Crepe by Colette Patterns

I love dresses.

I especially love dresses that are cinched at the waist. So when I stumbled upon the new pattern that was being offered by the beautiful people at Colette Patterns, I fell in love.

I fell hard!

Crepe was amazing; princess neckline, a sash, a wrap, and most of all.. a pattern for a beginner. Me!

Image from Colette Patterns

Look at that beauty and tell me you are not in love. Go ahead I dare you... it's so classy yet simple and elegant.

And so.. after much deliberation with my credit card.. I bought the pattern. My FIRST pattern. My FIRST dress pattern. My FIRST pattern from Colette (I heart all their dresses.. but my credit card needs to recover from the exchange rate)

While waiting for the pattern to arrive, I set about looking for fabric. I was hesitant in getting fabric that was too costly, as I didn't know if my sewing skills would be up to par. So I settled with the following:

They were at RM5.00 (USD 1.60) per meter. I needed approximately 4.5m of the print and 1.5m of the contrast color for the sash. The material is silky and has a good drape on it, more commonly used for Baju Kurung.

Finally when the pattern arrived approximately 2.5 weeks later.. I couldn't wait to start.

The pattern piece was so daunting.. on the thin tissue like paper. I was so scared I would rip it.

I laid out my fabric and traced the required patterns on it (in retrospect, I should've traced onto butcher paper or some other paper and then transfer to the fabric. That way it's easier for me to reproduce the dress at a later date). The instructions that came in the booklet was very helpful.

My only gripe was that I do not have a serger, and finishing raw edges is not my favourite thing to do. With bags and pouches, it's easy to hide them with lining. With garments, plus the fact that it will be washed multiple times, hiding is not an option. Zig-zag and pinking shears were my friend.. but please don't look at my dress too closely.. the finishing on the inside is still horrendous.

I humbly give you, my version of Crepe

I love it. I love the pockets. I love the sash.

I learned so much with this.. I learned
a) How to sew in pockets for a dress .. and it's so simple
b) How to sew the princess neckline.. (I so heart it)
c) Most importantly I learnt not to be intimidated by LARGE pattern pieces.

Now that I've made one.. and wore it out (I can't believe it!).. I want to make more. Some people have asked me to make them one too.. hahah .. if only they'd seen the seams (shhh!)

The one gripe I have is the interface for the sleeve. they pop out easily.. Did I do something wrong? I'm thinking of putting in 'steam-a-seam' kind of adhesive to make it stay put. Any ideas?

Pororo is entering a contest!

Remember the Pororo bag?

I stumbled upon Lemon Squeezy's Purse week contest .. and it's open to international entries!!


I'm so excited... I love the Pororo bag to bits coz it was something that came on at the spur of the moment and I'm really glad at how it turned out. Now I can share the joy with more people.

If you're interested in joining, head on to Lemon Squeezy's.

I love to play all day, Come join me all my friends

Title taken from lyrics of opening song of Pororo


Children have different phases in life where they would have different 'favorite' characters.
When Lil' Miss was younger, she was ga-ga over Pocoyo (link). (I would love to have a picture here, but I'm not sure if I would be infringing any image rights.. so for now a linky would suffice).

In summary, Pocoyo is a little boy in blue outfit in a vast white world ... it's white everywhere you don't know where the horizon is. I guess the 'whiteness' of the background makes the characters more interesting and colorful.

The Pocoyo phase lasted about 2 years.. and now she's into a new phase. Oddly, it starts with a 'P' too.. and ALMOST the same spelling. PORORO (link).

It's not a boy.. but a blue penguin who lives with a baby dinosaur in a snow capped village. Yes, BLUE again. I'm beginning to think it's her favorite color. (hehe It's mine too).

Anyways, she is so crazy over Pororo, she watches the DVD EVERY DAY.. NON STOP!

One day, out of the blue.. she said

'Mummy, can you make me a Petty bag?' .. Petty not as in nit-picking, kinda petty. Petty as in the character Petty in the Pororo series.. she's the pretty little girl penguin. (link)

I thought to myself 'Well, it's basically a circle with some simple features in it.. so why not?'

Thus began my adventure in making a 'Pororo/Petty' bag.. (coz both the characters had circular shaped face)

I pieced Petty with the base of a circle, cut out of an old polo-t of my husband's
Eyes were black felt, and a cute little beak made of yellow felt.
Petty's face is further accentuated with a cute fringe pattern, made out of blue felt.

Finally the pretty little face is framed with purple satin cloth.

All from my scrap pile.. Yay!

Pororo's base was from the same material as Petty's.

Again all features made from various colored felt (you gotta love how versatile these stuff is).

After that, I cut out same sized circles from some batting and also a polka dotted cotton.

This made both the faces oh so soft and cuddly.

Then it was finished off with a rectangular piece of fabric (same as the backing of the faces).

walah!..

A finished bag.

Lil' Miss loved it so much, she slept with the bag that night..

Now, that made it all worth it :)

The gift that almost wasn't

Almost 8 years ago, I started participating in an online forum where nearly everything and anything was discussed. It quickly became my social outlet, and some of the forumers; myself included; met up for lunches and 'Teh Tarik'. As with all social gatherings, cliques began to form and I found myself chatting with a couple of them on a daily basis. Addiction, you cry? Yes. There was a time when I couldn't chat with them and boy did I have major withdrawal symptoms. 

Anyways, we've kept in touch through pregnancies, change of jobs, parenting issues, novel ideas, etc. So naturally when I was about to set up this blog, I consulted one of them for a name. See, he became our de facto go to guy when it came to word play. He suggested a few.. but sew-handy stuck. As a token of appreciation, I offered to sew something for his lil' princess (coz I know a macho guy like him would NOT be caught dead carrying a wristlet :P  ).

 I naturally procrastinated on the project... sorry... but I finally did make good on my promise.. and churned out not 1 but 2 water tumbler carriers :)

I made them girly, made them pink.. totally suited for a lil' princess.

One of it (the larger one), had the lil' princess' initials appliquéd on.

 The other, I was playing with some 3D appliqué of butterflies.I was quite happy with the results.. what do you think?

I wasn't happy with some wonky sewing that kept happening though. I can't seem to be able to sew around circles well..

I must try again... lil' princess, do you need more carriers? :)

Edit: I'm such a scatterbrain.. I didn't explain the post title. It almost wasn't coz ... No, not cause I procrastinated too long.. :)  .. It was coz I sent it via Pos Laju and purportedly it's a next day delivery. Alas, DAYS went by and the gift didn't arrive. I was so worried that it was lost forever! After some calls to the post office, things got sorted out and the gift arrived safely into lil' princess' arms. In time for her birthday to boot ... booyah!

Random thoughts

I have come to realize, that as much as I love to sew and create and share.. blogging takes a lot of effort. Does this mean I'll stop blogging? Nope.. It just means I'll stop kicking myself in the derrière (for now), for not posting up anything yet (or in fact creating more stuff).

I want to make all those lovely clothes for Lil' Miss.. but daddy brought back SO MANY articles of clothings from his recent trips to the States.. That goes the same to Lil' Master too .. oh the dilemma.

OK .. GIFTS..

Hey.. that sounds good. Gifts for family and friends. Must go make my list now.

If you suddenly receive something from me, fret not. It's just me looking for an excuse to sew something ;)

TA

Challenge : Mass Production

Sewing ONE wristlet is nice.

Sewing TWO wristlets is cool

Repeat that multiple times.. and you wonder if it'll ever end.

Then you see them all stacked up.. and you swell with the sense of achievement

Don't you think they look gorgeous? It's the first tme I've sewn SO MANY wristlets at one go. 19 actually, all 'unique' in their little way.. because it's all hand-made (actually it's just that I didn't cut them all precisely *sheepish smile*).

Nope, I'm not setting up shop and building up my inventory. A friend asked me to make them for her.. she has a wristlet fetish.. I kid! I kid! She gave them away as gifts.

Sew all these (and some more) over the weekend. Now, that' what I call a frenzy!

Ah.. but wristlets alone are not enough

Booksleeves were in the request too. Not 1, not 2, but 5!

All with a ribbon sewn in as a bookmark and an elastic tie to hook on to a wooden smiley flower. Adorable, no?

There's just something about your creations all stacked up...makes me smile..

Either that or it's my sub-concious just happy that I've completed the order and can go and sleep *grins*

Isn't the fabric just oh-so-cute too?

Lil' Miss and Hello Kitty

Remember this?

I finally got around to sewing (and to post about) a blouse to match it. It's all made of the same material, local flannel. The pattern was an old McCall dress pattern my mum found in her treasure trove of books and magazines. 

Lil' Miss loves it. It's nice an airy and roomy enough for her to move around in.

Cute, no?

Clockwise from left: Full suit - front view, back view, close up of the material

I finished the back with a zip. On hind site, perhaps buttons would be better. 

The only problem I have with this material is the .. erm.. what do you call it? the little lumps that appear on the sruface after it's been to wash. 

A back shot... also to show off the cool vinyl sticker I have on the wall.. 

Happy.