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! :)

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? :)

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

Jom Jahit - Sewing Roll

The Jom Jahit sewalong hosted by Tinihani is fun, and as always, being a slow sewist, I find myself only able to finish the projects nearing the dateline :P

Well, at least this one makes me happy once completed, for many reasons! :D

One, at last a reason to use this cute scissors print Wonderland by Momo. Two, my scissors, fabric markers and other tools now have a secure, comfy home! I misplaced them all the time as I am not much of an organised kind of person lol

So instead of sewing a crayon roll I turned it into a sewing roll for yours truly.

The fabrics I used are a bit too thin. I debated wether I should interface it, but decided to add a layer of poly batting instead. Later, I quilted the pocket through the inner body fabric (the scissors print) and the batting. The result is a comfy, cuddly roll, padded and safe for my precious sewing tools.

The top part here turned to cover the tools in the pocket so that it won't slip out when I carry the roll around. Fun project, and more to come! :)

Ottobre Three Way Dress Sewalong Feature

This feature is almost two weeks behind schedule but no worries as when it comes to sewing, one ought to be flexible right? J

I'm glad I waited before making this entry because there are many inspiring entries popping up in blogland by incredibly crafty and industrious Malaysian sewists. I made many new friends through this sewalong and humbled that many new sewists would love to join, with infectious enthusiasm! Thank you all for participating, honestly, in the beginning I thought it would only be Dura and me, and you've proven me wrong with your drive, determination and of course, most important and highly appreciated, friendship!

Let's look at all the entries now (I try to take only the dresses' photos (not the child) from participants blog in if they have one) :

UPDATE :

This sweet dress was sewn by Ajnie from http://ajnie-isma.blogspot.com. The yellow floral sewn in View C of the dress turns out real pretty! Thanks for joining Ajnie! :)

Sayap Si Pari Pari – The Angel Wings! Love this version by Maya, fondly known to me as Mai ;)

Maya is the owner/founder of the vibrant Craftzone.MY, the definitive Malaysian crafters community hangout. She also has a wonderful blog, a daily must read for many. I love her creativity and neat workmanship, someone I look up to. Maya and me, we go way back to the time when we were sweet 17s, as we were classmates in high school, only reunited almost 17 years later through this passion for sewing and craft. Amazing!

Fuschia Swirl Dress by Durra

We thought of this sewalong when Durra purchased her first Ottobre. I love her fabric selection, sweetness!! FYI, Durra's blog was recently featured in Malaysia's mainstream national daily newspaper. How cool is that! Congrats Durra!

Pink Dress by Kak Haida

Kak Haida, the sweetest sewing lady and friend I've ever met, albeit online. Love all her sewing especially those beautiful bags. Here the dress is for darling Yasmin, her daughter, so pretty!!!

Soft Pink Dress by Neeza

Love how she wing it and put her spin on the basic dress shape. Now that's what I call creativity! Neeza is one of the most consistent blogger in this craft. Love how she evolves into a confident sewist through her blog. Way to go girl!

Orange Floral Dress View C by Zue

The only one who opted for View C and I love it! Beautiful dress for that special little girl. Keep on sewing Zue, you have it takes! J

Dress with Shoulder Ties by Ainun

Ainun sewed View A, the shoulder ties version. This design is so pretty on her little girl, and it looks real comfy! Thanks so much for joining Ainun! J

My Little Valentine Dress by Me!

Of course, worn by the reluctant model. She was not in the mood and it shows lol. I made an entry about the dress here.

I know that there are at least two more young moms just started sewing the dress. I will update here once they are done. However, please email me if you participated and I missed to feature yours.

Finally, I just wanna say, well done ladies! This sewalong is so much fun, we shoud do it often! :D

Ottobre Sewalong - My Little Valentine Dress

The three way dress in my Ottobre sewalong is now My Little Valentine Dress because of the pink hearts fabric I chose ( Love Is In The Air by Deb Strain for Moda). This is also to celebrate little miss Hanan's recognition of the shape. She took one look at the dress and proclaim "Wow mommy....manyak nye LOSH!" (so many LOVES)...lol I love how she says Losh... :)

I finished the dress yesterday. It really is easy. The tracing part is always the one dragging me. I chose view B with the floating frill sleeves. The construction is so simple, I improvised in areas I am not good at such as the narrow hemming.

I applied bias tape to enclose the raw edges of the frills and the armholes. Save me all the narrow hemming horror. As you can see, I still have the too-lazy-to-change-matching-thread syndrom lol

I also applied my favourite French Seam to the sides. It's such an elegant finishing, perfect as I don't have a serger...yet. With this seam, there is no exposed seam on the inside as it is fully encased.

I think I need to shorten the ribbon. I don't have one in matching color so I just settled with this brown one. I stitched the ribbon to the frill and front right edge of the dress body to make sure it doesn't come out in the washer. The dress itself is a little bit short on Hanan. I traced size 92 but I think I made a mistake in locating the bottom band.

The most important thing is, my funny, little Valentine is happy :)

Can't wait to see what others come out for this sewalong, such fun!

Oh, and I survived the IELTS exam too, results in two weeks, yikes!

Till later, happy crafting happy peeps! :D

Jom Jahit - A-Line Dress

When I worry, I look for something to distract myself.


So after "studying" for my IELTS exam, I sewed this A-line dress for Tinihani's Jom Jahit, a sewalong :D

I mean, how do you "study" a language?! I ended up reading a few articles, learned a few new words and pray I'll remember them in the Writing module tomorrow. Oh well, I'll just brave it through then. English is my second language, no point putting my hopes too high. A 6.5 would be good enough for me.

Back to the dress. Love it!

I chose the third one in Tinihani's list of tutorials. I wanted an intermediate project where I can attempt a zipper. It is from this tutorial.

I skipped the ruffle, too lazy for gathering fabric today. But I used invisible zipper and this is my second attempt at one. The result, let's just say I'm grinning from ear to ear :D

Look Ma, it's completely concealed! :D

The fabric is a pretty Japanese cotton from my stash. I only have half yard of it left, had a tough time deciding to use it. But the texture is really soft I knew it would be comfy on Hanan. So glad I used it. Not sure about my print placement though. I always have problem with large print placement.

I learned a lot with this project. The stitch in the ditch trick to anchor the facings is brilliant! The shape is just nice for the little miss. And she's pretty happy with it too :P

Thanks for reading. I'm gonna get back to my worrying about the exam tomorrow now *sigh*...

Ottobre Sew Along - Come Join Us!

For the first time ever, I'm hosting a Sew Along. Grab the above button and come join us! :)

I was elated when I read that my dearest blog friend Dura is also an Ottobre fan. Since I have this magazine but hardly sew anything from it, we wanted to have a sew along so that we can help each other along the way, in case we're stuck. The designs in Ottobre are to die for, but the instructions can be challenging for a visual person like me.

So, I've decided to host this sew along.

For the first project, I've chosen a simple design but it comes with many possibilities. It is the Three Way Dress (no. 18) in the Summer 3/2009 Issue. Even though it's a summer pattern, the dress is designed for layering in cooler weather.

The best thing about this pattern is it comes in 3 variations. You can pick and choose which design you'd want to sew and go crazy on the fabric combinations! :)

This sew along is open to all Malaysian and International sewists who have this issue. Everyone is welcome, no matter where you are. We are hoping many more wonderful ladies would join and inspire us. Just email me or leave a comment here if you'd like to join us in the fun!

If you have a blog, please grab the button on top of this post and paste it with a link to this page so that others are aware about the sew along and perhaps would like to join us too.

I will feature the final pictures of your finished dresses in this blog (with your permission, of course). If you don't have a blog, no worries. Just email me the picture and I will include it in the feature.

Finally, as in any sew along, we need a dateline. As Dura and I are both working mothers, we figured a longer time frame would be better. This sew along ends on Sunday, 31st of January. I might extend the dateline if needs arise, always have to have some flexibility ;)

Till then, happy sewing!

Down With Flu & Tunic Sewalong

Long time no blog...I was down with terrible flu last week and received a 3-days sick leave. Should be able to sew but it was so bad I ended up just sleeping the flu off. The fever was mild so the doctor did not send me for swineflu screening. I think it was just seasonal flu...

Despite that, I managed to finish a tunic sewalong with my darling sister,Angah. She lives in Semenyih and is by miles a better sewist than me! She's the creative one and her work is always very neat and detailed. So far she has not blogged but I managed to persuade her to setup a blog, I guess it will be up soon and will definitely link to it.

We are just 2 years apart. I have 2 girls and she has 2 boys. We did this sewalong to keep each other motivated with sewing and creativity. We chose a unisex pattern that could be adapted both for girls and boys. It is a pattern from my Japanese craft book Simple + One.
The pattern tracing from this book is a real challenge! The lines and drawings overlaps each other so tightly combined with the fact that we can't read Japanese! But we had fun trying to figure 'em out. The sewing part was fairly easy though. I love Japanese pattern books because the pictures are so easy to follow.

We both use linen for the tunic. However the red linen I used for Aisha is the crisp, slippery type (not the slubby cottony linen). So difficult to work with this one. But Aisha loves the colour especially when I added the tie string detail at the neckline. My sister managed to sew for both my nephews and I must say they look so cute in them! My sister's comment on this project "I feel like I'm transported to the 16th century sewing tunics for the heroes in those historical romance books!" LOL must be the natural green linen she's using haha...

All in all, this sewalong was considered a success and we're already planning our next sewalong project!

Nazrin and Imran - my nephews with their green linen tunic

Aisha's red linen tunic

Hanan so used of being in the limelight seen here a bit miffed that only kakak Aisha has a new tunic lol!