verypurpleperson

life
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Hercules beetle!

There were some crackling sound from inside our larva box when we woke up this morning. My husband peeked inside the box and found this huge beetle! After two years of waiting, our larva has emerged as a huge Hercules beetle last night! I completely missed his pupa stage, which is in between the larva and imago (last stage development of an insect). In Pupa stage, he would stop eating and silently begin the metamorphosis process. This is the most delicate stage, so maybe it was a good thing that we didn’t disturb him at that time. The tip of the horn […]

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womenswear
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Green Bathing Suit

So one day I thought that I should try making my own swimsuit. I can’t swim (seriously!), but I do enjoy playing in water and having some good time at the beach. All I have is a set of bikini I bought several years ago and maybe that is more than enough. But making swimsuit was something that I had never tried and I love to learn new things. Alison is a vintage style bathing suit from Burdastyle, I love how it is one piece but still accentuate all the necessary curves without being too revealing. It is also free, perfect for […]

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menswear
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Men’s Jeans

I finally finished my husband’s jeans! It seems that everyone has finished their jeans, and Peter has even gone to another adventure in making pajama and playing with his serger. But it is still May, so I guess I’m not too far behind the sew-along…. (^_^;) The pattern is Men’s Jeans from Pumila, a Japanese pattern shop. If you still remember my muslin, this is my problem with this jeans pattern. There are a bit of pulling and wrinkles around the back crotch area. I have no experience in fitting pants (I only made dresses!), so I really had no […]

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life, making other stuff, tutorials
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A guest post and A Best Top!

It is raining outside and the sky is a bit dark, but there are sunshine in my house because I have two wonderful news today! By now, you must have been following the Free Pattern Month over at Grosgrain blog. If you haven’t, you should check it out! It is a whole month devoted for wonderful free pattern and tutorial by several guests from around the blogosphere, one pattern each day! Kathleen is always so full of ideas! I’m so honored to be one of her guest too! Please check out my guest post today where I’m sharing a pattern and […]

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lingerie
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My first lingerie set

I finally finished my bra! It is a matching set with the panties that I made a couple of days ago. The bra pattern is bought from Elingeria and it is called Pin-up Girls Classic Bra #1230. This is a pattern for a classic bra with full band that can be made with or without underwires. The instruction booklet is really helpful and perfect for a newbie like me. I don’t like bra with underwires or padded cups, so I choose to make mine without underwires. According to the instruction booklet, I am  size 30B, which is a size that […]

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lingerie
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Sewing lingerie!

Today I finally tried my hands on lingerie making. I still have to finish the bra but I’m already too excited not to share the pretty panties now! I’ve been wanting to learn to make my own lingerie but always thought that they were too difficult. I’ve made several cotton panties before, but not something as ‘serious’ as bra and lace panties. Until one day, a nice lady named Millie left a comment in one of my post, which led me to to check out her blog, where I found this inspiring post about the basics of bra making. One […]

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kidswear
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KCWC: Khaki pants

My last project for KCWC 2011!  These pictures were taken today, but actually I’ve finished the pants a couple of days ago. It is again a recycle project, a pair of pants made with my husband’s old and ripped pants. My husband has several pants that were ripped in the most unfortunate places hence he can’t wear them again. Which remind me that I need to finish my husband’s jeans quicker! Anyway, the pattern for these pants is the same as Sidra’s jeans that I drafted sometime ago. I lowered the crotch slightly, widen the leg and cropped the length […]

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menswear
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Jeans sew-along: Wearable muslin!

Coming late for the MPB Jeans Sew-Along, but I finally finished the first muslin for my husband’s jeans. The brushed cotton twill was only 1 m, so the muslin is cropped as I only need to check the fit around waist and hip area. The finished jeans will be full-length. The pattern is Men’s jeans from Pumila, a Japanese pattern shop (paper pattern). They have 5 sizes, but when I checked the measurement chart, my husband is in the biggest size (L). He’s not very big, I wonder if Japanese men are usually small? I love that the pattern is printed […]

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kidswear
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KCWC: Broken striped T-shirt

Found a T-shirt in a thrift shop with similar pattern as my broken striped top but in black stripes. I refashioned into a T-shirt for Sidra. The original top is not very big, so I use black jersey from other T-shirt for the sleeves. The pattern is PDF pattern called Biscuit from Tamanegi Kobo, a Japanese pattern shop. It is quite an interesting pattern because the front looks like ordinary T-shirt while from the back it looks like a raglan sleeves T-shirt. Pattern is  Biscuit from Tamanegi Kobo.

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kidswear
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KCWC 2011: Red jacket and silver T-shirt

More KCWC 2011 projects! This red jacket is made with parachute fabric and black jersey. I found the parachute in the tiny fabric store near my house, it was very cheap and I still got more than 1 m left. The black jersey is recycled from adult T-shirt. The pattern is called Nectarine, bought as PDF pattern from Tamanegi Kobo, an online Japanese pattern store. The original pattern has button closure, but I changed it to zipper closure. Sewing it was so difficult! The pattern is actually wonderful and the instruction diagrams are very clear, but I have never sewn parachute before […]

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