Tag: sewing

Sailor-collar jacket and wide-legged pants

Summer is over, and the weather is really nice right now. But it’ll get colder so I think Sidra is going to need a new jacket. I found the fabric in my favourite store, Yuzawaya, and really like the colour and texture. Apparently the 2 meters fabric is enough to make him a little suit. The jacket has sailor collar, two front pockets and coconut shell buttons. The pants have wide legs with turned-up hems, invisible front pockets and big back pockets. This is a casual jacket so I don’t put any lining (another reason for my laziness). Sidra wants […]

Apples dress

I think I’ve wanted too many things when I started sewing this colourful cotton fabric; pipings, collar, princess seam, ruffles. It ended looking like a toddler dress, and when I put it on, it looked so costumey. So it went back to the sewing room again. I just chopped off the old bodice and made a new one. Fortunately I’m on the small side, so the scraps are enough for a whole new bodice. This time, I only played with a little pleats on the button area and use bindings to finish the neckline and armholes. There. Now I’m happy.

Autumn apples shirt

These apples fabric were on sale in Yuzawaya, Kichijoji. They are just too cute I can’t choose between the two, so I decided to buy them both. This shirt was pretty easy to make, mostly because cotton is one of the easiest fabric to sew. The pattern is from a Japanese pattern book. I especially love the buttons, which have nine holes in each instead of the usual four. When they were sewn on, the thread makes interesting starburst shapes. Sidra said that he’s going to wear his new shirt to school tomorrow. Pattern is from simple+one.

Matching robot wallet

As requested by Sidra, this is a wallet with the same fabric as his robot bag.I looked at one of my wallet and just tried to figure out how they were connected together, then I drew those squares on the fabric. I put two pieces of cardboard inside the wallet lining to reinforce it and sew a piece of thin plastic for the photo section. Everything went smoothly until I had to sew the bindings. It was so bulky I couldn’t put it under the sewing foot, so I had to finish it with hand sewing. The finished piece look […]

Robot bag

Sidra loves to carry a messenger bag wherever he goes out, in which he puts his sunglasses, scarves, tissues, sunscreen, and some snacks. As his old bag is now dirty, he asked me to make him a new bag (and a wallet too, actually). We found this cute cotton/linen fabric with robots pattern in Yuzawaya. The red fabric was actually toile fabric that I dyed red. The result is somewhat faded red, which I really like. I made up the pattern myself using CorelDraw! This bag has two pockets and an adjustable strap, I can just add another button (or […]

Dotty dress

This is another fabric from nani IRO line by Naomi Ito, featuring colourful dots on grey background. I love the strips of colourful dots on the selvedge and random placement of the dots on the rest of the fabric. I use the selvedge on the V-neckline and the dress hem. The pattern is from a Japanese pattern book, a loose dress with cute ruffled sleeves. Those Japanese pattern books are so cute, I just can’t stop making stuffs from them. I was feeling lazy, so I thought that the dress would be finished tomorrow, but it turned out that it […]

Grey nani IRO shirt

I fall in love with the whole line of nani IRO, a fabric line by Japanese designer, Naomi Ito. It features double-gauze fabric that looks like watercolour paintings. I found this grey fabric with blue stripes on the selvedge in Yuzawaya and it’s perfect for my husband’s shirt. The pattern is Jakob pattern from Burdastyle, but I change it to short-sleeves with straight hem. I really like the stripes on the selvedge, with the fabric name on it, so I use them on the shirt hem, sleeves, pocket, and collar, also eliminating the need to finish the hem. Sewing this […]

Kitchen mittens

I sewed up this pair of mittens to replace the old one which is now worn out and dirty. This simple project also allowed me to try out those stitches that come with my Janome machine. I bought the fabrics in Yuzawaya, in a pre-cut package of about 20 pieces of 25×55 cm colourful fabrics. I’m still thinking of all the possibilities to use them up. Now these mittens are almost too pretty to be used. Pattern is Burdastyle’s Layla.

Denim hats

I found this book of hat patterns in Maruzen and they seem pretty easy for someone who never sewed a hat before. The pattern that I chose was very geometric, with only a piece with all six sides attached to the center. It turned out to be pretty easy to make, so I decided to make some more. Since the pattern is in geometric shapes, I made new patterns for my husband’s and Sidra’s hats using CorelDraw!. My husband wants his hat to be wider and shorter, and Sidra naturally needs a smaller one. Sidra also requested an elastic to […]