Not-so-French

Adopted french sleeves for this dress, used a black cotton blend which I bought for $2/m at Chinatown shops.

The $2/m fabric wasnt exactly of bad quality, just that it was thinned and unless you are making it using black, it's wise to include a inner lining for other colors.

At the collar area I used the stripey fabric to make a round collar.

With ribbons.

By the way, the cozycot event was quite a disappointment, but well, no free lunch after all.

Hope the oncoming Laniege makeup workshop will be a better one cause I paid for it, paid lunch :)

My Stash + Thoughts

I promised myself at least a sewing project completed every 2 weeks, and now I was late on my "submission". All thanks to those flu bugs and dizzy spells Im having. Its a sicky 2 weeks period for me.

Nevertheless, I started my life as a working-adult-trying-her-very-best-to-climb-up-the-career-ladder-and-hope-to-own-a-nice-and-nifty-accounting-firm-in-the-future. Im giving all my very best at this job, and 3 weeks down, Im sure that I have learnt and will be able to learn things and knowledge that I will need at least 2-3 years at other companies.

Yes, local companies might not offer big bucks, delicious staff benefits and that compromised promotions. But then, squeeze in a single MNC, can you be guaranteed all those knowledge and experience that you needed for the future? Those "seniors" in MNC firms will be too busy to coach, and one will be forever stuck at a single job roles. For me now, Im able to learn everything require for this field, from corporate secretarial, accounting to tax services.

I look further, I choose this path, and nope, I never regret working for a local company.
I feel happy, my colleagues taught me well and patiently. I hav met worse co-workers who are too reluctant to teach and guide.

My workplace is in Chinatown, and well-known to local seamtresses, it's the only place in Singapore with shops selling wholesale fabrics.

2 times of shopping and I have scavaged these:

From plain cottons of blacks, reds, navy blue to creams, and the classic plaids and my favourite stripes.
Yet these are not all, my next in list will be more plain cottons and ginghams with pop colors.

The problem with sourcing for fabrics in Singapore, is that we are a very small country and thus the market for fabrics is way too limited. In fact alot of shops have closed down over the years. Another factor to contribute to is the rising cost of cotton, thanks to the poor harvest in China in recent years. Im already thinking of crossing over the link bridge to Malaysia to source in a bigger market.

I have a thought for sewing a series of "matches" (items that are easy to match against) and "clothes for work". Maybe, I will sew a handful of these items and have them up for sale.

On a side note, I was invited by Cozycot to participate in a Blogger's Event on Spa Buffet.
Spa Buffet? Exactly spa buffet, unlimited spa treats.
Even though I have no digging idea why I was invited as Im not a well-known blogger locally and my genre of blog was, well, rare in fact.
Anyways, will dress myself up and go for spa happily~!

P.s. Hope to get my next dress done asap for the event :)

Nautical Reds

I adapted a simple dress pattern from Cotton Friend Summer 2010 Edition. The original was supposed to be using batik or light-weight cotton so as to create a "breezy-wavy summer feel".

However I thought of making it more formalised for work, but yet to a casual feel, thus I chose this fabric - linen, which I bought from Spotlight for $20/m. (Go sourcing at Chinatown, much cheaper)

How I love nautics stripes, they are so versatile on any occasion and seasons.



I didnt make it into a pinafore, instead towards a baby doll dress feel. I feel that clothes should be make comfortable and easy to match, hence I always have the tendency to sew my clothes one size bigger. Too wide on the waistline?

Add a belt on it :)

Ever since I made my last jacket, Im amazed how well wool threads can create new feel to machine-sewn clothes. Therefore I did it again this time, by hand-sewing red wool thread to the collar, arm and hem of the dress.


It's summer!

And I have a thing for RED.


p.s. This dress was made ready few days ago, but I was struck with illness therefore delayed blogging on it.

Black and Threads

My first attempt to make a jacket turns out fairly, but i wont be making anymore jackets in the near future because the time spent on it is too tedious for the working me.

Instead of having this jacket entirely machine-sewn, I chose to hand-sew the collar and hem of the jacket with purple wool thread. Take it as an additional spice to the bland dish.

A closer-up.

This baby costs me an entire week on production. Though no more jackets, Im starting on the pattern for my pinafore and french dress. Dividends from the government came at the right time when I need to restock my fabric stash.

Till next time again.

P.s. I hope this blog wont be entirely just on sewing projects. Hope to share more of (my) lifestyles and beauty addicts soon :)

Inspirations with Modcloth and Sewdaily.com

Inspirations are important to us seamstress and sewists, not just for designers and creators. There are tons of shapes and patterns of clothings out there, and often we include minimal details to add the special effects and individuality to the clothes we sew. Sourcing through fashion websites is what I do. Was looking through Modcloth for inspiration ideas for my next sewing projects, and Im determined to sew a dress after my tee-top and polka-dots.

I had a nautical striped fabric among my stash, and upon seeing this new arrival I was struck with the idea of doing the same pattern. Had initially forgo the idea of adding sleeve, but it looks just great otherwise.

Here comes another version with a big bow in front. Will it look sweeter with a polka-dotted bow?

Bow-tie obsession I have.

Spring is not yet over.

Visit them at http://www.modcloth.com

And next I was searching for FREE sewing patterns online. I have been drawing them hand-by-hand (tracing them out from pattern sheets), cutting out and trace-and-cut on the fabric. By printing out ready-made patterns I can save a step. Im a lazy fellow!

And I stumbled upon this website: http://www.sewdaily.com

Look for a section tab entirely on free downloadable sewing patterns in pdf format. Great for novice and starters as they are easy to sew and most important, looks fabulous.

(memo: Looking forward to add more fabric stash to my wardrobe, cost me a bomb!)

Stripey!

Often we do not want to look like a Christmas tree or walking lampost, thus we pick one items on our attire for stand-out purposes. It can be your skirt, your blouse, your accessories, or a dress itself. Been wanting to make more matches with these stand-out items, as well as accumulate for my working-attire wardrobe. A simple top with little details will do the trick. The fabric I chose was one black-and-white horizontal stripes which I bought at Spotlight for $14 per yard (very expensive, but its stretchy-cotton). Afterwards I spent almost 6 hours by copying out the pattern from the spreadsheets into copier paper (copier paper are A4 size, so I have to scotch-taped few pieces togetherz), cutting the pattern out, placed it on the fabric and cut along it, and sew the pieces together. Normally horizontal stripes will make the bodice of the wearer "fatter", but for this project of mine, it turn out to be airy as I had inserted triangular additional content by the sides, thus it focus less on the body shape actually.

Instead of a stitched-in collar, I made a stitched-out. This was actually a mistake :s

Im not a fan lover of tight fit clothings as my weight and size tends to yo-yo over the weeks, thus Im loving airy baggy clothes!

Will be venturing to make a knee-length dress soon, suitable for work!

(p.s. Im shy, to have the photos take in my face as well. But I will try to take it in next time XD)

Yellow and Polka-Dots

I bought a whole chunk of fabric for my future sewing projects, mainly sourced from Spotlight, Ikea and fabric shops in Chinatown. Overall, the best is Chinatown. You can bargain for prices to as low as $3 per metre. Varieties are the main attraction. Im so delighted at the choices I have there, and Im thrilled as I will be working in an office in Chinatown 2 weeks later as Accounts Associate. Imagine my favorite shopping place will be :) I wouldn't recommend Spotlight, unless you want to stock on some sewing patterns along the way and have cool air-con breeze while shopping. Another thrifted project of mine for this week:

The yellow based dress was thrifted from a off-shoulder dress which I bought 5 years ago, and sadly I did not wore it even once because it was hidden very deep in my closet. The polka-dot cotton was thrifted from a retro polka-dotted dress which is, well, too small for my size to wear it again.

Overall this baby doll is ranked as Novice level, you dont even need a serger. As I thought that the yellow based will be too bland, I added a pocket. I should have made the pocket bigger =x

Next project of mine will be a reversible cloth bag, and I have chosen black linen X flowery printed fabric as the materials. It will be a belated birthday present for my best friend.

Coming up: Flowery X Black reversible cloth bag!

(P.S. Im supposed to made a high-waisted skirt from the polka-dotted fabric, but sadly, not enough area to draw)