womenswear
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Loose drape dress

I’ve had this pattern book, ドレープ ドレープ (Drape Drape), for about a year now but had never made anything out of it. Most of the pattern in the book use knit fabrics, I guess I was a bit intimidated by it. But after making several clothes with knit fabrics (without serger), I found myself browsing the book again and decided to make one of the pattern. This is pattern no.1, the loose drape top that I lengthened into a dress. The pattern is pretty straightforward, consisted of only two pieces with binding for finishing the armholes. The fabric is double-gauze knit in […]

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life
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A Bit of This and A Bit of That

Thank you for all the wonderful messages for Sidra’s birthday! I read them all to him and he asked me: “Who are they, Mama?” 😀 Internet can be a wonderful place sometimes, don’t you think? My husband and I gave him a set of kobito DVD and karuta (Japanese card game). Sidra had been wanting them for sometime and almost bought them from his pocket money. He already has four kobito books, one doll, and one keychain! Then  a surprise package came in yesterday night! A few days ago, I won a gift package from Jojoebi at A Bit of This […]

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Free patterns, making other stuff, tutorials
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Cockroach plush tutorial

A cockroach plushie? Who needs cute bear or cat plushies? I’m sure every boy would love a huggable cockroach! This is Sidra’s favorite toy at the moment, he calls it Gokiburi-kun (gokiburi means… well, cockroach). The cockroach is basically just an oval shape pillow with legs. The wings and head are made with leftover dupioni silk that I dyed brown. The original color of the silk was silver, and the shimmers would make a perfect cockroach. The body is made with cotton/linen fabric with interesting texture, leftover from my husband’s shirt. Fancy your own giant cockroach? Carry on! Disclaimer: For […]

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Free patterns, kidswear, tutorials
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Pointed hood tutorial

These hoodies were inspired by a children book, みんなのこびと (cub label) (Minna no Kobito) by Toshitaka Nabata, or loosely translated as ‘Everyone’s Kobito’. I made them for the Once Upon a Thread event at No Big Dill. Check out my story and pictures over there! The fabric is cotton knit, very soft and comfortable. The hoodies will be good addition for Sidra’s wardrobe in spring. The body of the T-shirt and pants are made with commercial pattern. Disclaimer: For personal use only. Please do not pass off the pattern and tutorial as your own. Thank you! Click to download POINTED […]

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womenswear
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Purple Tank

So many things happened in just two weeks. We didn’t have any blackout again since the last time, although the schedule for next blackout will still be  planned to roll until summer. Summer without aircon? I might need to take a vacation then! This week is also the last week of school year, and Sidra missed the entire week because he is down with bad cold. It’s too bad that he didn’t have the chance to enjoy the last days in second grade, next month he will start third grade with new classmates. I hope he will get better soon. […]

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life
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Japan Quake Appeal Raffle winner

Thank you for all your participation in my raffle for Japan Quake Appeal! I used random.org to choose a random winner today and the winner is: Marga! Congratulations, Marga! I will contact your email shortly. Please continue your support for the quake and tsunami victims. Here’s a link to Save The Children: Japan Earthquake Tsunami Relief on GlobalGiving. Save the Children is providing disaster relief for children and families, including child-friendly spaces where kids can play and express their feelings about what they endured, under the supervision of caring, trained adults.

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menswear
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Men’s shirt: Finally!

Earlier this year, I made a resolution to learn not to rush when working on my projects. Apparently I took the resolution too far because it took me more than a month to finish my husband’s shirt! I guess the reason why I always rush my projects was because I need to finish them before laziness kick in. Anyway, finally here’s the shirt! My husband loves fabric with interesting texture, so I use this Japanese cotton/linen with embroidered indigo and rust threads for the shirt. I must say that I’m very satisfied with it. All those fitting adjustment has paid off […]

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menswear
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Men’s shirt: second (and wearable) muslin!

This is the second muslin with pattern adjustment as described in the previous post. My husband doesn’t like to wear plaid fabric, so there are no plaid patterns in his wardrobe, all solid colors with occasional stripes. I always think that he would look good in plaids though. So I used this opportunity to make him wear them by making a muslin shirt from madras fabric. I’m very sneaky. The madras fabric was only 2 meters, just enough for a short sleeves shirt with no pocket. Making shirt in plaids is also an exercise for me in matching lines. I […]

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menswear
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Men’s shirt: adjusting the muslin

Maybe you still remember the muslin shirt for my husband, it has been sitting beside my sewing machine the whole time begging me to do something about it. After Peter published his last post for the Men’s shirt sew-along several days ago, I finally picked up the muslin shirt and continue from that point. In the first fitting, I thought the crease and folds problem were caused by the neckline being too high. However, Peter suggested here that the problem was that the shoulders need to be lowered. He was right! There are two pattern drafting books in my bookshelves, they are for […]

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