batik tulis dress..

Finally, I braced myself and made a batik tulis dress for me last week.. Usually I only refashioned tired batik skirt, tablecloth or cheap batik. Working with batik tulis was a bit scary because batik tulis is a unique and a bit pricey fabric.. I bought the fabric like a year a go, it was named Cala Culu. Sounds funny, eh?

I did not use any commercial pattern for this maxi dress, as usual I sketch the idea on a paper then marked the fabric with calk and start cutting. For this dress, I only make raglan bodice/raglan sleeve with neck binding, and rectangle for the bottom part. Then I make casing for elastic to avoid bolster look when wearing this dress.

I tried to use all the fabric, including narrow border one side which I use as the sleeves. I make darts to shape the sleeves because I avoid ruffle/flutter sleeve. It turns great and I love the sleeve. In my opinion, this dress was a great concept, but badly executioned. The neck binding is too wide, so I can not bow when wearing this dress unless I want my boobs popping out from the dress :D and the gathering on the chest is uneven, and but un-noticable if I wear it on the night.

I managed to hand-embroidered "Handmade by Glenda" but the result was horrible. In my defence, I was sleepy but insist to finished everything before I went to bed.

I really want to picked the neckbinding and shorten it a bit to make it more wearable, but not now. I am not finish cursing my self... *sigh*

my first attempt making bedding set..

it's been a while since i post something, it's just a quick post about my latest sewing project, bedding set for noelle...

now that she's 2 yr, i think it's time for her to brace herself to sleep on her bed. she, until now, thinks that my bedroom is her bedroom while her actual bedroom is her play room. i can't blame her tho, we used to co sleeping since she was newborn, and eventhough i put her to sleep on her bed, somehow she managed to get back to my bed (sleep walking in total darkness).. i have no idea how to train her to sleep on her bed, bed time or nap time.. i reckon she loves to sleep in minimal light (like in my bedroom, while in her bedroom she can sunbathe morning-afternoon), and she loves our soft and fluffy mattres with good support. so, we bought her the same mattress in king single size, and since she sleep like a tornado and prone to fall out of the bed, bed frame is out of question until later.

all looking good in her room, but, one thing for sure, we dont have proper bedding set for her. it's all those plain cotton jersey sheets and pillowcases, or those flowery or leafy sheets or whatever i can grab from our linen cupboard, and they are in queen bed sizing because they are supposed for the guest room bed.

so, i had this idea to make her own bedding set, with appropriate prints of course. in this post, i finished a blue sheet/orange/white farm animal prints.

i got the farm animal prints from nearby thrift store, $2, it was a toddler bed sheets, and wont fit noelle's king single size mattress (110x210cm). the blue fabric was flat sheet that was on sale on Target, and the orange fabric was purchased at Spotlight on Saturday morning.

the rest was easy, sewing the sheets, then two pillowcases, and since i have some scraps from 3 fabrics, i managed to produce one small long pillowcase, and one throw pillowcase, looking cute all together.

the cute farm friends

the whole set, there's farm animal "border" because i was short of the fabric.

i need 294cm, but the flat sheet was only 275cm..

so i just cut the flat sheet by 2/3, and sew the farm animal fabric to give extra length.

and it worked! :)

i managed to make neat seam! important for sewing without serger..

hubby said the pillowcase look like storebought.. neat!

small long pillowcase with farm animal applique

throw pillow with square applique, just to make it coordinate with the sheets and other pillow

the new bed sheets matched the moon seat. and you can see, the fitted sheet is not so fitted because i was wrongly measured the mattres as 120x210cm, not 110x210cm..

my next project is another bed sheets for noelle, the fabric from IKEA range, fabler series mixed with another unused flat sheets. cant wait to start sewing again, see you soon!

i made a bag!!

I've been looking for a roomy and comfy sling bag for out and about in weekends.. I do love my leather shoulder bags, but sometimes I need one hand to hold the pram, and the other for tagging the smartcard at the station or bus, ooooorrrrr for admiring anything that caught my eyes on! So, a constantly slipping shoulder bag would be one of the the unpleasant things that could happen to you in those situation :D

I love going to Fremantle and Subiaco Market, window shopping around the street mall, and a sling bag have always be my perfect to go bag, ever! I have 4 sling bags (one leather, one faux leather, one canvas and one cotton) but they are to small for my liking. I love to crammed my bag with my Braun Buffel long and bulky wallet, coin purse, make up kit bag (Clinique compact powder, Clinique sunblock, Candy Kisses lipbalm, Blistex liptone, Lancome mini eyebrow pencil+brush, Clinique mini mascara), Revo sunnies + case, Dettol hand sanitiser, kleenex, wet tissues, a pen, house keys, car keys.. And if I am lucky, I also get to hold my hubby bulky wallet.. :D

So, along came with my sewing addiction, I got the idea to make my own roomy and comfy sling bag. I browsed for free pattern and easy instruction, and I found this reversible shoulder bag pattern from Beth, check her site Lulalouise crafts and designs.

I was nervous but turns out the pattern and the instruction was so easy to follow. I did spice it a bit because I want make it as a SLING Bag (must add length in the handle, about 15cm) with lining with 2 pockets and key strap (because I don't like spending minutes in carpark digging my bag to find my car key, yeah I feel vulnerable if I can't see my surroundings), and a loop + button to secure the opening from pick-pockets!! :D

I purchased the fabrics, washed them and dry them in the sun.

Prepped my pattern cuts, iron the interfacings on the outer fabric to give it a shape because it's a light-medium weight cotton.

Sewn in the big button

Roomy Pockets, key strap and button loop.

In less than 6 hours, I got my dream roomy and comfy sling bag.. My hubby praised the bag, Thanks to you, Beth! Now I am going to furniture shopping with my kid and hubby.