Refashion: You're sacked!

Finally had time to work on this refashion! 

Refashioning feels like a quick fix sometimes, but most of the time it's a learning process for me. I learned to develop an editing eye from watching Project Runway-- step back, look at the garment, and see which parts you can edit out to make it better. 

Truth be told, I've been wanting to work this sack of a dress that I thrifted for RM5 (< USD2) for a longggg time. Unfortunately, every time I look at it, I get sucked into the black hole of inspiration. I didn't want to give up or use the light blue and white striped fabric for a non-garment item, so I kept this dress folded up near my desk so that I'll be bugged by it on a daily basis.

I actually drafted a pattern of a dress with capped sleeves and planned to cut up this dress and use the fabric to make a new dress. But after cutting the printed pattern and looking at the dress, I started to see the dress in a different light.

Let's see, I quite like the pockets... but they were seriously large and I could probably smuggle big puppies in them. I did like the elastic waist too. Most of all I love the button-up back! I couldn't bear to part with that detail.

I put on the dress and pinned it here and here for a bit until I decided HOYEAHH LET'S DO DIS!!

With Bernhoft, Passion Pit and Florence and the Machine competing for my attention from my iPod (yea rite), I worked on the dress and ended up with a dress I'm proud to have in my wardrobe!

With the box bag I refashioned. Yes I know I have very veiny hands. I was born this way and if you don't like it I'm gonna ask Gaga to hunt you down with her half motorcycle body.

Took off the sleeves, clipped up the shoulders and brought them in, nipped the pockets slightly, and of course chopped off a good couple of inches from the hem (the dress originally went down to my ankles and made me feel like going out to milk some friendly cows).

Button-up back! I actually missed a button. Think I'll need my husband's help to wear this dress heheh.

A rather billowing skirt of a dress that I probably shouldn't wear on windy days lol. I like the high neckline too!

In other news, looking back at February, it was my favourite month of 2012 so far for my Etsy store, and here's why! 

Reblogged by Wear Color:

A long time ago, Eevon passed me the link to Wear Color (which resulted in almost a day of zero productivity due to the endless scrolling), and I've been following it loyally ever since. If you scroll through its pages, you'll notice that Wear Color doesn't just reblog colorful pictures-- they are beautiful photographs that are high in style quality. I've gotten the chance to know Mallory who is behind the blog, and she's not only genuinely nice, but also very encouraging from the start.

A collaboration with Happy Together:

Jessica Fediw is one of my favourite mommy bloggers out there. She takes great pictures, and shares fun tutorials-- and all this while having kids! She's got a passion for sewing too, so it was fun teaming up with her with for my sewing charm bracelet. Again, a very sweet person to know :)

Frankie Magazine had me on their newsletter under "These little handmade leather beauties brightened our day":

Frankie is always on my adore list. Each issue is chock-full of beautiful things that seem to be carefully curated with a unique sense of style and taste. When I found out my buyers were coming from Frankie's newsletter, I think my jaw dropped and I may have possibly done an air whoop. Possibly.

That's about it! Thanks for reading this far hehe.

Just do it!

When I don't know something, I read up about it. If reading doesn't help me, there's really no way around it except to JUST DO IT.

Which is what drove me to work on the following sewing projects-- a pencil skirt with a back vent, and a pair of loose capris. 

Looking at one of my favourite skirts I thrifted from a shop, I was deeply enthralled by the back vent. Okay maybe deeply enthralled is too strong a term HAHA, but yeah isn't the back vent of a skirt an amazing thing? It allows the skirt shape to taper down the thighs to create curves while still allowing you to walk like a stomping giant, ie Godzilla.

Picture from examiner.com
Gojirra in search of the perfect pencil skirt for outings such as today's.

Hence I drafted this pencil skirt, and used a tutorial on Burdastyle to add the vent:

I'm also super happy this skirt turned out well because it was my husband who took my measurements :-) Before this I took my own measurements, but I think it's better to have someone else take it for you so the posture isn't compromised.

Thanks husband for taking such accurate measurements! <3

And as for the loose capris, if there's one thing that I'm deeply terrified of (other than cockroaches), it's probably sewing a zipper fly. It got me to thinking that most of the time we are terrified of things that we don't understand. Whilst I am not really looking forward to understand cockroaches, I decided maybe it's time I suck it up and learn how to assemble this zipper fly thingamajig. 

Deep thinker pose

And what better way to learn than to use a pattern from a magazine, right? Well sorta right, unless the magazine is in a language you don't understand.

........ erm... konichiwa... ?

Anyway, I adore almost everything Japanese, and one of the things I love most about their craft and sewing books is that when they get down to the step-by-step er, steps, their illustrations and photographs are so detailed you almost do not need the accompanying words to understand. Almost. Hehe.

Check out my scribblings. Why I even tried to re-write the Japanese words is beyond me. LOL

I traced the pattern in M size, and made some adjustments after sewing the legs up (love the crotch curve on the pattern btw). I sewed in the waistband, and realized it was too high for my liking, so I changed it into a thin waistband. It was very frustrating and fiddly, and obviously so because straight waistbands are usually meant for garments that sat on the natural waist, but these pants didn't! Ha, what am I doing!! Lol. Anyway after wrestling with the waistband I got it to (somewhat) behave. Austin Powers would be proud of me.

Pic from videogamecentral.com

Also finally got to learn how to use the buttonhole function on my machine! Ah the machine manual, it's a keeper isn't it (I usually throw manuals into the abyss of a cardboard box).

 Think it goes well with my necklace too, soon to be added to my Etsy shop!

Sans tuck in for a slouchy look

Overall the capris turned out okay, and as my goal was to learn how to assemble a zipper fly and buttonholes, as Ethan Hunt would say, "Mission.... ACCOMPLISHED!" 

And with that... おやすみ :-)

p/s: Fine fine, I used Google Translate for those Japanese words. 

Tutorial: Thread spool holder

I'm so grateful to Craft Gossip for sharing my freezer paper tutorial & stencil on their blog! Since then I've gotten a few visitors from Kenya, Australia, Sweden, and I'm excited to share my projects with you guys as well as be inspired by yours :D

I was looking around my desk the other day and saw my thread "organizer". Well it's actually just a basket hahaha. While it may look nice when I arrange them so that they are all standing up, the truth is most of the time the look like a violently tossed salad.

A violently tossed salad.

I've seen a few nice thread spool organizers online, and thought hey maybe I should try making one myself. And I think they look so much more organized now, left with hardly any room to mess up :P

Good morning ma'am, how may we serve you today?

And it's super easy to make it!

Get:

- A thin wooden chopping block that will roughly accommodate all your thread spools

(You can recycle your old one by disinfecting it first, or use other alternatives like a photo frame with the backing attached, or wooden door plates which can also be found cheap. If you have any other ideas for alternatives let me know!)

- Wooden dowels from the hardware store

- A very strong glue like Liquid Nails or 5-min Epoxy (love that stuff)

- Spray paint

Let's go!

Spray the chopping board, as well as the dowels. Spray thin layers to get an even finish.

Be patient and watch the paint dry. Just kidding, that's really boring, go and watch some NCIS or something heheh.

Alternatively, you may also spray paint it right at the end, up to you ;-)

Mark dots onto the chopping board, 1 inch apart. I had 28 dowels, so I centered 7 x 4 rows of dots.

Stick the dowels down onto the marks! Allow for time to dry according to package <--- another boring-but-you-have-to-do-it-grudgingly-thing.

Once it's dry, you're done! The beauty of this is that it can sit flat on my desk, or be hung up on the wall. Remember to use very strong glue (UHU just doesn't cut it this time, and I actually still very much prefer the 5-min Epoxy), and also at the same time that there are limits to how much weight these dowels can take. Alternatively, you can hammer nails in if you've got excellent hand-eye coordination (I don't. Just sayin...).

What do you think?

p/s: Hello new readers! My blog is now at http://chingmakesthings.blogspot.com :)

On Sale Now: Printable stencils!

One of my dreams is to design my own fabric soon! Before I can afford to do that, painting on fabric makes me a happy creature. And what better way to keep things looking uniformed than with stencils? 

If you liked the previous honeycomb stencil I shared, you may like these too. I've kept the price at a minimum, so all you have to do is print, cut and paint :D Oohh plus you can totally use these stencils for your own handmade items to sell :-)

Give them a hoot over at my Etsy store

Ground rules, missy!

Our house does not have any white fluorescent lights because my husband is allergic to them. Ok maybe not medically like the kids on The Others or like vampires in True Blood (let's not even talk about Twilight and their sparkly bits because they are not real vampires), but yes his inner mental system rejects all things white light and fluorescent. 

He loves incandescent orange-tinged lights, so our lighting system in the house mainly consists of standing lamps and pendant lamps. They do cast a more romantic and cozy glow over the house, and a simple thing like having a cup of tea while watching tv seems so much more cozier than doing it in white light hahaha. I believe that with some strategically placed incandescent orange-tinged lamps, you can make almost any room look beautiful.

Which is a big problem when you're working with colours, or detail work. When I was still working in a full time day job, I only sewed at night. But now that I have the daylight to splurge on, GOODNESS ME! There is nothing like sewing in daylight. NOTHING. It's like I've gotten a new pair of x-ray glasses that gives me power to see sheen, luster, fibers, and colours like I've never seen then before. 

Sometimes I try to work through the night like I did before, but there is no substitute for daylight. I am also usually tired by then, and coupled with the lack of daylight, it's a wonderful combo for horrible success in getting good work out. So I've decided to split my work tasks by grouping them according to how much the presence of daylight (and alertness) would help them in becoming good work. A quick breakdown:

Day

Sewing

Jewelry-making

Crafting

Pattern drafting

Night

Blogging

Marketing

And I made myself this poster to remind myself of the ground rules. It's for the best of the work, and for the good of me eyes. Feel free to print one for yourself if you echo my sentiments :P

Download the full A4 printable PDF here!

Comfort over style

I was sent to a seminar once where the speaker took one look at me and said "If you were asked to choose one over the other, you would pick comfort over style."

SO TRUE ZOMG.

"Does it smell like old lady?"

.... that's what my brother in law asked me when I told him that I bought this at RM5 from the thrift shop: a gigantic dress with a gigantic dartless bodice and a low pleated skirt. Anything gigantic from the thrift shop is a win for me; more fabric to work with! :D

Anyway, check out my Vogue pose below. Super high fashion, I know. Forget the smize, I think awkward ogre arm poses are going to be the next big thing. And you know you heard it here first ;-)

I took apart the whole dress and ended up with 3 pieces to work with-- the front bodice, back bodice, and the pleated skirt. To make the new dress, I drafted a V-neck bodice (something I've been wanting to try for a while now), kept the side bust darts but eliminated the front darts for a more casual look. 

The neckline and sleeves were finished with some coral satin bias tape... not a very nice job on the inside though :-( I will need to practice working with bias tape more so I can improve!!!!! YAAAARRGHHH!!! :D

*that's not the sound of frustration, it's how I psych myself up / freak myself out / wake myself up

So anyway, back to the dress-- there's an elastic sewn to the waist to keep its shape. I love it when dresses are nipped in at the waist, just a personal preference :o)

I love how comfy this dress is! And it doesn't crinkle easily too. Yay!

Here's me looking at me being a fashionable ogre. God bless my husband for marrying this ogre.

Waiting to see their mamas

My first time sewing for clients. Nerve wrecking! But I also learnt a lot of things and tried my best to finish them as nicely as possible, like top-stitching and under-stitching and steaming interfacing before applying it on.

Today was my first ever fitting session with a client. It went well, thank God! Three more to go, hope they will go well too :D

Sewing Books Review (Pt 2)

Picking up from where I left off, here's the second part of my reviews of 2 more sewing books. These books focus on pattern drafting.

Pattern-drafting may not be for everyone as it takes quite a lot of time and multiple muslin trials and errors to get a good fit. But it is very fun if you like to come up with your own designs! :D Here are the books I have on pattern-drafting:

5. Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear 5th Edition by Winifred Aldrich

The first sewing book I ever purchased, one which I researched and pondered over for the LONGEST time too. It took me a longggg time to decide between this book and Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong, but because the latter uses the imperial system (inches) and I grew up studying in the metric system (centimetres) thanks to the British colonisation, I decided to finally go with Winifred Aldrich.

This book taught me how to draft patterns according to my own measurements. It has a lot of variations of sleeves, darts, collars, and basic bodice patterns for woven materials (ie cotton) and non-woven materials (ie jersey). Each diagram is accompanied by instructions on how to draft them. As you can see I've marked LOADS of pages, most of them are styles and variations that I like and can see myself incorporating them into my designs.

6. Modern Pattern Design by Harriet Pepin

This book was once available online at vintagesewing.info , but sadly the website is now down (I'm guessing due to lack of donations?). Rozy posted a link on our Sewing Buddies FB group to a downloadable PDF version at Michou Loves Vintage, which I read on our ipad. Now here is the interesting thing: I actually find this book a GREAT accompaniment to Winifred Aldrich's book above. While Adrich's book covers a lot of styles and variations, Pepin's book covers less variations but has rather in-depth in explanations about WHY those variations are needed (ie what type of dart works best for a large bust, etc).



You may notice that the illustrations and styles look very old and outdated, but to me, I am still able to learn about form and fit. Plus, fashion styles are always a cycle. Who knew shoulder pads would come back in fashion again? Michael Kors / Heidi Klum made a remark on an episode of Project Runway that went something like "That looks terribly 80s, and that's not something people would like", and I laughed because I watched that episode only a year later when the 80s fashion did make a comeback :P



So despite referencing "outdated" styles, both books do teach a lot about pattern making, and understanding how different positions of little things like darts can make a big difference.

And that's about it, hope this didn't bore anyone to the abyss of boredom.

Vintage-themed sewing

Funny thing happened last week. A few days before attending a wedding of my husband's colleague, I suddenly find out that it's a vintage-themed wedding. Naturally like any other woman, I panicked and growled like a gorilla in heat: "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!!!" Except that I was serious because I looked through my closet, and the vintagey stuff were mostly casual wear, not dinnerware (har har).

GREAT.

In panic mode, I decided to make accessories to go with a dress that I made earlier this year for Chinese New Year. I absolutely adore peter pan collars, what more the beaded ones which hypnotized me on Pinterest. 

Megan Nielsen has a really pretty pattern of a scalloped peter pan collar up for downloads, which you can find at her awesome blog here. Unfortunately for me the pattern did not really fit me, maybe due to my stumpy small neck hehehe... so I ended up drafting my own pattern. After a few trials and errors and correction of the curves, I finally got a pattern that sat properly around my neck.

So I started beading the collar while watching Criminal Minds and NCIS and Bones on Fox. Then I watched the reruns of the same criminal investigation episodes again. Nothing like a good murder mystery and gruesome motives to motivate me to keep on and carry on beading. After a whole day of beading, I finally finished it! Yahuuuuu!

The next day I made a quick petal fascinator some felt pieces. I've made fascinators before, but somehow they never really sat properly on my head... I looked through more pictures on Google and realised that what I need was a little base that's almost like a bra cup to sit properly on top. Rather than putting an actual bra cup on my head (I've seen that on DIY blogs, ermm, interesting, but errr not something I'd wanna do in case people ask me "Oh you made that yourself? What did you use for the base?"; "My old bra. I totally washed it before using it though."), I shaped a base out of felt and started gluing petals to it. You can't see how the based is curved like a bra cup here, but it is, and trust me.. it sits sooo much better on your head and your embellishments will look beyootiful.

The wedding was at The Banker's Club, and I really like the venue because it's so apt for a vintage-themed wedding. Many of the guests supported the request of the bride and groom to dress up in vintage styles, and you gotta love fun guests like that at your wedding ;-) Saw some really fabulous vintage dresses and hairstyles that the ladies were sporting, and I was sincerely flattered when some fashionable girls said they liked my dress and asked me if it was real vintage. Naw geeee.. 

Some of the men were sporting bow ties, which were nice, but you know, nothing beats the real bow ties that are really tied by hand (not the clip-on types). I used to think that clip-on ones were good enough, but ever since I saw a real one on Vincent (he tied it himself, like WHOA) and we had that chat about bow ties, I'm a convert. I BELIEVE IN REAL BOW TIES NOW.

My husband wore his argyle vest. I LOVE THIS VEST, doesn't he look dashing in it! Nothing beats a good looking argyle vest, except a good looking husband in a good looking argyle vest. Hahaha. All he needs is a cigar in his hand :P

<3