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Showing posts from 2016

Lace Long Sleeve Flowy Blouse

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I'm finally back to writing on this blog after being busy for two months, I still sew some small items and mend a few clothes but haven't sewn new clothes.  Until two days before Valentine's arrived, I felt like I had to sew a new blouse to wear to dinner. The blouse had to be in the shade of pink, so I checked my stash and found 2 yards of lace fabric in fuchsia that I don't remember when I bought it. After I had the fabric, I started making the pattern (based on my previous self-drafted blouse pattern) I modified the pattern into a flowy blouse. The pattern was simple, a round neckline, gathered front and back yokes and gathered sleeves with elastic bands. Here is the pattern that I drafted, And after the pattern was done, I cut the fabric as usual. The sewing process was fun and turned out to be easier than I imagined. I sewed the neckline front and back yokes and then attached them to the gathered bodices as shown below. After that, I sewed the shoulder lines togeth

Drop-Shoulder Pullover

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Hello, Belated Merry Christmas to all friends! Hope you had a great Christmas celebration and happy holidays. I am back after a long silence with brand new hand knit pullover that I knitted for three and half months :) I took so long to finish because I only knit 10 rows per night while I am relaxing in front of the television :) Pattern: Drop-Shoulder Pullover - Designer Knitting magazine early winter 2015 size S. Needles: 3 and 4 mm circular needles. Yarn: eight skeins - 1720 m of "Blue Jeans'' indigo dye cotton and acrylic yarn in green colour, I never heard about this yarn until I visited Dongdaemun market in Seoul, South Korea. The most I like about this pullover is the elongated sleeves with thumb openings, as shown in the picture below. It feels so good and warm, I don't need to wear gloves or mitts to keep my hands warm :) My Final pullover looks a little bit different than the original pattern. I made the turtleneck smaller and the finished hem small

Bohemian Blouses

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Hi sewing friends! Finally the weather is getting colder here in Macau and I am glad I finished my two bohemian blouses (floral voile and blue cotton with small prints) on time. Both fabrics are new bought during my trip to Seoul in August. The floral voile blouse is my second garment of  MAGAM October  with the theme Sew October One, my plan was sewing two garments from one fabric (a dress and blouse). You can see the finished dress  here . I used BurdaStyle Bohemian Blouse 10/2016 #121 B  size 36 with the finished sleeve with cuff as pattern #121A. The blouse style is very sweet, it has V-neck, shaping pleats and gathered sleeves. Those details caught my eyes for the first time I saw the magazine and I immediately put the pattern on my working list. Before I continue, here is the picture of me and my bestie Ellie wearing our new blouses. Oh, hey.. Ellie is my mannequin that is working along with me since 2011, she is not good on fitting but at least I can use her for modelling my

Summer Dresses

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Hello... As promised in the previous post, here are the two dresses that I made from the same pattern. The red one finished in May, exactly when the weather getting hotter and the blue one is a new dress that I made recently, just before my trip to Singapore. I used two BurdaStyle patterns,  BurdaStyle chiffon dress 01/2013#108 size 34 for the bodice with modification at the shoulder and BurdaStyle illusion neckline mini dress 09/2014#130  size 34 for the skirt.

Little Dracula For Halloween 2016

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Happy Halloween to all! I've been very quiet for a while, busy with a lot of things but so glad that I am still sewing 30 minutes - one hour a day and managed to finish some garments (a skirt, tunic and two dresses). I will be posting them in the next couple days :) For today, I'd love to show you a vest that I made for my son for his Halloween party :) Isn't he a very cute little Dracula?

Self-drafted Tank Tops

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Hello sewing friends.. As promised in the previous post, here are the finished tank tops. I made the first one in denim colour (right side) to wear under my lace crop top , then I decided to make two more from the leftover fabrics to wear at home :) For the fabrics, I used denim jersey knit, yellow and grey striped jersey and strong blue cotton knit. I think I like more jersey knit fabric than the cotton knit, because it draped so nicely :) The pattern is self-drafted based/copied from my old rtw tank top and I will show you the process in the below post.

Lace Crop Top Sweater

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Hello, I finished my first project for Magam and September Sew For 30-2016  and happy with the result :)This crop top has a boat neck style and 3/4 sleeve length, I think it will be nice to wear with trousers or high-waist skirt. I didn't wear it yet but I will when the weather getting fresh :) Materials: I used 1.25 m of lace fabic in light blue colour and same colour of thread. Pattern: BurdaStyle Crop Top Sweater 08/2016 #106  size 36. I didn't make any change to the pattern, I used the same length as the original pattern and the result is little bit longer on me than on the model, which I liked :) Also, I used 1.5 cm seam allowance in all edges and 4 cm hem allowances. The process of making this top was enjoyable, except matching the lace lines. I spent one morning matching - pinning and sew them in place :) I used my overlocker machine to sew all the raw edges and sew the neckline using sewing machine. The pattern suggested to hand sewing the neckline but I pr

Lucky Cat Dress

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Hello friends, As promised in my previous post , here is my second holiday dress. I wore it during our visit to N Seoul Tower, South Korea , pictures below taken in the park around the tower. I am sure you aren't surprised with the pattern I used, BurdaStyle Jamie Shift Dress  size 34. Well, this dress is my sixth version so far :) For the fabric, I used 1.5 yards of polycotton fabric in lucky cat printed that I bought in Hongkong last year. I don't know why I only bought 1.5 yards, if usually I use 2 yards for a dress. Anyway, with very careful calculation I made it :) I used bias tape instead of usual facings and cut the stripes of same fabric for hem allowance. This dress I made exactly like the original pattern, without back darts as I always added in my previous dresses. The process was fast, I finished it in five hours :) The process started with sewing the front darts and followed by all the usual manner that I don't need to explain here because you all

Lace Curtain Dress

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Hello everyone, I made two new dresses before my holiday, but today I will only show you the first one. The second dress will be in the next post. We visited Seoul - South Korea and enjoyed the place very much, good foods, great shopping for skincare ( I do love their masks and serums) and I was so surprised that we found fabric and yarn markets during our visit to the area of Dongdaemun market. Well, the fabric market is huge with so many collection of Korean cotton, I bought five kinds and I think is more than enough to make nine garments. Also, I bought eight skeins yarns for my future sweater :) All the souvenir was posted in my Instagram :) Okay, enough said about the fabric market. Let's talk about my new dress :) The dress was made out of lace curtain fabric in green colour that I bought in the local market many months ago. I also made tank dress to wear underneath, used knit cotton in dark green. For the pattern, I used Burdastyle Embellished Tunic dress 11/2013  size

July Dress in Ballerina Print

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Hello, I made a new dress :) It has princess seams bodice, V-neckline, sleeveless, flared skirt and finished with invisible zipper at the back. Pattern : I modified BurdaStyle Retro Dress 09/2014  size 34. I made  my first dress based on this pattern last year, so I am not worried to trace the new pattern pieces :) Materials: 2 yards of ballerina print crepe in dark blue, fusible interfacing, invisible zipper, hook n eye fastener and same colour of thread. The process of making this dress started with modification of the pattern, I removed the button down from the original pattern and make the center front bodice and skirt on fold. Skip the pockets and then added invisible zipper at the center back. As the usual manner, I sewed the princess seams at the front and back bodices. Sewed the facings and attached to the neckline and armholes. Turned inside out and attached to the shoulder right sides together. After that I attached the skirt pieces on the bodices, sewed the sides

Joyful Sweetheart Dress

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Hello friends, hope you have a happy sewing day :) As promised in my previous post, here is the finished Joyful Sweetheart dress for Magam June challenge . Fabric : 2 yards of printed cotton poplin. Pattern : BurdaStyle Vintage Modern Elizabeth Gathered-Waist dress  size 34 modified to a sweetheart dress. I did the wearable muslin  but I modified the bodice again to princess seamed. Also, the dress has facing, gathered skirt, side zipper and finished with narrow hem. The process was a little bit tricky because I have to copy the bodice from my wearable muslin, remove the darts and make princess seam bodice for both front and back - as shown in the pictures below. After I had all the pieces, I sewed the bodice and carefully clip the seam allowances and sew the raw edges using the zig zag stitch. Then sewed the shoulder right sides together. After that, I prepared the skirt by gather them all and attached it to the bodices. Followed by sewing the right side of the d

Basic Crochet Top

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Hello, I have been very enthusiastic with crochet and knitting lately and so happy to finish my first ever crochet top after almost two months :) The pattern is made by me, I usually use size M. No special rule to crochet this top, I just double crochet and measured the length in rectangle shape. Finished the neckline and armholes with single crochet. Very easy, isn't it? For the yarn, I used 7 skeins cotton yarn : 875 m. And for the needle, I used 3.5 mm crochet hook. The finished top is just so comfy and roomy in the sleeves. I was planning to wear it this summer but can not, it is too heavy to wear in hot humid weather. But it is okay, I will wear it during colder month, on top of long t-shirt :) The process started with back piece, I worked from the middle bodice - 90 chain stitches followed with double crochet stitches until measured 23 cm. Then continue worked in the back neckline by marked both shoulders 16 cm, and shaped the neckline until measured 3 cm. After that

Sweetheart Dress - Wearable Muslin

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Hello sewing friends, I finally finished the wearable muslin for MAGAM Joyful June, Sweetheart dress :) The pattern is based on BurdaStyle Vintage Modern Elizabeth Gathered-waist Dress size 34, I modified the bodice at the neckline and armhole. And for the fabric, I used cotton voile that already stayed inside my stash for a while. Before I write more about the challenge of making this dress, let's take a look of the final dress that I wore this morning. I went out with husband and son visited Leal Senado, then walked around Sao Domingos market. I always enjoyed flat sketch and I made this one especially for the Sweetheart Dress. I mentioned before that this dress is based on BurdaStyle Vintage Modern Elizabeth Gathered-waist Dress  size 34. I modified the front and back bodices to a Sweetheart neckline and used the skirt as the original pattern had. My work started with front bodice, I measured the dart center line 8.5 cm above the apex and drew using the French curv