Tweaking the Tudung Syria

Hahaha.. Tudung syria again.. I just love that kind of tudung, to you who designed it, Thank You!

Eventho I've made few of my own version tudung Syrias, but once in a while when I bumped into a great bargain, I will not hesitate to treat myself with that tudungs. Recently I went to the market and there's this few bunch of tudung Syria selling one for RM7, and 3 for RM20. After spending one hour lingered around that shop, thinking should or shouldn't I buy that tudungs, I decided to buy however was unsatisfied as Tudung Syria made with Lycra fabric looks ugly on me.

Not to waste the damaged that I've done to my pocket, I later discovered that if I omitted the inner and put a pin below at the neck end, the tudung will look good on me and also easy to wear.

So, I tweaked them and now I have three new tudungs that look good on me :) Heheheh.. This is way better that tudung Syria because it didn't need to use the inner, and similar to tudung awning but, of course I don't have to keep an eye on the awning.

Before - not so looking good:


After (I feel good.. nenenene):




This is how I tweaked:


You can try it too. :)

How to make Baju Kurung - step by step video tutorial*

After being procrastinated for a while, I finally came out with this tutorial on how to make baju kurung, kids baju kurung to be exact and the tutorial kinda different as this would be my debut video tutorial as well. Hehehehe...

So, since this is the first, please excuse the out of focus image and also my mumbling voice. And, btw, the tutorial was recorded in Bahasa Melayu.

Before we jump to the video tutorial, for introduction, the tute was basically for making 2yo sized baju kurung. The measurement as in below:

1. Badan : 11 x 40 inch

2. Lengan: 11 x 11 inch

3. Kekek: 4 x 4 inch

4. Pesak: 4 x 16 inch

5. Kain : 23 x 55 inch

The footage is quite long, so I divided them into 3 part: Part 1- how to put together the kekek to pesak to lengan. Part 2 - putting the Part1 to the badan and how to sew the neck, and final Part 3 is how to sew the kain sarung.

Oh ya, this is also based on my style of sewing baju kurung. If yours is different and pretty much easier, feel free to share your tips on the comment box below :D

Enjoy the tute guys :)

Part 1- how to put together the kekek to pesak to lengan.


Part 2 - putting the Part1 to the badan and how to sew the neck.


Part 3 - how to sew the sarung.


I might be continued with the video tutorial on how to make sarung for adult, but that would be later ok.

:)

*Teknik langkah demi langkah menjahit baju kurung (kanak-kanak) - video tutorial

Pillow case

By far, this is the most easiest project I ever done with sewing machine. In fact, my first encounter with sewing machine was learnt to sew pillow case when I was ten. I have this 'bantal busuk' and my mom said that if I want to keep that pillow, the cover need to be changed and she then thought me how to make one.

Since recently I made few pillow cases for a dear friend, I took that opportunity to make a tutorial. So, for those who wanted to learn to sew you can use this tutorial as your first ever sewing project.

OK, ready.. Let's start together:

1) Measure the size of the pillow. Here, I am using the small pillow at the size of 13 x 9 inch.


2) Cut the fabric by making an extra of an inch. So, you will have A part sized 14 x 10 inch, B part sized 10 x 10 inch and C part sized 5 x 10 inch. B and C part is the back of the pillow cases where you'll have an opening to insert the pillow.


3) Fold 1/4 inch at the side of the B and C part and sew the hem.


4) Once done, match all the fabrics with the right side is inside and the wrong side is outside. Make sure to put the B part underneath the C part.



5) Seal with pins so that the fabric stayed.


6) Sew the margin.


7) Once done, neat it up by sergered the hem.


8) Overturn it, and you've done.


9) The back of the pillow case:


10) Pillow and the new pillow case.


Ok, that's all. Happy trying. :)

Playing paparazzi

Kinda slow here, as I am just beginning to learn how to use the camera via manual mode (instead of snapping pictures via automatic mode like I normally did).







These are the tutorials that I referred to while learning the basic skill on how to capture pictures with different setting of aperture and shutter speed.

www.chookooloonks.com

www.kevinandamanda.com

They wrote it very clear. However, I'm getting confuser so I sticked to the automatic mode. Heehehe...

Tada tih..

I am one excited mother! He's going to walk soon.. Yeay..

He took his first few steps few days ago and now is so enthusiastic to standing up and learning to walk. Go Hamza go. I hope by the time he reach 10 months he can walk :) Thehehehe...

Stretchable knit jersey fabric

These are the A-line skirts I made for my customer:



This is the first time I worked with stretchable knit jersey fabrics. The fabric is uh.. heavy and stretchy: boing-boing stretchy. Not complaining but it's very hard to sew as its stretchy (I mentioned this before, ya I know) so the stitches kinda hopping. I even changed the needle to gold-head needle type, it did help but not a lot. The hopping effect still there especially when I pressed the pedal in inconsistency speed. So to avoid the bouncing stitches, I have to really careful in control the speed, not too fast and not too slow.

And the most difficult technique was to put the concealed zipper. Telling the truth, concealed zipper is way easier than the normal zipper, but not when using this boing-boing fabric. The stretchy effect made it very difficult to adjust the position of the zipper.


Ok, that's all about my experienced sewing with stretchy fabrics. If you have acquaintance sewing with such fabrics and have tips on how to sew one, do share with me :) I love to read your experience.

Pick of the week #5

Reversible Loop-handle purse

Inspired by Martha Steward and Sewing with Singer. It's so easy I bet everybody with basic sewing skill can make one.

Watch this video if you wanna know how to sew it.

The best thing about this show is those who watching live in the studio get to bring home the sewing machine. Amazing isn't, it? (bila la kat Malaysia nak ada benda macam ni? erm..)

Plier kit for attaching snap buttons

Prologue:
Some people gaga over apple gadgets. I go gaga over anything to do with me and my little studio :)

***

I did a simple tutorial previously on how to install the snap prong metal type button manually. You can refer to the tutorial here.

And one night I was reading my favorite sewing blog that is the Sew4Home, and they did a tutorial on how to assemble those snap easily using plier. You can check their tutorial here.

As I been using a lot of this buttons (especially on making the mei tais sleeping hood), I seriously admit that tucking and hammering those buttons is not an easy job. First, I have to do it while my kids is awake and second, since they're not sleeping, they kinda curious what mummy is doing bang-bang dang-dang in the sewing studio. So, I have to run while they keep on chasing and obviously hammering while running is hard.

So, immediately after finished reading the article from Sew4Home, I went to my favorite online store browsing if there is any of the plier up for grab. Lucky me, not only there's a lot of seller offering the desired item, but there is also one seller offer it by bidding and at that particular time, no one interested to bid (yet) and the bidding time is about to end (less that 2hours). I was contemplating to bid at first, as my paypal is no longer active (as I don't have any credit card) but having to see the item in such a great offer, I placed my bid and when I wake up the next morning, I was greet by an email said that I won the plier. Yeay!

50cents bebeh. God blessed the shipping cost (however)!!!

Now, the rise Question was, how to pay? I spent hours on the net trying to find any solution if there is a way I can transfer money from the local bank to paypal. The paypal website said Yes, you can by linking the bank and paid via eCheck BUT unfortunately our local Malaysia banks does not allow such transaction. The easiest way I managed to figure out was asking someone/anyone to send me some money via their credit card. And cut the long story short, thanks to you *wink*, the item now is mine.

Tara...

If time permit, I'll make a brief tutorial on how to use the plier, ok. :)

***

Epilogue:
Ngee... I absolutely love my new toy!

TGIF!

Got tick by a tick

Ok, the supposed title was got bitten by a tick, but since that one sound rhymes so I chose that over that. Whateva.. hehehe..

It happen last night. Zahra been bite with a tick or in malay we call it kutu babi. She just came back from her cousin's house (which actually just a few steps from my PIL house) and we're about to hit the sack when she showed me something just below her eyes. At first I tot she's been playing with stick/sand and the dust trapped there but when I tried to get rid off the thing, suddenly she started to cry and later screamed her lung out. And the more she moved, the difficult to take that particular thing off. I later learnt that that must be a blood sulking parasite which at first I thought it is mite (hama in malay).

Tick sticking on the skin below her eye

Since it is very hard to pull off, along with a little soap opera, I gave up and we headed to the bed. FIL said it's ok to wait till tomorrow and go to the clinic let the Doctor do the rest. She slept as soon as she put her head on the pillow, and I started to tweet and to call some helpful friends and texting hubby for SOS. I googled but nothing came out maybe because I used the wrong term: mite instead of tick. A friend later suggest to use lice (kutu rambut in malay) as keyword but still no right solution via googling.

I then somehow remembered that if we want to pull something off from skin (ie. hair) using tweezer is much more easier and since I am not in my own crib, I settled with nailclppper instead. I know it's quite dangerous but having to see the tick attached to the skin near her eyes is soo disturbing I don't have patient to wait till the next day to see the Doctor. And since she's sleeping I just put the clipper on that thing and snap and Alhamdulillah, the parasite went off together with a bit of her eye lashes. Hahahaha.. And later I went to sleep with a big relief :D

That darn tick!

And I don't want to be biased, but they are to be blamed:

I know they're cute but I have a different point of view. :p

***

Sorry, no story about sewing for the time being. I am still working on the collaboration project, will reveal once done. Thank you for reading this anyway :)
Have a nice day ahead.

9 months and his new skill

Making faces:

(excuse my excited loud voice.. ngeee..)

Hehehe.. Apart from that, he knows when people call his name, crawl super fast, can stand on his own (I have to record this later), and now have two little lower teeth coming out (huhuh..).

Happy 9th month baby :)

Tailor mannequin aka dressform

Where to buy?
Where can I get it?
How much is one?

Here is some info for you:

1) Can buy online tru this shops:
Dios Astana Bridal
The Mannequin Shop
Mudah.my (simply search for mannequin)

2) If you have a lot of free time and doesn't mind to be part of the crowd, you can make a trip to Jalan Kenanga, off Jalan Pudu to get one too.

Ok. I hope this help. :)

Have a beautiful Sunday, peep..

Temporary shifted

..the work station, and us.

Its been a while hubby's based of operation has been locomoted to other places, for momentary, due to the project his been working on. At first, I was okay not to follow, just staying home with kiddos but unfortunate things happen and its hard when I don't have transport to mobile and any relative to depend on. Thus, for safety purposes, for the time being, I will be staying in KT here with my in laws.

Worry not, for those who's already sent me their fabrics, I brought them all along to accompany me to avoid meself from being death due to boredom. InsyaAllah, will try to finish them as promised.

My new temp studio:



And dear FIL, bear with the mess I am creating ya.. hehehe..