life
51 Comments

Seam Allowance App

  As a metric user, one of my pet peeve when using certain sewing patterns are the seam allowance conversion. I couldn’t seem to remember what are the equivalent of 5/8″, 1/3″, 3/4″, 1/4″ and so on in centimetres. Sure I can use Google to find out that 5/8″ is 1.5875 cm, and then I would round this number to 1.5 cm. It is not so easy the other way around though. When someone asked me what 1 cm seam allowance is in imperial, Google told me that it is 0.393701 inch. And how was I supposed to know that this number is close to 3/8″? I’m not […]

Read More
womenswear
21 Comments

Anima pants and Scout tee

I’ve been wanting a pair of easy pants for daily wear when these knit pants were popping out everywhere. Turned out that Papercut patterns is having a competition for one of their pattern, the Anima pants, and that’s why there are lots of people making these pants. Everyone’s version look so good that I had to order the PDF pattern and made myself a pair. You can also buy the paper version of this pattern, I love the instant-ness of PDF patterns. From the pattern description in the website: “A must-have staple item for those times when you need the perfect balance […]

Read More
womenswear
20 Comments

Plaid shirt and denim skirt

Sometimes there’s a project that remain unblogged although it was finished for quite sometime, and the reason is not that I don’t like it. It is because I like it so much that it is either being worn or still in the wash. This shirt is such a project! You might recognize the pattern, The Archer button-up shirt by Grainline studio that every sewing blogger seemed to have made. From the description on the Grainline studio website: “The Archer Button Up is a loosely fitting button up shirt with long sleeves. View A has angled cuffs and a back pleat at yoke. View B […]

Read More
lingerie
7 Comments

Colorful dotty set

After my initial failure with my previous bra, I decided to make the pattern again with simpler design. The black ribbons of my intial design are interesting but I will use other pattern with them. So here is makeBra #DL05 in colordul dotty lycra fabric! I also made more alterations to the cups because this pattern is one cup size smaller than what I usually wear. I raised the center front bridge of the previous bra, but I kept the original one on this one. The plunging neckline is quite attractive in my opinion. So instead of adding to the top of the […]

Read More
life
9 Comments

Goodbye Shoronpo and Hello Shake!

A couple of weeks ago we said goodbye to Shoronpo as he has finally found a forever home! It is always a bittersweet moment when it happened. We are happy though to see him go and will always remember the time when he is in our home. Congratulations Shoronpo! After Shoronpo left, we welcomed Shake, an 11 years old female dachshund. Her name means ‘salmon fish’ in Japanese and it is pronounced like ‘shock-eh’. When her previous owner had to move out of their home, for some reason they couldn’t take Shake with them so she was brought to the shelter. She actually came to […]

Read More
lingerie
5 Comments

Makebra Petite #DL05: In progress

makeBra recently released a new downloadable pattern and I was quite excited about it. I’ve been wanting to try one of their patterns, but the sizes are too big for me. The newest pattern, makeBra #DL05 is drafted for smaller sizes, featuring foam lined two part cups and underwires. For me, the most interesting part is that the bridge and wing is the same pieces as the cup. You can see the pattern piece in the makeBra sewing tutorial here. I think this design will also look great if you use fabric with stripes or other directional pattern. I bought the size 65C as it is […]

Read More
kidswear
21 Comments

Striped tee and chino pants

One day Sidra declared that he no longer wanted to wear ‘T-shirts with faces on it’, which means most of his T-shirts. He said that these T-shirts are too childish which doesn’t make sense because he is a child after all! But anyway he’s in constant need of new clothing as he keeps growing, so I made him some new ones. The first one is a striped T-shirt with little pocket made with leftover fabric from my striped Jorna dress, the pattern is from one of my Japanese pattern book. He quite likes it so I bought some cotton jersey with these interesting stripes. I’ve […]

Read More
womenswear
21 Comments

Striped Jorna dress- Perfect Pattern Parcel #3

My summer dress! The pattern is Jorna Tank Dress by Jenna Brand. It is a very simple dress with basically just one piece of pattern. The front and back is the same except for the neckline. The dress has three different length options: tank, jumper, and dress. I cut the jumper in size XS but since I’m not tall it becomes knee-length dress on me. The neckline and armholes are finished with facing so they are a bit stiffer than the usual knit band finish, but it gives a very clean appearance. Instead of using the facing pattern, I cut the facing using the same front/back pattern […]

Read More
bags and purses
27 Comments

Running belt

Since I moved to Japan my weight had been slowly creeping up. In the last 6 years I gained 6 kg, while before my weight stayed more or less the same since the college days. Recently I put on one of my handmade dress and it was tight around the waist! It was time to do something. I decided to start doing exercise and running. I have to admit that I’m not big on exercise, mostly I spend my days on the couch behind my notebook. But there is a beautiful jogging track near my house so it would be a […]

Read More
womenswear
17 Comments

Tara top – Style Arc

I was waiting for the bus yesterday when it was raining, so I took shelter in a fabric store nearby. Of course it wasn’t the best decision (or maybe the best), because when I got home  there was suddenly some addition to my mound of fabric stash. To somewhat lessen my guilty feeling, I immediately worked on one of the fabric. All the fabric in that store was already cut to 1-3 m, this one looks like rayon and is only 1 m in length. I got it for only USD3! Although it has rabbits and little houses on it, I don’t […]

Read More