Sertyan's Sewing Corner

Double Collared Licorice Dress

2012-01-24T16:15:00.007+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year 2012 of the Dragon! I joined the 2012 third challenge theme for the week of 23 Jan. The following post was my entry for Sew Weekly's 'Made This Look' challenge:

The Facts

Fabric: A slippery, drapey, geometric print named ‘Bunga Cinta’ (Flower of Love in Bahasa Malaysia) at RM5.90/USD1.80 a yard (after 70% off), 2 yards. Most probably polyester. Malaysian fabric stores prioritize on the name of the fabric collection rather than accurately spelling out the fiber contents; and the salesmen are also ditto about these details. Off-white Lining Fabric to line the dress (yay to another lined dress!)

Pattern: Licorice Pattern from the Colette Sewing Handbook (the handbook has such ‘yummy’ pattern names!)

Year: 2011

Notions: Basic Zipper and Covered Buttons

Time to complete: About 10 hours

Make This Look Inspiration From: ModCloth Magnetic Personality Dress

First worn: 22 Jan 2012 for Chinese New Year Eve celebrations

Wear again? Yes! I like how this dress is comfortable and the dress just skims over my curves and the tie belt gives the right amount of shape to the body.

Total Cost (excluding Colette Handbook): Approximately RM16/USD5

I was browsing Modcloth.com and it appeared to me that the collar of this dress is so much like the famous Licorice pattern. I have seen a few completed Licorice dresses online sewn with solids; and the dresses featured in the book and Colette’s blog are all in solids as well.

Previously I was really wondering if I made a huge mistake choosing a busy print for my version. I was feeling very insecure and not confident as the dress was nearing completion, I suspected that I will not like this dress in the end as I have always associated the Licorice with solid colours; and already regretting that I was such a rebel to use a busy print. But when I tried it on for the second time I realized that I really like it; this is what my good seamstress friend used to call as ‘Let the Dress Simmer’.

It was really a nice coincidence that I chanced upon this modcloth version and it gave me the idea to ‘break’ the busy print by adding another collar made with leftover purple lining cloth underneath the main collar. The purple covered cottons on each side of the collar also provided good contrast and lent a hint of cuteness to the dress. I sewed the purple collar according to the original seam allowance of the collar pattern piece; but added another 1cm seam allowance to make the smaller collar piece in busy print.

For this challenge, it’s my first time using slippery and drapey fabric, as I have only sewn using the good old easy-to-sew cotton/blends to-date. I referred to this useful tutorial to cut the slinky fabric, it does help! Another tip to generously use pins..and more pins to hold your fabric in place before joining the seams I noted that it is tougher to set a sleeve using slinky fabric compared to the good old cotton.

Thoughts on the Pattern + Instructions:-

I cut a size 2 from the Licorice pattern but sewed a 1cm seam allowance instead of the normal 1.5cm. For modesty sake, I also lengthened the skirt, I usually do not have do this with my other patterns as I am only 158cm tall, but the original style is meant to be above the knee. This is really a cute pattern with a retro twist (the boat neck collar) and puffed sleeves are so darling (one has to use drapey fabric to enjoy the effect).

The Colette Sewing Handbook has instructions on how to sew lining to the main dress using a sewing machine. I have made 4 other lined dresses using patterns and instructions from McCalls and Butterick which calls for handstitching the lining - after attaching the lining to the dress on the neckline, they recommend to machine sew the centre back seam beneath the zipper, then hand slip stitch the rest of the lining to the main fabric (i.e. slip stitch lining to the edge of the zipper and around the armscyes). Colette on the other hand recommends: After attaching lining to the neckline, turn the lining and dress so the right sides of both dress and lining meet each other; and sew the lining to the edge of the zipper using your sewing machine (take care not to catch the main dress) - the last step is to join the remaining center back seam of the lining beneath the zipper. This eliminates the need for hand stitching your lining!

Little Terror Goes to Playschool

2012-01-19T10:48:00.000+08:00

Little Terror is currently 2 years and 5 months old, she has commenced the 3 year old playschool class this month. Despite already into the 3rd week of school, every morning she still cries when she knows she has to go to school, she may start crying already in the car or start crying when she saw the school building. The teacher told us she will generally cry for about 5 mins after we have dropped her at school and then stop and enjoy herself...I hope these crying bouts will end soon.

You can see that she's not smiling for me in the pictures as she knows she's going to school. She is wearing this dress I made for her in Dec 2010 for the first time today. She is really small sized and slowly growing into the clothes I have made for her in the past year, and it gives her mum a good excuse for not sewing for her for the past 6 months (as Mum was too busy sewing for herself in the past 6 months!)

"Mum, I don't really care for school you know......."

(please excuse the shoes in the background)

"Mum, do I really need to go? Can we go to grandma's instead?"

The grumpy little lady.

Crossing her arms is her current way of telling me she's not pleased she has to go.

A view of the back of the dress.

Royal Blue Work Dress: New Look 6909

2012-01-10T14:20:00.004+08:00

I recently signed up to be a Contributor for Sew Weekly 2012. In conjunction with Sew Weekly 2012 second challenge theme 'Accessorize', I made this blue dress. Read about my Sew Weekly Contribution for this dress here.

The Facts

Fabric: Blue mystery fabric. The local Malaysian fabric stores fondly calls this kind of fabric ‘The Yellow Line’. It has sheen to it, medium weight, and the salesperson said it’s for making trousers. Most probably polyester. Good buy at RM8.80/USD2.75 per yard, 1.75 yards required. I meant to use it to make wearable muslins as it’s half the price of viscose fabric.

Pattern: New Look 6909

Year: 2011

Notions: Basic Zipper, Hook & Eye, Interfacing

Time to complete: I didn’t really count. Most probably at least 15 hours (not including cutting pattern and fabric, I take another average 2 hours to do that).

First worn: Today, 8 Jan 2012 in my garage as the weekend and the garage is when and where the hubby will take my photos

Wear again? Yes! I have already worn it to work the day after.
Total Cost (including pattern): Approximately RM30/USD9.30

To my family and friends who know me well, I am a no frills, non-accessory person who almost likes to wear the same style and weekend outfits as it is always a rush to dress to go out on weekends after getting my 2.5 year-old Little Terror ready. Actually in nature I am also very lazy in primping up myself! :). I make more effort for my workplace outfits though as the job calls for it. This is a really interesting challenge as it reminded me that I have a new mustard bag that I bought during the last week of 2011 that I have yet to use. The zipper and the mustard colour really called out to me………. actually I saw the 70% off sign first. Malaysian readers, it’s a VOIR bag by the way, nett of discount it was RM34.50 / USD10.70. I have never worn mustard before, it’s a first! I used to be really wary of this colour but I think now it’s rather becoming!

I attempted a hand pricked lapped zipper but I think it wasn’t that successful as you can see some whites from the zipper. I learned to make a skirt vent via making this dress.

Pattern Notes: I cut a size 10 for the pattern but I sewed a 1cm seam allowance on the sides instead of the usual 1.5cm, as I am smaller on the top but pear shaped on the bottom. The fit on this dress was quite spot on for me, it’s quite flattering. I also adore the cute collars and bow. The puffed sleeves are awfully cute too. The pockets placement are also quite elegant. I interfaced the bow as someone rightly pointed out in Sewing Pattern Review.com that the bow will be floppy without interfacing (thank you for mentioning that!). I omitted the collar facings in favour of fully lining the dress. The hems were done without the aid of a special blind hem foot, you have to check out this great tutorial if you are not aware a blind hem can be done without a special sewing machine foot. I used to hand stitch my hems but I find this method alleviates the bumps/bubbles problem on the hem.

Another Peplum Dress: Butterick B5520

2011-12-26T18:09:00.001+08:00

To continue my recent fascination with peplum dresses, I made another!

Pattern: Butterick 5520. Close-fitting, tapered, above mid-knee length, lined dress. I cut a size 10 for the bodice and tapered to a size 12 for the skirt. This pattern calls for shoulder pads, which I omitted, so the raglan sleeves seem a bit large on me? So I am not too crazy about the sleeves.

Fabric: 1.25 yards of houndstooth/checked maroon fabric and 0.25 yards of contrasting dark green fabric at RM16/USD5.30 a yard. Dark colours are actually not my style but these are sturdy suiting fabric, so I caved in. Total Cost: Approx. RM30/USD10 (inclusive of lining and zipper).

I wished I had used a maroon/black colour zip or invisible zipper instead! Maybe I should attempt a lapped zipper next time.

Wear Again?: Yes, to work, (with air conditioning please in this Malaysian climate!) as the fabric is pretty thick! I was sweating when I took these photos, haha!

McCalls M5927, Take 2: Sheath Dress with Capped Sleeves

2011-12-18T00:06:00.001+08:00

In case you are wondering why I am able to churn out 4 dresses in the last 2 weeks, I was on a sewcation from work..sigh, but the uninterrupted sewing hours of bliss has ended yesterday. I am back to work next week…so from now on I’ll be lucky if I can complete a dress in 2 weeks, no that’s a bit ambitious, a month maybe……… :)

For this sewing project I revisited a pattern and a piece of fabric! I simply love the pink/purplish fabric from my last Socialite (Peplum) Dress: Simplicity 2282 too much that I decided to make the most of the remaining of the fabric; I bought 2.5 yards for RM16/USD5.30 per yard and I had used a bit more than 1 yard for the peplum dress. I was happy to know that I was able to squeeze another dress from my favourite fabric! So I revisited McCalls M5927 (the Happy Dress) that I made last week.

I just realized that the colour of the background is almost similar to my dress’!

Pattern: McCalls M5927, View D

Last week, I attempted View A, the sleeveless version, I made View D this week instead (see the grey dress above with the capped sleeves). I rather like the capped sleeves, they are cute. I cut a size 10 this time for the top and tapered it to a size 12 at the bottom this time as I found my last View A dress was a bit loose on the top. On another note, I just found out there is the opposite of a FBA yesterday, which is SBA (Small Bust Adjustment), I think I need to learn this skill to adapt the bodice pattern! haha!!

Fabric: 1 yard plus of 60 inch wide cotton blend fabric at RM16 / USD5.30 per yard and a normal zipper (I handpicked it!). The same fabric that I used for my peplum dress. Total Cost: About RM20 / USD7

I am a very big fan of fully lined dresses now. They do take a bit longer to finish and plus some hand sewing required, but when you don a fully lined dress as opposed to an unlined one, you can really feel the difference! And it feels store bought. The dress also hangs better on your body (well my personal opinion!).

Wear Again? Yes! To work next week!

Happy Sewing Everyone! And wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Colette Ceylon Dress

2011-12-17T14:03:00.005+08:00

Hello all! My very first Colette pattern, a Christmas gift from an utterly kind and generous friend. I have been a fan of Colette patterns for a long time now, and finally I have the chance to sew one! I I like how Colette’s patterns have a retro-modern twist to them, which is so me! haha.

The first time I wore it was to a children's christmas concert. Little Terror is wearing 'The Fishy Party Dress'

Pattern: Colette Ceylon

I cut a size 0 for the bodice and tapered out to a size 4 for the waist/hip. I took in the sides of the waist area further so perhaps I will use a size 2 for the waist/hip area for my next Ceylon. The measurement chart indicated that I should take a size 4 though, anyway, all bodies are different! I consulted the talented Miss Lauren of Lladybird on the sizing issue and was very inspired by the piping on her Ceylons, check them out here and here. The pattern instructions are clear and easy to follow. The york piece is a bit pulling on this dress because of the sheer fabric and interfacing, of which the combination is not sturdy enough – Ms Lauren suggested to use fabric to underline to the york to solve the puling/wrinkling on the york; shall remember to apply that for my next Ceylon!

Fabric: Seersucker Cotton, that’s why the dress appears wrinkly as the cloth is naturally that way. They are not pin dots. Each ‘dot’ is actually a box consisting of 9 dots (8 brown dots and 1 blue dot), which explains the choice of blue piping and buttons. It is RM9/USD3 per yard (45 inch width), I actually only needed 2 yards if I were to cut the interfacing on a different piece of cloth. Total Cost: ~ RM20/USD6.

Wear Again?: Yes! This is a very girly weekend dress. But sometimes I feel very conscious and sort of like the ‘odd one out’ as people in my area do not really channel the ‘retro’ style so much.

My Socialite Dress: Simplicity 2282

2011-12-10T12:47:00.001+08:00

Bad news..my sewing machine has broken down two days ago and today I have sent it to the repair shop, hopefully no biggie. Maybe it’s because I have been sloughing it too much on Thursday making this dress. I was on work leave so I had one whole day of sewing bliss. My faithful Okurma machine (which I have never sent for servicing after almost 2 years since I first bought it) died on me right after I finished sewing this dress. It would have been so anti-climax if it had died on me midway!

I love the peplum feature on dresses, I believe now it’s all the rage, have you read Burdastyle’s Trend on Trend: Peplums?

I really adore the rippling and lettuce-y effect of the peplum! I feel so fairy-like in this dress.

Pattern: Simplicity 2282 inspired by Project Runway. Besides the flowy peplum which is the main highlight of the pattern, the sleeve pattern is quite special too, on the top it is made of 2 darts forming a box effect, and then another tuck in the middle to create a gathered full effect, very retro!

Fabric: 1 yard of 60 inch wide cotton blend fabric at RM16 / USD5.30 per yard and invisible zipper. It looks like wool, doesn’t it? It’s not. I think it has some synthetic to it as it stretches a bit and does not wrinkle easily (yay!). Total Cost: RM18.30 / USD6.10

Pattern Notes: Initially I had cut a size 12 for this pattern but after the first fit for the skirt area, I think I needed a size 10 instead so I sewed the entire garment based on size 10 seams. Other than that I made no alterations to the pattern, I think the whole fit is quite spot on for me, lucky! There are only a few pattern pieces, the instructions are clear but read them carefully on the way the darts should face on the skirt (I didn’t, it gave me some grief!). Making sure the pivoting point between the peplum and princess seams lie flat was quite a challenge.

Wear Again: Absolutely! Do you think I can pass for a socialite? :)

McCalls M5927: A Fashion Sheath Dress

2011-12-06T14:42:00.001+08:00

I enjoy wearing fully lined work dresses and frequently inspect the lining of these dresses and wonder how it’s done. So when I saw this McCalls M5927 pattern which features a basic fashion sheath dress that is fully lined, I knew I must attempt this!

Hey my orange bolero and belt goes very well with the dress!

Look mum, zero seams! All seams are enclosed/hidden. This is my first time sewing with swishy-washy slippery fabric, the lining, it is tricky! It’s not too tough to fully line a dress but some handstitching is required.

Fabric: Rayon – I got this at the Kamdar sale at 70% off, so it’s only RM3/USD1 per yard. This is the first time I work with rayon and I noticed it wrinkles easily!!?

I am 158cm tall only and most patterns are for a 168cm woman, so I had hacked off 6cm from the skirt length on the pattern before I trace and cut on the fabric, and this dress only takes slightly over 1 yard! To be sure, get 1.25 yards! So it’s only 1 yard of rayon, 1 yard of lining (RM3/USD1) and an invisible zipper (RM2.40). Total Cost: RM8.40/USD2.80. Not too shabby for a fully lined dress. :)

Pattern Notes: McCalls M5927. I made View A, the sleeveless version. This is a great wardrobe builder pattern, you can vary it a bit and have many different work dresses with one pattern. I plan to make View C (see red dress below) with tabs and sleeves next, in fact I saw the exact same dress in the mall recently selling for more than RM200/USD67.

I cut out a size 12, it fits very well around the waist and torso but it gaped a lot initially around the armscye. I guess it’s because I am bottom heavy and unfortunately less endowed on top. So I took in about 2cm from each side of the armscye. I omitted the back slit on the skirt.

Underlining vs. Lining!

Do you know there’s a difference between ‘underlining’ and ‘lining’? I didn’t before I made this dress! This pattern actually calls for BOTH underlining and lining but I skipped the underlining to avoid bulk. I just realized that I had underlined my last plaid dress (that was when I attempted to do lining on a dress without referring to any instructions). Compare both pictures below:

With ‘Lining’, you can see zero seams on the dress, they are all enclosed, hidden; the skirt lining is separate from the main fabric skirt. Whilst with ‘Underlining’, basically one just bastes the lining cloth on the main fabric pieces before sewing them up, you can still see the seams - and the skirt lining is not separate.

Wear Again? Yes! This is such a happy dress! I think it is very versatile, I can wear it to work (with a solid cardi) or for play.

Vintage Butterick 4309 : The Dress That Nearly Didn’t Make it

2011-11-20T18:32:00.001+08:00

(Hello! Can you spot Little Terror?)

I have been admiring vintage patterns for a long time and wanted to try sewing one. I saw this Vintage Butterick 4309 first in a giveaway and fell in love with the collars. So I scoured Ebay for one and luckily it was for a reasonable price. I was very excited to sew my first vintage pattern but I had a lot of issues with this dress! I started sewing this dress a month ago but it was only finished yesterday, :) During the first fitting before I hemmed and added the sleeves the overall look was so frumpy and maternity… and bad idea to cut the middle panel on bias!!! It really adds on pounds, sigh! And the red and grey plaid fabric, as I quote my seamstress friend, has a STRONG personality, so I guess the original A line pattern would work well if I used a more subtler fabric or a solid colour.

The BEFORE picture..frumpy…please excuse the picture quality as it’s from my camera phone, taken nearly during midnight! Yes, Little Terror (2 years 3 months old now) has decided that she will sleep around 10pm to 11pm now instead of her usual 9pm so it’s tougher to find time to sew recently.

Once I got to this stage, I was really discouraged to soldier on to finish the dress, I asked myself if I could do anything to jazz it up..I took in the sides to make it more fitted but it still looked bad..so just 2 weeks ago I decided that I will just leave it as a UFO and actually rolled this project up and placed it in the ‘recycle bin’. Yesterday, I still couldn’t forget about this failure so I picked it up again and just what the heck, finish it, will you??!! As Tim Gunn would say, ‘Just Make it Work!’

After I sewed on the sleeves and put it on, it looks much more wearable. Wear it Again? My husband actually said, ‘Hey, not too bad for a fabric that looks like a picnic mat’. Grrr….. But I would say the saving grace for the dress were the two covered buttons placed on the collars. I am thinking of wearing it to work..will I ever?

Little Terror decided she wanted in the picture as well – ask her why the wooden plank is in the picture! :)

I did try to match plaids using Tasia’s Sewaholic.Net’s matching plaids tutorial but I only matched the black lines (it took me a looonnng time), and only realized later that the boxes are of different colours when I sewed up the sides, oh well!! Hey at least the plaids did match at the zipper (and invisible zipper wasn’t too bad too, just consoling myself here)

The fabric is ‘Tanaka Japanese Cotton’, 2 yards, bought on sale for RM6 per yard. This dress is ~~fully lined~~ underlined with the grey collar fabric (RM7 per yard, about 2 yards), the pattern was USD$4.50 (incl. shipping from the U.S.) ..so total cost: USD13 or RM39. Money aside, was this dress worth all the grief and issues (haha) ?? :) What do you all think?

70’s Inspired Shirt Dress : Simplicity 2403

2011-08-25T11:14:00.001+08:00

A second shirt dress for me! This time it is 70’s inspired. I was just starting to sew up this ensemble last Thursday when I saw that the theme for Sew Weekly’s 22 August week was ‘That 70’s Sew’, what a coincidence. I found the following 1970’s shirt dress patterns from Vintage Pattern Wiki, I noticed that notched collars are very popular at those times:

The Facts

Fabric: 2 yards of purplish cotton (I am not sure if it’s chambray, it’s medium weight!): RM7/USD2.30 per yard

Notions: Piping, 4 vintage buttons, 2 small buttons and some interfacing

Total Cost: RM19 / USD6.30

Pattern: Simplicity 2403 (Project Runway), gifted by Cathe (see her version here), precut size 14

I made View B. This is quite a popular pattern evidenced by the number of reviews. Read my review here. Most claimed the sleeves are too puffy but I like them because it has a vintage twist to it. Like many others, I omitted the side slit on the skirt.

Pattern Beware: The waistband piece is about 2 to 3 inches shorter. Do cut out 3 inches longer than the original and then attach it to the bodice and cut off the excess. Hence, you also need to adjust the darts and pleats on the skirt to match the lengthened waistband.

Time to Complete:

Oooohh..this one took forever. Perhaps 20 hours minimum? Sans the cutting and tracing, yikes! There were about 20 pieces to trace and cut. If you are looking for a ‘quick and easy’ pattern, this is not for you. There were many sewing ‘firsts’ for me for this dress: princess seams, curved inset pockets, gathered yolk, notched collars (actually they are 2 collars overlapping one another, smart!), sleeves placket with keyhole detail and handpicking a side zipper! Big learning curve.

First worn: To work today! Yay! I really like the style of the notched collars, the curved pockets provide some cute detail and the front buttons. I am lucky again that this pattern fits me without alteration.

Wear again?: Yes! Yes! Yes! I feel happy wearing this dress and it is super comfy. This will be an office wardrobe staple.

A Mousey Birthday!

2011-08-22T11:33:00.001+08:00

Little Terror turned 2!

I was so glad that she didn’t smudge the white bib all over with chocolate cream! She was dipping her fingers into the cake to try out the frosting before we sang her the birthday song.

This birthday dress was featured on A Round Tuit Link Party 63, Thanks Jill for the mention!

Birthday Dress

2011-08-15T12:35:00.001+08:00

Little Terror is turning 2 next week, I can’t believe how time has flown! Her favourite cartoon is Disney’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and could spend hours propped in front of the TV watching it (I know, that’s bad!). “Oh, Toodles!” was one of the many phrases she could say after she turned 1.

I made her a birthday dress, it’s after one of her favourite characters, Minnie Mouse.

The black piping and buttons really maketh the dress. Oh yes, piping again!

I referenced Simple Simon & Company’s Pleated Collar Tutorial and Craftiness Is not Optional’s Lucky Dress Sew Along (Scoop Detail) to make the bib. But I used pin tucks instead of pleats.

The budding photographer, she was playing with my first digital camera that I bought about 8 years ago, now it’s broken. I cropped out her feet from the pictures because she refused to wear anything other than my old rubber crocs.

Updated to say: This birthday dress kept giving me a deja-vu feeling, now I know! I have made a ‘Minnie Dress’ for Little Terror last year in May – that’s the second handmade dress I made for her, how time just goes by, she was only 9 months old then! Now she’s going to be 2..pretty soon she’ll be 19!

Vogue Shirt Dress V8352

2011-08-15T12:03:00.001+08:00

Thank you all for your encouraging comments on my first made-for-me dress, now I feel bad for my husband, he sort of got ‘blasted’ by some of you because of the comments he made on the dress. :)

So I present to you my second made-for-me, a shirt dress. I love shirt dresses, the ones at the mall are very pretty but usually I couldn’t find them in the length that enables me to hide my stubby knees and calves; now that I made my own, I could hem it to my desired length.

I piped the collars and sleeves. Those pastel pink buttons are rather sweet.

Ok, that chunky watch totally doesn’t belong in the pictures!

I had this green neon belt like forever and I never used it as I thought it was hideous but now it serves a purpose. :)

Fabric

2.5 yards Takahiro Japanese Cotton from Malaysian local fabric chain Kamdar: RM3.40 per yard (on 50% off sale, yay!);

Total Cost: RM8.50/USD2.80

Pattern

Vogue V8352, gifted by the talented Alviana of ‘Sewn by Alviana’. Check out her pretty shirtdress version here! She has cut out the pattern which happens to be my size too, so she saved me some time (cutting and tracing pattern is my least favourite as I can’t wait to sew!)

You can read my review and other’s review of the pattern here at patternreview.com

Time to complete: Spent average 2 hours each over 4 workdays after 9pm (after Little Terror has gone to sleep)

First worn: On my car porch to model for all of you, 14 Aug 2011

Wear again?: Yes! Oh I do love this one! I think has a bit of vintage twist to it too due to the floral fabric. The dropped waist with the ruffled skirt makes the design quite feminine. Even the husband said 'This is nice, better than the last one’. Guess he’s not that generous in his compliments hey.

My First Made-For-Me: Rose Garden Dress

2011-07-28T09:40:00.000+08:00

I have made many dresses for my Little Terror and dollies before, but never contemplated to make a dress for myself as I reckoned that women dresses can be really cheap on sale and a woman’s figure can be more demanding to sew for compared to little humans/dolls. However I was tempted to try making my first Made-For-Me when I saw this empire-waist dress pattern in a Japanese magazine.

There are 2 ties/sash in front just beside the wrap of the dress that you can pull back, tie a bow and cinch just below your bosoms to create an empire waist.

(Noticed that I switched my shoes in this picture? )

I shall present the specs of this dress using ‘The Sew Weekly’s Contributor’ style :)

The Facts

Fabric	:	2.5 yards Thailand cotton from Malaysian local fabric chain Kamdar: RM17/USD5.70 1 yard each of the contrast fabric,Thailand cotton as well, RM13.60/USD4.50 (the said fabrics were on 50% off sale) Total Cost: ~RM30.60/USD10.20
Pattern	:	Cotton Friend Summer 2011 Vol. 39

Fabric from Left to Right: The lighter fabric has circles of rose wreaths motifs, the darker contrast fabric has rose bushes, and the light green fabric has vines of roses cascading down. That’s why I call this ‘The Rose Garden Dress’

So far I have only worked with cottons so I naturally chose to work with cotton for this dress, but I think the dress, especially the sleeves and the skirt would drape better if I chose a more drape-y fabric. Can anyone advise on types of drape-y fabric to use which is not too tough to sew?

Time to complete: Spent average 2 hours each over 4 workdays after 9pm (after Little Terror has gone to sleep)

First worn: On my car porch to model for all of you, 23 July 2011

Wear again?: Not sure if I will step out beyond my car porch in this as it's too gaudy, too hippie looking, too home-made? My husband’s reaction when he first saw the dress was: “Is this a maternity dress?’ and ‘Are those sleeves meant to be that big?”. When I gave him the eye he said, ‘Well at least it looks like the dress in the picture of the book’. But I do admit I am not so mad about the billowy sleeves. But I do like how the fabrics matching turned out. If only I have the courage to wear this out of the house!

On another note, Little Terror was doing this yesterday. I was amazed when I saw her laid out her blanket on the sofa and held a measuring cup by the handle to do this. I did not do this act during the weekend but somehow she remembered. Can you guess what she was doing? No, not ironing clothes.

This dress was featured on

My First Feature Interview

2011-07-27T09:07:00.001+08:00

Hello! I am honoured to say that I have been featured in my first online interview by Janelle of Pinks and Fairy Tales under her ‘Creating Success Around the World - The worldwide blog hop tour that introduces you to creative people from all corners of the globe’.

Do check out the interview here and tell me what you think! Thanks so much to Janelle again for featuring me.

Jump Rope Dress

2011-07-18T09:30:00.001+08:00

This is the first Oliver + S pattern I have attempted, the popular Jump Rope dress, many thanks to a lovely blog reader who offered to swap patterns with me.

Sewing the placket for the button holes was a big learning curve for me. Notice that I like to insert piping in all my dresses? Seriously, I am addicted. The tabs on the sleeves are a nice touch on the pattern. I wish this pattern is available in my size, if you know where to find a similar pattern in adult size, do leave me a message!

She loves to ~~write~~ doodle now

1…2….3……8!

I made it in 2T size so it’s long on her now.

She was looking out for the neighbour’s dog…ooh..saw it!

“Mummy, Wooow wooow!” (that’s ‘dog’ in Cantonese)

Vintage Blue Dress

2011-07-04T10:15:00.001+08:00

I have been ~~stalking/pestering~~ waiting patiently for Jessica to post her Vintage Feedsack Dress tutorial and she finally posted it 2 weeks ago so I wasted no time in making my own version.

I do not have any feedsack fabric in my stash so I picked one that screams ‘vintage’ and the fabric is from the ‘Betty Dear’ line by Arlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman, so beautiful, isn’t it? The fabric really maketh the dress.

Yay! The bias tape lined up at the back. I decided to run some machine scallop stitches around the collar and the bias tape around the bodice as they add further ‘vintageness’ to the dress. I omitted the buttons in the front so they won’t compete with the white flower centerpiece on the bodice. My favourite part of the dress are the bow ties on the sleeves.

Both mummy and Little Terror love, love, love this dress! Thanks so much again Jessica of Craftiness is not Optional! I also participated in her Anna Dress Sew Along earlier.

Honeycomb Smocked Dress

2011-06-20T10:10:00.001+08:00

I was really excited when I saw this Honeycomb Smocking technique in Burdastyle’s Learning section by Rensz who blogs at ‘The Dress I Made’, she applied the smock to this stunning red skirt. I knew that I could apply that to make a smocked dress for my little one.

I altered the dress pattern from my Almost a Smocked Dress to accomodate the smock in the front. Rensz provided a very good pointer whereby “the amount of fabric you need is twice the length your final piece needs to have”.

Despite the smock looks a bit complicated, the technique is effectively joining two dots on a row and then redoing it again on the alternate row. It is also not too time consuming because I finished smocking 5 rows in under an hour (yes, by hand!)

I am a bit crazy about piping and covered buttons now so I will try to sneak some into my projects whenever I can. I think I am so old skool. I sewed my first invisible zipper too!

The dress looks very vintage-y, something that the Brady Bunch girls would wear! I am really happy with how this dress turned out!

The more popular way of smocking is by the pleating method via hand or machine and then adorning the pleats with embroidery thread – this is more time consuming but I would love to learn this too one fine day. I would also like to try Lia’s Crafty Journey’s Diamond Smock Tutorial next. If you know of any other good smocking tutorial online, do share!. I love the sewing community online, it is all about sharing and learning from one another, I do not see the need to attend (pay for) brick-and-mortar sewing classes. So many tutorials to attempt, too little time!

If you are having problems leaving me a message using your Google/Blogger account, please use the ‘Name/URL’ or ‘Anonymous’ option, but do include your name and blog link/email so I can visit/contact you!

Balloon Dress – Photoshoot

2011-06-13T09:43:00.002+08:00

The past few days have been rainy, but it cleared up for little terror’s photoshoot of the balloon dress last Sunday!

It is still a little big on her since it’s 2T sized. She will be 22 months old middle of this month, how my little baby has grown!

As always, photos overload when it comes to my little one :)

Want more pics? More here:-

View Full Album

Balloon Dress

2011-06-06T11:17:00.002+08:00

Hello! I made a Balloon Dress last weekend, this is very gratifying because I completed it in 2 days! :)

Balloon themed fabric for a balloon dress! Fabric is Anna Griffin for Windham Fabrics’ Mackenzie line.

Petal sleeves. Yellow buttons to accent the pockets.

Say, you want to make one too?

I used Dewi Citra’s of Innocentia - Balloon Dress and Tutorial (with patterns too!) to make this but added some petal sleeves and side pockets.

Like Citra, I was also in love with this balloon dress pattern that I saw from this Japanese book cover. She saved me some ka-chings or else I would have to buy the book for just for one pattern (the rest of the other patterns in the book are not so relevant to me as they are autumn/winter clothes).

This is a very well drafted pattern I must say, it is simple and all seams hidden in the lining. The top part sewing was quite a breeze but attaching the bubble skirt to the lining via handstitching was a tad tedious, but I second Citra that it’s worth it when you see the final product! Updated: A kind blog reader who owns the Japanese book showed me that the way they do it in the book is that you just gather the the main fabric at the bottom and attach it to the lining with your sewing machine and serge the seams to prevent fraying. I still prefer the method I used though because the seams will be enclosed in the lining – this is a case when hand stitching can trump the machine!

Thanks Citra! I love your pattern (did I mention it is free?).

Citra featured my balloon dress here

Did you see the boo-boo I made on this dress? No? If yes, you have keen attention to detail. The overlapping order on the petals for the sleeves, they are on different order for each side of the sleeves. I didn’t realize this until I have top stitched everything on the top! It doesn’t bother me too much though I am really happy with how this dress turned out.

See Little Terror model the dress here

Anna Dress Sew Along

2011-05-18T09:48:00.002+08:00

YES! I managed to finally participate in one of Craftiness Is not Optional’s sew-alongs! I have been wanting to join Jessica’s sew-alongs for a while now but a full time job on weekdays and a 21 month old little terror really wears me out at the end of the day and I really do not feel like drafting patterns and cutting fabric (my least favourite part of sewing clothes!) after 9pm after I have breastfed little terror to sleep. Jessica is such a kindred spirit to send me Part 1 and 2 first to let me have a headstart on drafting the pattern and cutting the fabric over the weekend before the sew along actually started so I could manage!

(picture taken from Jessica’s blog)

And, this sew along is my participation for Elsie Marley’s Kids’ Clothes Week Challenge that ran between 9th to 15th May.

I seriously like this Anna Dress pattern. It is a bit more matured and serious looking than the the rest of dresses I have made for my little girl though. So I present to you my Anna Dress:

I learned a lot from my first sew-along, such as drafting patterns from scratch using a T-shirt. For a first-timer pattern drafter like me, I made some mistakes so that’s why you see some unintended variations on this dress from the original pattern:-

Initially I used a T-shirt that fits my child about right so actually I ended up with an UFO piece! I should have used a bigger T-shirt. So now I have another unfinished Anna dress with just the top part and waist band sewn on – I did a fitting on my girl and really struggled to put it on her – it was too small. Maybe the bodice part I drafted was too short on the UFO.

And I redrafted the dress and still I made mistakes! The overlapping sections on the front were too long so I had to use 2 buttons instead of one.
The waist band is also too broad so I had to sew a cover piece at the back to insert an elastic to cinch the waist back to shape. The fabric for the waistband are from the Minnie Dress.

I have not fitted the dress on my little terror but I think it’s a little big on her as after my UFO incident, I made sure I redrafted the pattern with more allowances (maybe too big now instead!). This dress is fully lined as the polka dot fabric (English cotton) is thinner than quilting cotton.

I think I have to stop taking pictures in front of my house, sometimes the glare from the sun is too much for the pictures; not to mention ‘boring’ too. Can anyone give me tips for taking pictures of outfits indoors?

You can make one too! Do check out Jessica’s other sew alongs, I want to try them all if only time permits :)

Romantic Ruffles Sailor Dress

2011-05-04T09:37:00.002+08:00

I present to you the dress that nearly turned U.F.O. because of my own blunder.

I have always wanted to make a sailor dress for my little terror so I was very glad to know that this pattern is available from this book.

I wanted to jazz up the pattern thus I modified the following:-

Raised the neckline as I felt the original was too low and thus redrafted the sailor collar using Farah Makes Stuff: Sailor Dress Tutorial that she submitted for Burdastyle’s Fiskars Unzipped Contest; and rounded the edges on the collar.
I was so in love with Aesthetic’s Nest: Easter Dress for Audrey so the ruffles and piping on the collar and sleeves were inspired by her dress. The ruffles and home made piping really romanticized the dress. The fabric is ‘Juliet’ by Windham Fabrics.
The gathered skirt at the bottom of the dress was not my original plan. Initially I stuck to the pattern but because of my blunder I had to chop the pattern short and attach a ruffly skirt at the bottom using the precious fabric remnants I have. I think this turned out a mistake for the better as the skirt ruffles complement the ruffles on the collar and sleeves!
Added a sash at the back – look how thin the sash is (case of insufficient fabric!)

If you would like to score yourself some free fabrics and Ottobre magazines, don’t miss Princess Closet’s European Blockbuster Giveaway!

Linked to

The Near U.F.O. Project

2011-05-03T10:25:00.001+08:00

This is a sneak peek of my next sewing project. I was trying to work on this project this last long Labour Day weekend with a curious and active little terror calling ‘Mama mama!’ and prancing around me and poking at my sewing notions in my sewing room. Lesson learnt: Not wise to sew and try to have a lookout for your little one at the same time; so much for multi tasking, I nearly abandoned this project and it was verge of U.F.O. (a.k.a. unfinished object!)

If you are interested in my story, do read on. My mind was in ‘Ok, time to find some scrap to make some home made bias tape to be made into piping’ when I noticed little terror was playing with one of the fabric pieces I have cut out for the project. I quickly snatched it back from her and I proceeded to marking and cutting out strips of fabric on bias to make the piping.

Fast forward to evening time after 9pm when little terror has fallen asleep. So I resumed on my project. I just finished sewing the collar which turned out pretty good (in my opinion) with the ruffles and home made piping. So I was keen to attach the collar to the main bodice to see how it would look like. I begun to attach the 3 parts of the dress at the sides to create the frame but couldn’t find the left side of the main bodice section. Searched my scrap bin, fabric closet and dustbin 3 times and couldn’t locate it. Proceeded even to harass my poor husband about it because I thought he was vacuuming the room in the afternoon. He even went to check the dust bag in the vacuum machine because he thought he had vacuumed up some pieces of piping; because I looked so mad!

I looked at the left over fabric and to my horror, I realized I had taken the missing piece to cut out bias strips to make my piping! As you may recall my mind was in ‘Cut fabric into bias strips and make piping mode’ when I snatched ‘some’ fabric from little terror. I didn’t realize that I proceeded to use it to make piping, I thought I was cutting scrap fabric. I told my husband about it and he laughed out so loud. I am so absent minded. I know women are multi taskers but it’s really distracting trying to work on your project with a curious and active toddler poking around in the background! Did this ever happen to you? Do share!

I thought I could just cut out another piece from my leftover fabric. But there’s not enough fabric (length-wise) to make it. I was feeling so disappointed then. The collar turned out nice. And the fabric is nice (it’s ‘Juliet’ by Windham Fabrics). Husband suggested to buy another yard. I ordered this online! I couldn’t bear to wait another few weeks for fabric to arrive on my door step and continue this. I thought of abandoning it and shelving this aside to the furthest corner of my fabric closet so I couldn’t see it and be reminded of this stupid mistake, ha!

But, I finished this project yesterday, I just need to sew on some buttons to complete it. Stay tuned for the final reveal. I really leveraged on every piece of fabric left to salvage this project! I had to change the original design but I think it turned out not too bad. ;)

On another note, I learned a very good tip online on using your normal sewing foot to make gathers. Just select the highest sewing tension and use your longest stitch (Mine was ‘9’ and ‘4’ respectively), and your normal sewing foot will make gathers for you. You don’t need to order that expensive sophisticated gathering foot.

Look, how nice the ruffles/gathers turned out. I found that the machine gathers better/more if you are sewing on two-fold or thicker fabric.

The ‘Fishy’ Party Dress – Fitting Day

2011-05-03T09:44:00.001+08:00

Remember this 2T Party Dress? I was checking the little terror’s closet of dresses and realized that I didn’t really give her a fitting for this dress since I made it last December; I knew it was too big for her then so I just put it away and nearly forgot about it. I gave her a fitting during last long weekend and it’s still big on this little 20 months old who is on the skinny side.

I really like the dramatic long sash at the back with the covered buttons and fabric loops for enclosure. Check out The Cottage Home: The Party Dress Tutorial to make one for your little precious!

She just learned the ‘No.1 sign’ recently, I leave you with some funny pictures of her doing just that.

Pic on your right: A future supermodel in the making. Her ‘No.1’ was hidden behind her cheek and she likes to purse her lips now. Oh, my mum and I gave her a hair cut a week ago because it’s grown too long and it makes her little face appear smaller if she has long hair.

Another Peter Pan Collar Dress

2011-04-18T11:14:00.003+08:00

I am obsessed with peter pan collars and puffed sleeves, you notice that too, don’t you? I have already made similar collared dresses for my little one here and here.

My favourite part of the dress are the box pleats. The pattern is from the 1996 published ‘Favourite Dress’ by Ondori. When I saw the cover, I knew I had to have this book. I have a compulsive disorder of wanting to buy any pattern book where a peter pan collar is featured on the cover.

I took the opportunity to learn to make my own piping and apply piping to the collar and sleeves of the dress using The Cottage Home’s ‘Sew Basics: Piping’ and ‘Make your Own Piping’ tutorials. There are many piping tutorials online but I find this one the best because it teaches you the important trick of “stitch slightly to the left of your original piping stitching. You need to make sure you stitch to the left, because if you don't the original stitching will show through when you turn your garment” (I quote Lindsay!). The Cottage Home blog’s tutorials are really great, I made ‘The Party Dress’ using Lindsay’s tutorial as well. I think the accent/contrast striped fabric for the home made piping and covered buttons match the fabric well. I bought the fabric from a local online retailer who said it’s from Japan.

My work in progress. I derived huge satisfaction when my home made piping appeared so well applied to the collar on my first try.

This is a 2T sized dress, so my 1 year 8 month old is currently in between sizes, it is still big on her but doesn’t she look so grown up in it?

I trimmed her bangs last Saturday again and she’s more cooperative this time, but it’s a bit crooked, my bad! Her shoes don’t really match the dress.

I changed the pattern a little and added a sash at the back. There are box pleats at the back too.

And look, I sewed my first zipper! Cheers!

My Village Frock Wannabe

2011-04-04T10:16:00.001+08:00

The Sugar City Journal’s Village Frock Pattern has caused quite a sensation on the world wide web since it was released in Feb 2008, and it sold like hot cakes and has gone out of print, the pattern designers have no plans to reprint it for sale. You can see how popular it is by the number of dresses people around the world has made in this Flickr Group. Many seamstresses like me have searched far and wide for it, but so far I have no luck in obtaining a copy, so I decided to try to ‘wing’ it in making one myself without the original pattern, so I present to you ‘My Village Frock Wannabe’!

I have studied the pictures online and decided that this pattern is actually an extension or has its origins from a peasant dress. Since I am really no experienced pattern drafter (from scratch, that is!), I had to start somewhere and used this peasant dress pattern from this Japanese book and modified the neckline and sleeves.

The Mizoal and Kleinerkarl’s Village Frock sewalong/tutorial helped a lot in figuring out on how to modify this peasant dress pattern to make this frock wannabe. Also, there is actually a free pattern offered by Simply Together: Simply Sweet Frock which is akin to the original Village Frock with some modifications, with no button loops and narrower sleeves without the gathers, this blog gave me some pointers too on modifying my peasant dress pattern. To use this free pattern seems like the easy way out but I think the main highlight of the frock are the gathered neckline and sleeves so I can’t simply do without it.

I made this in 2T size so this is already a very roomy dress to begin with so it is currently HUGE on my little 1 year 7 month old:-

Since my fabric choice are of Christmasy colours I think she will fit just well into it for Christmas this year :)

If I were to remake this I would make it a little more A-lined, place the buttons closer to the edge as I feel the button loops show too much in my wannabe frock, and shorten the top portion of the sleeve but lengthen the bottom gathered portion. But I think it’s not too bad for a first try! I am quite satisfied with how the neckline and sleeves turned out.

This is my first time making my own bias tape for the trim around the neckline and sleeves, really, handmade bias tape are so much nicer and cuter on garments.

If you are reading and do have the original pattern please leave me a message if you can help to send me a trace of the pattern (for trade of patterns or I can reimburse your snail mail costs), I would really really appreciate it!

Since I can’t bring her out yesterday in ‘this tent’ I quickly changed her into the 1T sized ‘Almost a Smocked Dress’ that I made a while ago.

Updated on 10 April 2011: This frock was featured on Grosgrain Fabulous’ Flickr Favs! That made my day ;)

Polka Dot Shirt Dress - Fitting

2011-04-01T09:43:00.001+08:00

After my blog post yesterday, I actually tried the 2T shirt dress on my 1 year 7 month old, and it actually fits although it’s a little long!

The pictures below were taken a week later, in the car, I love those ponytails!

Picture on the bottom right: “Mum, are you still taking pictures? Hmmpph!”

Polka Dot Shirt Dress

2011-03-31T10:11:00.001+08:00

Hello! I got a bit of my sewing groove back. This is what I made last weekend, a 2T/90cm sized shirt dress.

I am thinking of adding a sash for this dress, do you think it needs one?

Box pleats at the back. The dress obviously needs a bit more ironing! :)

I applied pink ric rac on the edges of the collar, sleeves and pockets, they complement the fabric and look like half moons/dots. I also made a pleat on the pockets to match the box pleats at the back of the dress. The fabric is ‘City Girl’ by Kity Yoshida for Bernatex.

The pattern is from No. 14 and 17 of this ‘Simple + One’ Japanese pattern book. I merged both patterns together because I prefer the rounded collars and sleeves on the shirt dress. I prefer to dress my little one with sleeved dresses as she is bit on the tiny and skinny side.

My little 1 year 7 months ~~couldn’t fit into this yet~~ , {click here for the little model in the dress} actually she is only fitting well into the 1T/80cm Teddy Bear Dress I made for her a while ago.

Come on, eat and sleep more so you can grow more meat!

I am looking for Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress (cost prohibitive for me to purchase from where I live) and the Sugar City Village Frock (out of print) patterns, if you are reading and would like to do a pattern trade for my Japanese patterns(trace your pattern and snail mail to me and I will do the same for you), kind do leave me a message or email me. Thank you!

Wee…. wee….. skirt

2011-01-17T11:08:00.001+08:00

Hello 2011! I can’t believe it’s another year, so a recap of my crafty life in 2010 - I started sewing for my little girl in May 2010 and made 7 little dresses, one T-shirt refashion and joined an online bag making competition, you can view all of them here. I am pretty happy with projects so far but I wish I have time for more, so I hope I can accomplish more in 2011 and destash my fabric collection so I have reason to do more online fabric sprees, wink wink! And a BIG thank you to all who left comments on my creations, I really love to read your comments and do keep them coming :)

I started off 2011 with a light but very gratifying project. I made this Wee..wee…skirt from Hickety Pickety Handmade’s No Hem Skirt…It’s So Easy tutorial. I love the tutorial as it is easy to follow and I really like the idea of the contrast band at the bottom of the skirt.

I call it wee..wee..because I think the skirt is so tiny! The dimensions of the skirt are only 36 x 9 inches, and it fits my nearly 1 year 5 months old (but she’s really a bit small sized for her age compared to the other toddlers, and this is my current source of stress! She rarely stays still and doesn’t like to nap, that’s why it’s so difficult for her to grow meat!). 36 inches is because that’s the maximum width of the fabric I have. This is another utterly awfully cute fabric. It is “Giggle Feathers by Robin Frederick for Studio E’. And I added a yellow solid band at the bottom.

I gotta trim her bangs, but this willful little terror who won’t let me do it!

The ‘Fishy’ Party Dress

2010-12-13T10:12:00.003+08:00

How many of you are like me, whereby you bookmark those numerous online tutorials thinking that ‘I will attempt this one day’ but usually they are forgotten in the end? Ha!

When I saw this The Cottage Home: The Party Dress + Tutorial two weeks ago, I not only bookmarked it, I had the drive to make it too instantly! It’s too pretty to pass up!

Picture taken from The Cottage Home

I have a case of owning too many busy print cotton and not enough good quality solids. The fabric that I chose for my Party Dress are two coordinating prints from “The Odyssea by Momo for Moda Fabrics’ line. If you view closely, the flowery fabric for the sash and skirt band is of the same print with the green fishies on the red fabric.

I made this in 2T size size, patterns are provided from 18 months to size 5T, and did I say the pattern is free too? The blog owner, Lindsay a.k.a The Cottage Mama is such a kindred spirit (Yes, Anne of GG fan here!), she even answered promptly my email questions about construction of the dress. I love all aspects of the this dress. The instructions provided by Lindsay are very clear too. “This bodice is fully lined and the skirt piece is entirely encased within the bodice. This makes for a truly high-quality dress”, so to quote Lindsay. I love how full the skirt is too.

The back view. The sash is long and wide and makes for a dramatic bow at the back.

I also love how Lindsay suggested to use fabric loops and fabric covered buttons for the back enclosure. It really makes the dress looks luxurious.

I realized that fabric loops are a great way to enclose a dress as you do not have to be so precise about the placing of the buttons as the flexible fabric loops will accommodate (as opposed to placing of buttons for button holes). It makes me want to use fabric loops to make all my future dresses, hehe!

I bought an inexpensive set of fabric covered button tool from Daiso Japan.

I am so chicken I have not attempted to sew a zipper yet.

Without the sash

I really love this dress pattern. I can imagine making a few more of these with different prints and accents.

Thanks again to The Cottage Mama Lindsay and The Cottage Home!

And to my little girl: So grow up already! Mama wants to see you parade and twirl in this!

Updated on 2 May 2011: Click for pictures of Little Terror wearing this dress

Sewing ahead for my little girl

2010-12-13T09:37:00.001+08:00

I have decided to sew ahead for my little girl who’s nearly 1 year 4 months old now, I decided that she has enough 1T sized handmade dresses in addition to store bought ones; so I have started to make 2T outfits for her. Also, because I am lazy to do my own DIY pattern-scale-down as most pattern books I have feature 90cm size (2T) for their smallest pattern.

I made this a while ago but I do not have time to post it. This pattern is from a Japanese pattern book, I have seen many online posts on dresses made from this pattern, I believe most people bought the book for this pattern.

The fabric is ‘In the Wild’ by Hoffman. Hopefully my little one grows up quick and can fit into this soon!

Goodies in the mail!

2010-12-13T09:23:00.001+08:00

I love receiving parcels in the mail (who doesn’t?). Hehe. Even I ordered and paid for something online there’s always great anticipation waiting for it to arrive. This is a late post for I received this special package from Lia of Lia’s Crafty Journey about a month ago, she sent me this for my winning entry in her Foxy Bag Competition.

The goodies came in a handmade goody bag, the label says, ‘Lovingly, Sewmanics’ (that’s Lia’s and her best friend’s Chia’s online shop where you can order their handmade clothes and accessories for children).

Drum roll please……TA DAAAA the goodies!

I apologize the picture’s a bit dark. Clockwise from Top:

Lia’s famous Gocco cards
Indonesian hand screenprinted fabric
Indonesian batik
The crinkled fabric with the darling little bunnies are Double Gauze Cotton! (I had no idea what is double gauze until I received this - will sew something special with it)
Beautiful white lace
Purse frames (These are just what I wanted as they are not sold locally)
Straps for making handmade bag

I LURVEEEE them all…THANKS SO MUCH LIA!!

Teddy Bear Dress fits..!

2010-12-09T09:25:00.000+08:00

The dress is still quite big on her. If I were to remake this, I would use a solid colour for the bodice so the collar and lapel with the buttons details would show better. My head spins now looking at those teddies on that dress!

Can’t wait to get out of the house – and Daddy’s camera shy!

Mummy, let me have a go at the camera please!

I made this Teddy Bear Dress a while ago but my little girl has been growing very slowly in terms of weight. She’s a little tiny for a nearly 1 year 4 months old. I am not sure if it’s because she’s still 100% on mummy’s milk (plus solids of course) or she’s just too hyper, burning all her calories running around and rarely staying still when she’s awake. I think she can wear it till she’s 2! :)

I do love the teddy fabric but I think it’s too busy for this dress, but alas, I have bought many of such juvenile and whimsy fabrics from my spontaneous online sprees. :(

And….this wee little girl still fits into the Minnie Dress! :)

Two weeks ago, I received my ‘special package’ from Lia for winning her Foxy Bag competition, pictures of the goodies soon!

Have finished a dress from a Japanese pattern book and nearly finished sewing a Party Dress from a free pattern + tutorial online. Pictures soon!

T-shirt to Toddler Dress

2010-10-04T10:41:00.002+08:00

My family and I attended a regional Family Day event held by my employer last Saturday and all staff had to wear the event T-shirt with printed logo. The smallest shirt size available for children is a 4T to 6T and I didn’t want my little 1 year and 1 month old girl to be left out. Then I remember reading Happy Together’s ‘T-shirt to Toddler Dress’ tutorial where I got some pointers to refashion the 4T to 6T T-shirt to an A-line toddler dress for my little girl. I basically followed the tutorial to make this but added a pair of winged and gathered sleeves (instructions below).

Before & After T-shirt Refashion

It is only cute to reveal one’s undies in public when one is still a baby/toddler!

More pictures of the little terror in action in her T-shirt dress

How to make the winged and gathered sleeves

This post linked to:-

Little one goes grocery shopping

2010-09-20T09:17:00.001+08:00

Hello!

It’s been almost one month since my last sewing creation! Been caught up here and there but I would love to embark on my next project soon. Meanwhile, my little one is now 1 year old and she can walk now (like a penguin). Yesterday we went grocery shopping and this is her second time wearing mummy’s handmade Buttons Dress.

On another note, my foxy bag won the competition. I appreciate and thank those who voted for me. :)

Battle of the Foxes

2010-09-03T12:46:00.001+08:00

Lia’s Crafty Journey has just posted my foxy bag entry below along with other creative foxy entries today in her blog.

If you like my foxy bag enough, I would appreciate your vote, you can cast your vote here by leaving a comment after the blog entry. Thank you!

My Foxy Bag

2010-08-23T09:56:00.001+08:00

When Lia from Lia’s Crafty Journey posted this Foxy Bag pattern, I decided to take up the challenge and make it! The first bag I have ever made was a disaster, I made it for exam purposes during my 4th year of high school. So this is officially my ‘second’ handmade bag. There were no instructions provided so I had to figure out for myself how to sew the lining for the bag, but since the pattern was provided, it really helps a lot.

I have some left-over houndstooth cotton from this handmade Momoko doll ensemble, the brown peach colour is perfect for a fox, I reckon. The lapel is beige stretch cotton and I ran some decorative scalloped edge stitches on it to jazz it up. The nose is brown gingham cotton. The lining for the bag is the same material I used for the internal of the ears, I forgot to take pictures of the inside of the bag :)

The pouf-ed up version – I inserted some scrap fabric into it.

If I were to remake this bag I would use a stronger, thicker lining so the bag will hold up better.

I think this fox looks like an owl too, don’t you think? :)

Thanks Lia for the pattern, I would love to make her Mr. Seahorse and Ms. Lipsie next! They are all free patterns, do check out her wonderful blog.

Cherry On Top Award

2010-08-17T14:27:00.006+08:00

I have been bestowed my first virtual award, how liberating! Sophia of Iro Iro presented me with this honor. Thank you!! I guess she needs no further introduction as she has become a very celebrated self-taught seamstress on cyberspace, if you are a frequent visitor of Burdastyle; and she has only been sewing for 3 months, truly talented! Did I also mention she’s a very young pretty thing? Don’t believe me, go clicky-click on her blog.

Alright, now I need to ‘carry out’ the rules of this award :)

1) Thank the blogger who awarded you (Done happily!)

2) Put the award on your blog (Done happily!)

3) List three things about yourself:

My baby girl is turning 1 this 23rd and I am still fully breastfeeding her.
My favourite movie of all times is “Anne of Green Gables” (that explains the prairie dresses and the peter pan collars, hey!)
I am originally from a quaint little town called "Sandakan, Sabah” and I would love to move back there one day if I could.

4. Post a photo that you love:
It cracks me up everytime I see this picture, that was when my then-8-month-old baby was just accepting her solids. She rejected solids for 2 whole months!

5. Pass the award on to five awesome people (in no particular order)!

Buttons Dress

2010-08-17T10:01:00.002+08:00

Another dress pattern with peter pan collars – I heart them! . The pattern is meant for stretch T-shirt material but I sewed using cotton fabric instead, as I do not have any of the former. The 90cm pattern is used but I did not add seam allowances in some places and shortened the length by 3cm.

I love the simple box pleat at the center of the dress, easy to sew too! I used a small piece of left over rectangle fabric to make the detachable bon-bon brooch. The fabric is 'Buttons' by Westminster Fabrics.

I created loops for the buttons with embroidery floss using the blanket stitch. Word of Caution: If you are using non-stretch cotton fabric like me, do make the back opening TWICE the length of the original pattern. As the pattern originally calls for stretch fabric. Your child’s head will not be able fit through the dress! :) I realized my mistake after I have finished sewing the back opening and I was like ARRRGGGGHH and had to pick my seams again. :)

I omitted the gathering and elastic on the sleeves as I was not able to do so as it wasn’t stretch fabric, or the sleeves would end up too short.

This pattern is from this Japanese pattern book full with cutesy girl patterns!

Walk down memory lane..sewing for my dollies

2010-08-12T11:06:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time, I fell in love with a Japanese doll called Jenny (by Takara). To my delight, I discovered there are Japanese pattern books that teaches one to sew for these cute dolls, and so began my mad sewing frenzy for these dolls. During my breaks from uni, I would sew for them using my grandmama's black manual Singer sewing machine, ah, the carefree days!

The following pictures are my Jenny dollies modelling all the dresses I have made for them over a decade ago. These pictures used to be hosted on Geocities; the free host server discontinued its service. I am reposting these pics here for my walk down memory lane.

I loved making Anne of Green Gables and prairie dresses

Victorian dresses are a hit with me too

Japanese 'Pink House' themed dresses

Ethnic & Casual

For those interested, you can download my 'Jenny portfolio' here which contains bigger sized pictures of all the pictures displayed above.

Then, about 5 years ago, I discovered yet another Japanese doll called 'Momoko' (by Petworks & Sekiguchi), and sewed for them as well, as you can read from all the past entries in this blog.

As one of my friend remarked, all these sewings for dollies have provided very good practice for my transition into sewing for my baby daughter!

Almost a smocked dress....

2010-08-09T09:20:00.014+08:00

Peter pan collared and smocked dresses are my favourite style to dress my little girl. Since I do not have the time yet to learn real smocking, this dress pattern from Japanese 'Children's Style Book' is the closest to a smocked dress. There are 3 rows of gathers on the front of this dress which gives the smocking effect after I embroidered some decorative zig-zag stitches on top of the gathers. The dress (80cm pattern size) is a bit big and long on my almost-one-year-old, hope she will grow into it soon.

The picture above is a bit blur, but that's the best I can manage as I always get blurred pictures as she's really an active kid!

The dress Fabric: 'Zidadee Zoo' by Lyndhurst Studios (Quilt Cotton)
Close up - zig zag embroidery for 'faux smocking'

Work in progress

This book has a great variety of little girls' patterns, I really recommend this one!

The cranky little princess

Updated on 18 April 2010: This is her modelling the dress at 1 year and 8 months old.

Teddy Bear Dress

2010-07-30T09:42:00.016+08:00

Hello!

It's been 2 months since the second dress I made for my baby. In a perfect alternate world, I do not have a full time job and I would have time to sew everyday *wishful thinking*! Finally, managed to make a third dress for my baby. Time flies, she's 11 months old now! This dress is supposed to be her first birthday dress but she's still too small for it now as this dress is 80cm (12 to 18 months size). You can click on each picture to view its original bigger size. Kindly leave me your comments!
Updated: Click here for a later post to see my little girl modelling this dress

Pattern Description:

Pattern is from Cucito Summer 2010. I used the smallest pattern size is 80 cm (12 to 18 months old).

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes! I am so proud of it! This time I challenged myself to make a dress with collars, sleeves, pleats and buttonholes! I like the the dress design whereby there is a lapel held in place by 2 buttons, too cute!

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, even the collars section. I do not read Japanese but the pictures and instructions are very clear.

Fabric Used:
American Quilting Cotton. It's 'Time for Teddy' by FabriQuilt. It's awfully cute, right?

I have linked this post to Tea Rose Home's Link Party. Click on the button below to see more handmade items by creative people around the world! ~~There's also a giveaway currently running at her blog~~ ~~here~~

Update to Itty Bitty Dress

2010-07-19T09:22:00.003+08:00

The dress fits her better now that she's taller and 'meatier' at 10 months 3 weeks old!

Minnie Dress

2010-05-24T09:47:00.011+08:00

My second attempt at baby dress sewing. This is a pattern from Cucito Summer 2009 magazine. I call this the 'Minnie Dress'! Think red spots, that's Minnie Mouse's staple dress! hehe.

The dress seems a bit too big on my small sized 9 month old because it is actually based on a 80cm size pattern. The smallest pattern is 90cm in the book but I figured if I do not add any seam allowances to the pattern it will be more or less 80 cm,1 year old size.

Was very nervous when I used the sewing machine to make button holes for the very first time; as the dress was complete, and the final phase was to sew on the button holes, what if I blotch it! There goes the dress! haha. Fortunately the button holes turned out ok

What are pockets good for? Dollies, of course!

Update: Little Terror’s pictures wearing this dress at 1 years 4 month old

First hand made dress for my baby

2010-05-17T09:26:00.012+08:00

After a long sewing hiatus, I was inspired to sew a baby dress for my nearly 9 months old daughter after reading so many crafty blogs in the world wide web, such as as this one, 'Lia's Crafty Journey. This is my first time sewing adult-sized (well, infant-sized to be precise) after making so many dolly dresses over the years.

This dress pattern is from the (Free!) Itty Bitty Dress Pattern by Made by Rae. The yellow fabric is supposed to be lining and bias but I thought it's quite nice too so I made a 'yin and yang' dress, so you get 2 dresses in one; I just alternated the fabrics for each side of the dress (no, I do not have enough time to make 2 dresses on ONE Saturday morning! hehe). I made the fabric flower according to 'Sew ritzy-titzy's' tutorial.

Which side do you prefer?

Rune Tea Party

2007-08-22T14:08:00.000+08:00

I received the cutest picture from my friend Ginie today. She sent me this picture of her Rune dolls clad in my handmade outfits, having a tea party.

Country Momoko

2007-07-16T08:42:00.001+08:00

This is my latest Momoko, Menuette Momoko at Summer Gateway. I think her style is suitable for country taste thus I made her an Anne of Green Gables dress and apron, with a matching bonnet.

Anne poses with Takara sized Anne of Forest Fairy (Licca's version of Anne of Green Gables).

I received more pictures from my collector friend Ginie, she took more group pictures of her Momoko modelling my handmade outfits. I simply love these group pictures!!

Country Cottage Group

Country Kitchen Maids

Harry Potter Book Club (another of my fav!)

Chic

2007-07-09T08:38:00.001+08:00

I made the shirt, skirt and vest according to the patterns in DCR5. Momoko looks so chic in this ensemble. The shirt is made from chiffon fabric and the rest is houndstooth cotton.

Ginie's Momokos

2007-07-06T09:52:00.000+08:00

These are some pictures I received from my collector friend, Ginie. Her Momokos are wearing some of my handmade creations, striking fun poses. I envy that she has so many pretty Petworks Momokos! My favourite picture is the Momoko holding a miniature magazine (with Charlie's Angels on the cover).

You can click on each picture to see it in its original bigger size.

Chiffon

2007-07-02T08:22:00.001+08:00

This is my first time working with chiffon fabric. I made last week's outfit again, a pattern from DCR5, using chiffon in yellow, blue and purple. The chiffon dresses drape better than last week's made from stiff lace fabric. So here are my Momokos as 'Chiffon Fairies'.

Chiffon fabric is very soft, smooth and frays easily too, not an easy fabric to work with.

Here is a picture a Korean doll in traditional hangbok costume that a relative bought for me all the way from its country of origin. Cute!

Doll Coordinate Recipe 5 book!!

2007-06-25T16:12:00.001+08:00

I just received the latest Doll Coordinate Recipe 5 ("DCR5") book. It was just released early this month and this edition was penned by the famous QP

This white dress is made according to a pattern in the book. I used some sort of lace fabric to make it and it's a bit stiff. If I had used a softer fabric like organza or chiffon the skirt part would be less puffy.

I also finished a new yellow embroidered qipao.

Patchwork dress

2007-06-18T08:38:00.001+08:00

My latest handmade ensemble for Momoko is a one-piece patchwork dress teamed with a matching pink jacket. A hunting cap was made from the same patchwork fabric.

My own Girl's End Momoko

2007-05-28T08:48:00.001+08:00

Hi all!

I was very thrilled with the official upcoming Momoko news last week on the Wake Up Momokos and Girl's End Momoko. I was inspired when I saw the Girl's End Outfit. The official picture of the authentic Girl's End Momoko is here.

I have plenty of red plaid fabric from the last Momoko outfit I made so I tried making my own 'Girl's End' outfit.

Get Ready Summer Momoko happens to have BIG curly hair like the upcoming Girl's End Momoko so she gets to model the outfit!

Anime Uniform (??)

2007-05-21T09:04:00.001+08:00

I like making the pin-tucked york for outfits because I love Victorian styles. Instead of a normal skirt, I made pleats for the bottom part - the end result of the outfit reminds me very much of an anime school uniform, especially with that little yellow bow on the neck. The red plaid cloth is very pretty, this outfit also looks like something Momoko could wear to a casual christmas party? What do you think?

Chinese Ladies

2007-05-14T09:08:00.001+08:00

I made two new embroidered cheongsams for my Momoko girls in pink and lavender a few weeks ago and finally found time to take some photos yesterday.

Updated post:-
Took a picture of my Get Ready Summer Momoko in this Victorian/Country dress.

Doll Coordinate Recipe 4

2007-03-26T09:20:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday, I made two outfits using patterns from the Doll Coordinate Recipe 4 book.

I like this One-Piece pattern very much, it's very feminine. I should have used a more interesting piece of fabric to make this outfit.

I call this 'The Little Yellow Number', because I think Momoko looks kinda sexy in it, it looks a bit like lingerie, haha. The original pattern is actually a revealing top, I added length to the bottom part and added a layer of gauze/veil.

First two outfits for 2007

2007-03-12T09:11:00.001+08:00

I have not posted a single sewing entry since I moved house, now I realized that my last sewing venture was last year's July 2006!

1) Blue Polka Dots Frock

I made a simple pleated frock last Saturday.

2) Embroidered Qipao

Actually I made this qipao 2 months ago but didn't take pictures of it until yesterday - meant to post these pictures before Lunar (Chinese) New Year on 18th February 2007.

I removed my Tagboard so I would be happy if you can leave me comments/feedbacks underneath this post!

Dolly Cupboard

2007-01-05T08:29:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year everyone! It's been a long, long while since I signed in my blog. Have moved house and finally set up my 'Dolls Hall of Fame' in a cupboard.

New doll, new outfit

2006-07-10T08:33:00.001+08:00

This is my 5th Momoko, she is Get Ready Summer Momoko. What happened to my resolution to get only 1 Momoko? haha. I like this doll very much, her curly locks are manageable and I arranged her hair this way with a forelock.

A new doll calls for a new handmade outfit, so last Saturday I made this ensemble. The shirt is a pattern from My Favourite Doll Book 21. Momolita's patterns are very detailed and it is a tad consuming to make. I like the triangular collars on this shirt pattern very much. To match the shirt, I made a simple pleated skirt. If you look carefully, there's a bit of veil fabric peeking out from the skirt, I noticed that this is the fashion for skirts nowadays.

Lolita style (??)

2006-07-03T08:53:00.001+08:00

This outfit is a pattern from 'My Favourite Doll Book No. 21', a pattern book for Jenny dolls (also 1/6 sized). The book is penned by Momolita who's famous for her Gothic and Lolita dresses.

I found sewing the york (the front piece with pin-tucks) most time consuming and challenging for this outfit. I think Momoko needs a pair of long socks and some strappy shoes to complete this outfit.

I think because of the fabric I chose, this outfit has more of a 'Country' taste than 'Lolita', don't you think?

Polka Dots

2006-06-26T08:54:00.001+08:00

I made this one-piece polka dots frock for Momoko yesterday. The lower part of the frock is a balloon skirt.

I crocheted another bunny rabbit beret for my Momoko in grey and yellow colours - here are my bunny girls:

Bigger pictures here.

Dash to School Momoko

2006-06-20T11:35:00.001+08:00

Hello!
It's been over a month since I updated my blog with a new outfit. I have been pretty occupied with other things on weekends but I will try to make a new outfit soon!

I received this new doll 'Dash to School Momoko' a month ago. I love her side bangs and bob hair. She is wearing a handmade outfit set I made - crocheted bunny ears beret and matching top and a pleated cotton skirt.

I am also expecting another Momoko in the mail soon - Get Ready Summer Momoko, the only Momoko in the Sekiguchi line with freckles!

Sweet Casual

2006-05-15T09:09:00.001+08:00

I decided to make a casual outfit for Momoko after my brief ‘love-affair’ with cheongsams, haha. Momoko wears a salmon coloured baby doll top and a retro-inspired half-balloon mini-skirt, with a matching square bag.

More Cheongsams...

2006-05-08T08:57:00.001+08:00

I made two more embroidered and beaded cheongsams last week. One in lavender and the other in coral, which one do you prefer?

Update: I was asked by a few collectors if I did the embroidery myself on these cheongsams. Yes, yours truly did, :) . The fabric didn't come pre-embroidered. I made the cheongsam from plain cotton and embroidered it and also sewed beads to it. Thank you to those who sent me feedback!

Cheongsam & Jolie in Green

2006-05-02T08:56:00.001+08:00

Cheongsam (Qipao)

It’s been a while since I made a Chinese traditional costume; cheongsam or qipao, for my dollies. I made one with yellow cotton and adorned it with embroidery and beads. The binding for the cheongsam is made from the same cloth used to make the matching tote bag.

I ironed Sweet Poodle Momoko’s hair to tame her original unruly big hair; now she has 3 fat curls on each side of her ponytail instead of a big mess of curls. I referred to Dress*Up Momoko Zine for instructions on how to straighten a doll’s hair.

Jolie in Green

I was commissioned to make this outfit set.

Sweet Poodle Momoko

2006-04-25T09:49:00.001+08:00

Sweet Poodle Momoko is the newest addition to my Momoko family. I think she looks really sweet indeed. She's a red head with very fair skin. She's got very big hair though; as one can see, her curly ponytails on each side of her head is almost as big as her face!

Romantic Victorian Blouse

2006-04-24T09:27:00.001+08:00

I was window shopping last weekend - I noticed that romantic Victorian blouses with ruffles, pin-tucks, antique lace and faux pearl buttons are the latest fad. Momoko wears a white Victorian blouse with pin tucks and dainty lace. Her crinkled skirt is a patchwork of 5 different green colour cloths that I found in my fabric box.

Victorian and Country style ensembles are my favourites – I guess it’s because my favourite movie of all times is non other than Anne of Green Gables.

A current picture of my Momoko girls:-

Jolie En Rose

2006-04-10T09:13:00.001+08:00

This is another pink ensemble I made for Momoko. JOLIE EN ROSE (Pretty in Pink), "Jolie" means : pretty. "En Rose", means "in pink", in French. Originally I wanted to name this outfit as 'Pretty in Pink 2' (how boring!), and I am so happy that my French collector friend, Sylvie, recommended this outfit title. Thank you!

The front part of the top consists of pin-tucks and then topped with embroidery. The pin-tucks are meant to match the pink stripes on the crinkled skirt.

Kindly leave me some comments by clicking the "Comments" link under this blog entry or on my TagBoard!

Black and Gold

2006-04-03T09:21:00.001+08:00

Momoko wears a one-piece black and gold dress. This dress pattern is an extension of the ‘decolletage’ outfit pattern. I crocheted an off-white beret and tote bag to match the outfit.

JET SET's handmade cape matches the outfit so well. Momoko looks so elegant in it. She is wearing Petworks’ boots.

I learned a bit of crocheting from an aunt whilst I was still in elementary school. The only items I know how to crochet are scarves and doilies! I bought some pink and off-white yarn last week to make some ‘crochet flowers’, and I dabbled further to make Momoko some berets and hats.

Here are some crocheted hats I made for Momoko:-

Summer's Dolls & A Friendly Exchange

2006-03-31T10:04:00.000+08:00

Summer's Dolls
Today I received this picture from Summer. Her dolls are wearing my handmade outfits "Flower Girl" and "Pretty in Pink". I love the background of this picture, gives it a 'sailor' feel. Summer is the moderator of the new Momoko forum called 'Peach Blossom BBS'. This forum enables members to post and share pictures and it is truly interactive, do join us today!

A Friendly Exchange
I did a swap or exchange for the first time with Emily of JET SET. I am happy to know that the Victorian outfit set I sent her has reached its destination, Japan. You can see Emily's dolls wearing the outfit in her blog. Emily makes beautiful kimonos from pretty Japanese cloth and also other cute contemporary outfits. She updates her blog almost everyday! In return, I received a handmade houndstooth cape and a pair of Petworks beige boots (I will post pictures next Monday).

Décolletage

2006-03-27T08:41:00.001+08:00

‘Décolletage’ is a French word describing a low neckline on a woman’s garment.

My Momokos are putting on a bold front this week by modeling these rather revealing tops (yes, they are showing off some much-admired cleavage, hehe!). The shiny gold on the top is matched with a yellow tiered skirt. The ‘yellow worms’ on Cherry Momoko’s skirt are strands of plastic beads. I threaded those beads one by one on the skirt whilst watching my favourite soap on TV.

A very kind friend gave me these Momoko boots. They are boots from ‘My Scene’ Barbie dolls.

Productive weekend it was...

2006-03-20T08:46:00.001+08:00

Hello, hope everyone had a good weekend. I was busy sewing last Saturday. Made two more Victorian blouse sets. One is for a swap/exchange (will post more on this when I receive my swap goodies!) and one is for commission work. Here are my 2 Momoko girls modelling the outfits.

Besides that, I also managed to squeeze in some time to make a balloon skirt, this time with a different fabric.

Victorian Blouse

2006-03-13T09:14:00.001+08:00

I made this Victorian Blouse according to a picture I saw online at Yuupin's website, Momoco Club. You can see the pictures here and here. When I saw the blouse at 'Momoco Club', I fell in love with it and had to have one. I adore fashions from the Victorian era. I think it's currently sold at Robochris' webshop (momokomono). Since I couldn't afford the real authentic version, I made myself one. I also made a black fitting skirt to match the blouse.

Flower Girl

2006-03-06T09:10:00.001+08:00

This ‘Flower Girl’ outfit is made according to Korisu Factory’s dress pattern found in one of the Dolly Dolly magazines. Korisu Factory (“KF”) is a member of Left Wing and is known for its ultra feminine and sweet dresses for Momoko. KF is the creator of Petworks’ 02KF Momoko, which I think is the most feminine of all Petworks’ Momokos.

I tried to make the outfit according to the KF outfit I saw at Yuupin’s website, the direct link to the photo is here. Do you think that my handmade KF ‘replica’ looks anything like the real one? Here is another variation of the outfit. I can't find most of the ribbons and trimmings at the local craft store so I had to make do and sew with what I have. I also did a little embroidery on the lace apron to match the rest of the outfit.

There’s a wee bit of Hawaiian feel to the outfit when worn by Lazy Afternoon Momoko. :)

If you would like to receive an email to notify you whenever this blog is updated, kindly enter your email at the 'Blogarithm' box and click "Keep It Fresh". The Blogarithm box is just under the TagBoard on the sidebar on your right. Thanks!

Balloon Skirt

2006-02-27T14:21:00.001+08:00

Balloon skirts seem to be the new fashion among teenage girls now thus Momoko has to spot one too! I made her a balloon skirt with a white lace top to match:-

I posed Momoko in front of a Cleo magazine (published in Malaysia for women) for this 'cover girl' shot.

Happy Lunar New Year!!

2006-01-27T14:44:00.001+08:00

Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year everyone! During this festive season, some ladies dorn Qi Paos or Cheongsams. Initially I planned to make a qi pao or cheongsam for my Momoko but didn't have time to. Here are some photos of qi paos I made in year 2000 and 2001 when I first started collecting Takara Jennys.

Pictures from Friends

2005-12-22T12:50:00.001+08:00

Hurray! Exam's over..it's time for merry-making. It's 3 days to Christmas. Brainstorming now on what to sew for my Cherry Momoko. She's still wearing her original white nightie - I am adapting to her and do think that she's quite pretty now, with the brown wavy hair.

Here are some pictures I received from collector friends. The dolls are wearing some outfits I made.

Friend: Ginie

Friend: Sylvie
Her Lazy Afternoon Momoko is wearing a Kebaya I made (2nd doll from your right)
Please visit Sylvie's site here, she makes beautiful clay dolls.

Thank you for visiting and please do leave a message on my TagBoard on your right to let me know you were here!!

Good Night Cherry Momoko

2005-10-05T09:10:00.000+08:00

This is my second Momoko, Good Night Cherry Momoko. I have eagerly waited for her arrival since the 'real' pictures of her were released in Manabe's Diary and momokodoll.com . I got her yesterday but I must say that I was a tad disappointed by the colour of her skin. She has 'yellowish' skin compared to my first Momoko (Lazy Afternoon) - I remember reading in GogoMomoko previously that 'Vanilla Wafer' has such traits. She's got really pale pink lips and her pink eyeshadow is barely visible. Relative to Lazy Afternoon, she looks really pale and 'yellow-er'. I hope this mild 'jaundice' feature is only prevalent on my Cherry Momoko, but I think that all dolls produced should be consistent in skin colour. I noticed today from the other Japanese collector sites that her colour is not as 'radiant' as the first Sekiguchi releases (Out With Puppy and Lazy Afternoon). Perhaps when you receive your Cherry Momoko, you can give me your feedback here on my Tag Board or just leave a comment below.

Taking a picture of Cherry Momoko against a yellowish background didn't help much (haha). I hope to make her something nice later, so perhaps I can learn to like her better. I hope I didn't spoil everyone's enthusiasm on receiving this doll.

In case you are wondering why I received this doll so lightning fast although it's only released a few days ago, I pre-ordered mine from Malaysia's own distributor, Xl-Shop. They received their shipment of Momoko from Japan on 1st October apparently. This was my first experience buying from them - very quick replies and item was shipped really fast, packaging was real sturdy. They ship internationally.

I think she needs a lip repaint - can anyone teach me how to? Would normal water colour paint do? Kindly leave me some comments if you know how to.

Elegant Black

2005-09-26T14:43:00.003+08:00

I think embroidery really stands out against a black kebaya blouse.

Sweet Lilac

2005-09-26T14:41:00.002+08:00

Momoko looks all set for Spring in this sweet Kebaya.

Belly Dancing Hip Scarf

2005-09-19T13:16:00.001+08:00

This is a 'project' I did as a favor for a friend who is currently bitten by the belly dancing bug. I sewed a hip scarf from scratch. I bought the gold ornaments (they are plastic), beads and red bells and hand-sewn them to a piece of cheap scarf. It's quite a time-consuming project, took me 4 nights (whilst watching TV, of course, haha!) . Though the end result looks amateurish, I am pretty glad that my friend's happily swinging her hips in it! :)

Nyonya Kebaya again...

2005-09-19T09:08:00.001+08:00

Hello again!
This is the second Nyonya Kebaya I made. More embroidery and lotsa beads!

White Daisy

2005-08-29T08:44:00.001+08:00

I made this last weekend although I didn't have much time - my hands were 'itching' to make something for Momoko. :) Sewing the dress itself on the sewing machine was pretty quick but embroidering the tiny 'Lazy Daisy' stitches topped with a transparent bead (the bead has a hint of pink which is not that obvious in the pictures) was a tad time-consuming.

Thanks for visiting and you are welcome to leave a comment on this post!!

Nyonya Kebaya

2005-08-27T11:52:00.001+08:00

This outfit was inspired by Jooli.com

Sewed this last weekend. Experimented with the stitch patterns on my new sewing machine. Embroidery stitches on the blouse are 'Lazy Daisy' stitches. Sewed on the beads on the "kasut kodok" (shoes) whilst watching evening soap (haha).

Lighting on the pictures are not good - still mastering the art of digital photography (I think I should get a camera with better resolution!!) :)

Casual Outfit

2005-08-27T11:43:00.001+08:00

The first outfit I sewed for my Momoko is a casual outfit. The blouse and bolero is a pattern from a Japanese Pattern Book called "Doll Coordinate Recipe".
Cowboy hat is from one of the MFDBs.

This is also the first outfit I sewed using my new automated Singer Sewing Machine.

Hello!

2005-08-27T11:32:00.000+08:00

Hello!
I am gonna use this blog as an online place to post pictures of my handmade creations for my 1/6 scale dolls. My latest doll craze is Momoko from Japan. Been telling myself not to succumb to this Momoko temptation but finally couldn't resist.

This is my first Momoko doll (Lazy Afternoon). I chose her because she has black bob hair (my favourite hair style for dolls).