A distraction and major addiction-sewing kids clothes!

 

           When i first bought a sewing machine, all i thought i would ever sew is home furnishing stuffs. Why? Because i know i will never have the patience for sewing a garment- a garment is tough job to me because it not only needs to look good, but it has to feel good. A tablecloth or a slipcover on the other hand, need to only look good, but i dont have to care if the chair dont feel comfortable i suppose heh. ;)

         But somewhere around last month, i bought a second hand book by Tanya Wheelan, a fabric designer (the fabric in my kitchen is one of her designs), whose designs i so totally love. The book Sew What You Love had a lot of really pretty projects but i was somehow drawn to the 'Lila shirred dress' tutorial. It looked really easy and this 'shirring' thing is such a genious idea. So i decided to embark on my first garment sewing project, and im so addicted, i ended up sewing 4 over 3 weekends. The internet, by the way, is such an amazing source of both inspiration and information- i couldnt believe there were so many online tutorials by so many creative women out there. Here's the lastest i sewed, using an old unused shawl.

 

 

          The first one was supposed to be an iron board cover but well, it turned out to be this instead :)-

 

 

My 'model' just woke up but eager to try it on

Im not sure how comfortable it is for her, but from the look of her face, i think she's fine with it ;p

Looks vintage here, i like hehe...



 

 

 

 

This red tunic top is from a leftover saree material given by my mom and i sewed it following an online tutorial, but i adjusted the length hoping she can wear it longer

 

 

I love the braided cord look but i couldnt find any so i made it myself using knitting wool from daiso.

 

Its a bit tight at the armpit it seems so i think i better add on a bit more allowance for that in other tops in the future.

 



 

 

The latest one was actually inspired by an online tutorial too, although the tutorial was on upcycling an adult shirt into a kids top. But i like the look a lot so i made everything from scratch and tried my hands on sewing button holes-something i totally have no idea about.. The second one i sewed is actually for my niece, Iklil, but i have yet to try it on her and im not sure if it fits ok so i didnt include it in this post, maybe the next one. But i hope i can make other nicer ones for her ;). Im not sure if i will ever try sewing adult clothing, since we are not as 'straight' as kids, hehe but i wouldnt reject the idea. For now, i shall just practise on kids....... :) Enjoy the rest the weekend!



                                                                                                                                             





 

 

Emilie- My very first self-sewed tablecloth

          Its really been quite a while since i  last embarked on a 'project'. I have to blame it on the lack of material, financial and most importantly, energy. Plus with all the sad news happening around the world, i have to say my mood aint that high too. But nonetheless i pushed myself to finish up the tablecloth which i started about three weeks ago.

          I totally heart the tablecloth which i bought from Christiana, owner of Etsy shop, Ruffled Linens. She is a really wonderful, talented seamtress and she's really nice too. The combination of linen and ruffles gives such a dreamy, romantic look and i immediately fell in love with it when i first saw it. But i needed an extra tablecloth, especially with 2 toddlers around. This time i dont have linen and neither do i have enough fabric to make ruffles, so i looked into the idea of the next two things that i love-swags and ribbons. Might be pretty, sweet and vintage-looking right? There was only one way to find out-DO IT! ;)

          I sewed the tablecloth on one of the sundays, but i put off sewing ribbons to the corners till today. Here's introducing 'Emilie' :)- the finished tablecloth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           My husband thinks itsway too girly and 'trying too hard to be sweet' LOL.... ok fine he's a guy guy after all. Anyway to each, its own. I think its pretty enough for a first try and i hope there will be more to come, im already imagining burlap and lace (oooh....). Oh by the way, see that woven tag? i got it from Its Mine Labels. Im such a dreamer i know, lol...  i haven even sewed alot and i got myself my own label?? Well, it makes me happy, that's all that matters- quote from my elder sis :). I was inspired by Martha Stewart's community of 'Dreamers Into Doers', a group of talented and creative women who turns their dreams into careers they love. Im not exactly dreaming, im actually just doing something i like for now, but nothing wrong with being inspired right? ;)

 

Distressed side table in Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue

       Here it is, finally, my first painted distressed furniture that i put the chalk paint to test to. It was a lot of hard work i have to say. Maybe its just me, but after working on it over a weekend, i ended up with a bad flu. Plus, i felt like i ran a marathon- my arms and legs were aching. Must by my exponentially declining fitness level. :p After painting it with Annie Sloan chalk paint in 'Old White' and 'Duck Egg Blue', i clear waxed it, distressed it, clear waxed again, dark waxed it, and finally, buffed it. Phew, now i know why distressed furniture costs more-ironic i know! U can call me crazy, but do that behind my back. Please ;p



In the living room, in daylight

Nightview in warm light

Close up of the drawer

I couldnt decide if it looked better in the living room or as a bedside table

Maybe i still prefer it as a side table in the living room

 

 

       I do intend to have an Etsy shop and create a listing for this side table, or maybe an Ebay shop, but this cant be the only item i have in store so do look out for more upcoming projects :) In the meantime this will be up for sale in other ads online. Do contact me if you are interested. Have great weekend everyone!

Annie Sloan paint and floral motif decoupage trial

       Its been such a lazy weekend so far, but i shouldnt be hoping for too much. I finally did some painting, but its not complete yet. I was also hoping i could sew myself another tablecloth because i simply cannot stand the chocolate milk, curry sauce and mushroom soup stains on the current one that's on the table. Neither do i want to take that off to wash because i couldnt bear the thought of exposing my favourite piece of furniture to more 'leftovers' of our 'happy-family-let-the-kids-do-their-thing' meals :p

       Well i did, however, manage to take some pictures of my last weekend trial of the annie sloan chalk paint i received. I experimented on a small wooden box i bought from Daiso- i painted it, applied clear wax, distressed it and then followed by the dark wax. All the reviews online were true, the final product felt buttery smooth and it was heavenly easy to sand off at all the appropriate edges.

A close-up of the edge of the box

 

      

       I buffed it to a sheen and i liked the outcome, but somehow, my itchy hands wanted to do something more. I wanted to try my hands on decoupaging some floral motifs, so i digged out my country magazines and searched for floral pictures. Instead of using a pen knife (which i dont have) to carefully cut out the picture, the impatient me used a big utility scissors and hurriedly cut it out while making an effort to console my then crying 2 yr old. I went ahead with it, and though it looked very choppy (well, i am an amatuer after all heh..), i continued putting on four layers of 'mod podge' alike glue, waiting for it to dry completely before applying each layer.


Choppily cut out motif :p
 

 

   

         I have to say i might not have the patience for the art of decoupaging, but i wont be giving up yet... ;)

Dining chair slipcover from Miss Mustard Seed tutorial

       I have been a fan of the infamous blogger, Miss Mustard Seed for about year and have been reading her tutorials over and over again. I think i have probably watched the video for making a wingchair slipcover made from dropcloth tutorial, for example, about 4 times. And though i probably even remember the next word she's going to say in the video, i have yet to muster up enough courage to tackle such a big project. So i decided that for such a novice seamstress like me, i shall put my virgin sewing machine to test by trying out the dining chair slipcover instead.

        Marian, my 'idol' made it look so easy, and although i would say it aint that difficult, it was tough work for me because i only have nights and weekends to work on it. It was like one night cutting out the fabric, the night after next hemming up the sides, it went on. So what would have taken probably a day, i took about 3 weeks, ok 4 weeks including the last part which was attaching the ribbon. But the result was quite adorable, just dont stare at it for too long because it's not anywhere near perfect. Here it is.

The side view (i know! its time for me to buy a camera.. my pics are so blur..)

I added piping which was not part of the tutorial but it was from another one. I purposely incorporated it into this one so i could practice.

i love the back view the most

      
        This week has been such a rollercoaster ride for me, its like good news, followed by sad news and then followed by another good news... As im writing this, im just praying hard for the best of my loved ones. A good reminder that challenges are meant to test those whom He loves. Anyway, one of the good news is that, my much raved about Annie Sloan chalk paint has arrived! I really cant wait to try it out! ;)

ASCP in duck egg blue and old white