandung Family Trip 2012

Finally I manage to get hold of all the photos from my dad's camera...I didn't bring my own since hubby didn't go (he was away for work), I knew I'd be a mess lugging a bulky camera with 2 lil girls in tow...

This year, we had a blast during our big family trip to Jakarta and Bandung...we ate and we shopped, non stop...I love the people too...everyone was so nice and friendly, not to mention the Indonesian language which I find very beautiful and poetic :)

Some pics from the trip...I edited heavily coz majority of the pics turn out very poor...but I think they captured the essence of the trip well...I wrote some note in the caption space below each pic.

At the airport...I love how my mom and dad also crouched for the photo and everyone looks so excited :)

At Mangga 2 ITC Jakarta

We stayed at Novotel, Jakarta, the pool was massive!

We ate a lot! That spread you see is Padang Cuisine, you only pay what you eat :)
The others are shopping havens in Bandung...all the factory outlets.
I mostly bought t-shirts & jeans for the girls.

At textile heaven in Pasar Baru, Bandung....I went crazy, running around haggling with the sales boy here lol!
The cottons are nice (and cheap) but I ended up hoarding French Lace (super duper cheap!)

I love this pic!!! My Aisha & my nephew Nazrin in front of a scarves wall at one of the factory outlets in Bandung.
The place is called Rich and Famous lol!

My little nephew Faris in the shirt I sewed for him..he's a real cutie!!

At Jakarta airport, heading home....family time well spent...another set of happy memories created! :)

Sweet Summer Baby Dress for My Niece

Last week I uploaded this dress picture on my Facebook page (on mannequin) and many fell in love with the black and white theme. My sister in law wanted her daughter to wear this theme for her birthday celebration and I made a Sweet Summer Baby Dress for my niece Widad.

The dress was born from many customer requests in baby size. This is the first time I play around with patterns (I usually sew using purchased sewing pattern and stick to it with minimal changes). I think I am now more confident on altering existing patterns to achieve a design I have in mind. But not grading the pattern to make bigger or smaller sizes. That, I have yet to find a good formula to do it and honestly I am so afraid of messing up the formula/sizing I simply stick to the sizes available in the sewing pattern.

My niece wore the dress on her birthday. We had a small family celebration at my parents in law's place before we returned to Putrajaya. It was a simple yet happy party with the neighborhood kids joining and enjoying the food....it was a real good family time, our way :)

I am happy to finally able to snap some photos of the dress modeled. Now that my youngest is almost 5, I find myself without a model for baby sizes...here's my niece on the phone with her paternal grandma, asking for a present! :)

The two cousins are so close, practically bff......I love this photo taken by hubby of them chewing on apples...those expressions! LOL!

Flower Girl Dresses - Round 2

It's time for another wedding in the family, thus another round of flower girl dresses sewing for me. My beloved sister in law, Cik Chik to the nieces, wedding reception was on the 10th of March 2012. Like before it was held at my parents in law's place in Sabak, Kelantan.

This time around, I used lace overlay on satin lining. I fell in love with this lace fabric during my recent trip to Bandung, Indonesia and because it was SO cheap overthere (like 3 times cheaper than in Malaysia), I went crazy and bought 7.5 meters of dusty pink lace for the wedding. I made 2 dresses for my lil Hanan and my niece Widad, while the rest I sent to a seamstress to make my Aisha a modern baju kurung....With my crazy workload, I could only sew the dresses a day before our trip back east, had to stay up till 4 am to finish both dresses....but despite the near-breakdown, I think they didn't turn out too bad... :)

The lace itself is not difficult to work with, the biggest challenge is mounting lace to the slippery satin lining....my solution to that, albeit an imperfect one, is to use interfacing...yep, I interfaced almost all seams on the bodice lining to stabilize the fabric. I made 4 covered buttons for the back closure, I love those the most :)

Here are the girls waiting for the groom with their aunt, Cik Yah who's now 7 months pregnant (yeay another baby in the family!!)....Aisha, going to be 12 in December, no longer wants to be a flower girl so she helped with handing out door gifts to the guests :)

Below I made a story board to show you how a simple wedding reception is in Malaysia, or at least in our family :) I love how colorful everything is....this is when the groom and his entourage arrived, received by my father in law...and later the bride (my sis in law) holding the flower girls' hands went to meet her groom halfway...after kissing her husband's hands, they'd walk together to the house to meet the family and friends....it was lovely..I just love weddings! :D

The flower girls on duty....my niece is just 2 years old, yet we are in awe of her poise and eagerness! She did not fuss or cry, carried out her duty wonderfully in the hot weather...so cute! My lil Hanan was of course ever ready to be a princess lol....We tried to get the girls to walk in sync, but in all that heat & so many people watching it's understandable that they get a little confused :)

I just love the family time we had together...the girls had so much fun at their grandparents home...a wonderful family get together...here's the four of us...with me and hubby in the picture...

Thank you for reading about our special moments friends, have a lovely day! :)

Smiles,
Zura

A Shirt for Lil Faris!

I have not been blogging much lately...mainly because my personal sewing had dwindled down to almost nothing...perhaps a few peasant tops or dresses for my girls which is so basic and not blog worthy. Other times I tend to over-think about whether I want to blog about my personal happenings in this blog or not...well...since I have re-themed this blog as "My Life, My Sewing" I think I'm just gonna go ahead and blog about whatever I want even if there is no sewing in it. I'm reminded that one day my grown up children (and nieces + nephews) could come back and read some snippets of their earlier days and appreciate more of what they have - abundance of family love and joy and laughter with some healthy dosage trials and challenges to toughen us all up in this life...

Speaking of family love, I made a baby boy's shirt for my nephew Faris!! Yes, even I could not believe that I was brave enough to attempt it lol! If you ask me what am I afraid most in sewing I would say - collar and set in sleeves and boy, of course this shirt has both! It's a personal milestone for this sewing mama coz having no little boys in the house I never had the motivation to make one but when my sister lamented that it's hard for her to find baby's shirt made in high quality fabric I just forged ahead and yes, that is LOVE... :)

I used this shirt pattern by Carla C. The fabric is from Michael Miller. I like that the plaid is somehow funky and uneven so I don't have to worry much about the placement/alignment etc. The pattern is so unique because the shirt is fully lined! I mean, here in tropical Malaysia we rarely see fully lined shirts but I have to say the lining process actually saves me a lot of hemming/finishing work, that's a plus point. 

As I mentioned, these are the two most difficult part for me to sew...and the fact that this is a teeny weeny 6-12 months size...not helping! Lol...but the result is wearable...because the uneven bits are well hidden either inside the shirt or at the back of the collar :D

I actually made this a day before our big family trip to Jakarta & Bandung, Indonesia last week. I will blog about it in a separate post as I didn't bring my camera and all photos are still in my dad's. Baby Faris wore it in Bandung, prefect weather as it is a highland area and quite chilly. Here's me holding baby Faris in his new shirt (pic from my sister's camera)....

So what do you think? Did I pass? :D