Stitch by Stitch

Ok, I know I was meant to put this up at least over the weekend but I haven’t coz I had such a wonderful weekend spent indoors, I couldn’t be bothered to get online and blog! I spent quite a bit of time sewing and it was simply marvellous!

This latest damage is mostly cotton coz I’ve been wanting to sew some dresses that match for the girls and I’m so in love with those sailor suits in one of the summer issues I think and I just can’t wait to sew them matching dresses! Hence the polka dot fabrics, one for each girl. Then I also got me some lycra which is the only one at the bottom to sew some swimwear for the girls so we can go swimming in Malaysia.

This was the one time I bought something for myself. Actually I got me 2 fabrics, a choc chip one as well as a floral one that you can see in the second row, somewhere in the middle. [This is me guessing from memory and not looking at the pix while I’m blogging!] Both are knit/viscose so it will nice, stretchy and comfy – just the way I like it! Only thing is I need to find time to sew me something. *lol* The last time I sewed something for myself it was disastrous and very disappointing for me so I’ve not been in the mood to sew anything for myself. But I think I’m ready to jump back on the horse and try again.

PS. Just in the mail this morning is some cute fleece lined fabric for wniter PJs and some cotton drill for my mei tai. Man, I really need to get stuck into it soon!

I’ve been sewing more things for the little one compared to DD1 simply because I think that it would be nice for DD2 to have things that she could call her own and are not hand-me-downs. Also both being born during different seasons just mean that more often than not, the type of clothes that I made for DD1 doesn’t mean that it would be suitable for DD2.

We are now into autumn but it’s not as cool as you’d like it to be and on some days, it feels as hot and humid as any day in summer so I decided to sew some tshirts for DD2

These tshirts were made from big scraps that I had in my bin and not wanting to waste them, I thought it would be the perfect idea to use them up.

I’m not too crazy about the ‘fairy’ tshirt which has frills at the bottom.

Perhaps I didn’t sew it well or maybe I simply don’t like the pattern, I don’t know but I wont be sewing that one any time soon, I think. As for the tshirts in general, I use knit of course and it was relatively simply to sew up except that I kept making the same silly mistake I make every time I sew a tshirt – the sleeves don’t match the notch because I cut it the wrong way!!! It really pisses me off that at this stage, I should know better but I am still making these silly mistakes! *sigh*

Other than that, I like how the collars are done. It’s not your usual binding collar where you sew one edge then turn over like how you’d sew bias binding and top stitch down. This one just required you to sew the short edge to form the loop, fold it in half, and with the right sides together, stitch one edge. Then fold and topstitch. Somehow I feel that it looks more professional and like ready-made stuff you get off the shelves.

I’ll be inclined to sew more of these even for DD1.

These are definitely a pair of overalls I had fun sewing up. Simply because it doesn’t have a zipper! *lol* I’m utterly hopeless when it comes to zippers so I try to avoid it if I can.

When I first traced out the pattern, I thought it seemed a bit big. And then when I finished it, it looked humongous! And I was thinking, well….DD2 wont be wearing this any time soon. And waited till she woke up to try it on her.

Apparently I was dead wrong! It fits her perfectly albeit the length is a wee bit long but I think that’s quite alright.

The fabric is a 4-way stretch knit which feels kinda lyra-ish so it reall stretches well. And hopefully will last till winter! Then again, babies grow like weeds so I may be kidding myself here. At least she can wear this on the plane back to Malaysia in May coz it can get chilly sometimes.

A final shot to seal the deal.

I finally made my way to Spotlight last night!!! DH is wonderful like that. I don’t drive and well, I know I should take it up but I’ve been putting it on hold like since forever but I’ve started reading up the drivers manual so it’s a start. Hence I depend on him to take me places. And lemme say that Spotlight isn’t one of his favourite places to go. *lol* But he still took me there last night after work anyway.

This isn’t the SL that I normally go to. But it was the closes one to work and well, I hadn’t checked it out before so it was a good chance to go there. Plus I had this 20$ off voucher if you purchase more than $80 in a receipt. When I got there, I seriously doubted if I could reach that amount coz the place was in a mess! And with a new store, you don’t know where things are so you spend a lot of time walking around looking for stuff. Suffice to say that I wasn’t really impressed by it. Gimme my regular store anytime!

Anyway, I managed to struggle with some fabric coz they were quilt type and folded in half so I could stick them in my basket. I had to mentally take note of what fabrics that I wanted that were off the bolt so I couldn’t possibly be walking around carrying bolts of fabric right?? It’s just simply ridiculous. To me that just screams ‘buy less bolt fabric from us please’. If you wanted sales, then you’d provide what was necessary to make it easier for the customers, no? But nup, not this store though. One of the girls looked at me as if I was mad or something when I asked her if they had trolleys. She just told me to use the basket. *rolls eyes* SO much for customer service….

On top of that, someone must have tipped the zipper shelve over or something coz the zippers were strewn all over the aisle and it was just a great big mess. The choices of elastics were so few and the ric rac was simply pathetic…so few to choose from and no white!!! And that was what I was looking for. Ggrrrr…..

The only good thing out of the whole trip was the girl who served me gave lots of extra this and that. Like she’d throw in an extra meter of lace or elastic, added more than just a bit when she cut the fabric so that instead of getting exactly 1.5m, I’d almost get 2m…if you know what I mean. So I guess in that way, it was a good thing. I even got charged only $5 for this 1.5m jersey knit fabric I bought myself coz she couldn’t find the price tag! *lol* I’m definitely not one to complain….

Overall, keeping the one positive thing that came out of this trip, it was pretty good but I think I’ll remain loyal to my regular place where I know what’s where and go straight to it instead of spending more time looking for things. I was knackered from all that walking coz I was searching for things, you know? KR waited with me at the counter and she was a sweetheart. She was just so patient, I tell you, I don’t think I’ve seen another baby like that. And mind you, it took a VERY long time for my stuff to get put into the register coz they had to cut and then key in the stuff, and she wasn’t one of the quickest around, I’m sure. I ended up being the last customer out of the store! *lol*
Will post up a pix of my loot when I get home.

Now I’m just dreaming about it coz I haven’t unpacked yet. TGIF……

*You have to watch this. I thought it was just amazing! The vid is at the end after the explaination.*

This video from YouTube shows the winner of Ukraine’s Got Talent, Kseniya Simonova, aged 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table and showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a rare one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears. Kseniya won the top prize in the series, about AUD130,000.

Kseniya begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated. It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears. The young woman quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.

This outdoor scene is then framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house. In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man stands outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye. The Great Patriotic War, as World War II is called in The Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed. There were eight to 11 million deaths in the Ukrainian population of 42 million.

Kseniya Simonova says she finds it difficult to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is OK. “The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment.”

It’s been a long time coming but I finally got my head around to doing some well missed sewing!

Not really being a sport here.

Then she decided to run away which got me the shot that I almost wanted! *lol*

Models are hard to work with, what can I say? Anyway, this is a rather versatile dress and I like it because it is SO simple to sew up and you could easily mix and match the fabrics too. When I first saw this fabric, I knew this was what I wanted to sew BUT suddenly I realised that this sarong didnt have the border that I thought it would have and I didnt really know what would make a nice contrast so just stuck to the same thing all over. I didn’t dare match it with something I wasnt entirely sure of, you see?

I didn’t totally follow the instructions. The patterns calls for a narrow hem to be sewn around the armholes but that just didnt work with my cotton batik so I used bias binding of the same fabric to do it which I am pleased with. Coz I did try to sew a narrow hem prior and it just looked blek! I’m glad I listened to me.

Initially I thought the sleeves were somehow connect to the dress but it isnt! I was well surprised and thought that it wouldnt work but went ahead anyway and by golly, it turned out rather nice. I’m looking forward to making another one with some matching fabrics next. We have to start getting ready for our LONG vacation in May!!!

TFL…..

I actually finally managed to get some time to sew and I managed to pull off 4 tshirts, 1 pair of pant and a skirt for KR. I am rather pleased with how they turned out. I haven’t taken any pix yet coz I forgot and chucked them in the wash. Lol Can you imagine…me? Forgetting to take a pix of what I just finished sewing?? O well….

So now that I’m sort of, kind of, on the roll of things, I’ve since traced out a dress for Arianna and a 2 piece tunic and pants combo for KR. I already know what sort of fabric I’m going to use – it’s going to be that absolutely soft cotton batik my mum got me recently! I’ve been mulling over what pattern to sew the fabric with and I thought this would be excellent coz I need some contrasting patterns so that it looks better. So I can’t wait to get stuck into it!

Also, waiting for me in the mail yesterday was a $20 off purchases over $80 voucher from SL!!! It’s been ages since I stepped foot in there and although I am still buying my fabric from mainly eBay, I still prefer to actually be there to touch and feel what I’m buying. It’s only coz I don’t to get to go to SL as often as I would like to is the real reason why I’ve resorted to getting my fabric online. But it hasn’t been all that disappointing really. Especially when you’ve found that one eBay seller you know you can trust and who has fabric that you like. And since I’ve been working, I think I deserve a little present for myself.

DH saw the voucher on the table and he said that he’d take me one of these days!!! I’m so excited…it will have to be on a weekend coz that the only time we are free. Most likely it will be on Saturday coz we’ll be at my ILs on Sunday. Man, Saturday can’t come fast enough!!!

I have been a bit of a naughty girl today at work. The thing with work is, it’s gets really full on in spurts. The times I’m most busy is during the students break times, before classes start in the morning/evening and after classes finish. Between those periods, I’m quite free and I find myself getting really bored! So I’ve brought my book in to read. But sometimes even that gets boring so I go on the net. Anyway, while on the net today, I was reading up some books on sewing and I chanced upon this rather interesting tip/quote :

Pressing is an essential phase of sewing. Good pressing can enhance a poorly stitched garment; poor pressing can destroy a well-made design. – Sew any fabric By Claire Shaeffer

 To be absolutely honest, I couldn’t agree more. And while we’re being honest and all, I never used to press when it was required. It was only quite recently and a little before I read this that I started doing it and I realised the difference it made to the garment I was sewing. So they weren’t making a fuss about pressing for nothing! These days, I try my best to press when it is call for but I have to admit that because it’s takes a bit of mucking around to set the iron up and all that, I do slack in that area. I’m not one of those really lucky people who have a sewing room to themselves. I wish I had one though, maybe one day. But for now, I normally make do with just ironing on the dining table where my serger AND sewing machines are sitting – side by side. 

Thank goodness it’s just DH, DD and I at home during dinner time or it would be such a torture to store the machine every now and then. Can you imagine how much less I’d be sewing then?? *shudders* The bit that normally needs pressing I noticed is the hem, neckline if you’re doing facing as well as if you’re topstitching cotton woven especially. And by pressing, it really makes sewing easy and the end product better looking too. So next time pressing is require, I reckon it’s best to do it!

Don’t be lazy like me…..heh.

From memory, I sent Missy in for her service at the end of January coz I remembered that the warranty would soon expiry. O, if you didn’t know, I’ve since named my machine Missy. How I came about this name is still a mystery to me but it’s just that when I got her back, I announced it on FB and when I typed it out, the name just came to be. It said, “YAY!!! Missy’s home!!”. And that’s how she got her name.

Anyway, since she went in, DH had happily set up his laptop in Missy’s place and was having fun with his new-found space coz the girls couldn’t reach it and he didn’t have to muck around setting it up everything he wanted to use it which was quite often since he’s home everyday with the girls while I’m at work. So he’s been working on his game and mod whenever he get a chance. Pretty much what I do when I’m sewing. I sneak in a couple of seams throughout the day when I can. And people think I just sit and sew the whole day, and do nothing else! What world do they think I live in?? *lol* If I had a maid to clean the house and get all the meals ready, you bet I’d be sitting and sewing the whole day. Sadly, in my world this is impossible.

And now that I’m working full time : Monday to Friday, 10 to 6pm….sewing has seriously taken a backseat! Even after Missy came back, DH hadn’t really put his laptop away and I knew that with me working, I wouldn’t really be into it. So Missy sat in the box for awhile coz my sewjo had gone walkabout anyway. But only recently did my sewjo come back coz I’ve been meaning to sew up some tshirts for KR as well as some summer dresses for Arianna. I will have to start now coz we will be heading off to Malaysia in May and that is not long from now seeing that I don’t really sew fast. Also, I’m looking forward to sewing a Mei Tai as well. I’ve got the fabric that I need and even got me some sling rings too! J I might give the Omnibohu a try as well. I will have to decide which one I want coz the fabric is only enough for one.

Anyhow, I finally set Missy up last night after DH packed his stuff up so I have already cut out 3 tshirts and a girly one as well. I’ve only done part of the first tshirt and I already noticed ONE mistake. I cut it on the wrong grain!!!! Aarrrggghhhh….pisses me off when I do silly mistakes like that. It’s something I should NEVER be doing since I’ve been sewing for almost a year now. Silly, silly me!!! O well, what can you do, eh? Thankfully, the shirt is a little big so it won’t be tight on her just yet. So I’m just waiting for time to go home so that after the kids are gone to bed, I can sew and relax. Really looking forward to getting back on the horse!