SuBoo: sewing and stuff

What came first?

2011-10-22T03:06:00.007+11:00

Once again I've been lax at writing in my blog. I think it's just because there are so many reasons to be lazy. I suspect that the only reason I am writing right now is because I'm supposed to be studying for my PRINCE2 certification so blogging sure seems like a lot more fun (I'm sure if you just clicked on the link you closed off that window very quickly).

Still, I will keep this short and sweet - I just wanted to share this interesting sight - this is a photo of a highway of sorts near my apartment.

Yes, it is goes straight through a building. The building houses government offices, a library and a carpark. Now was this a result of building the building after the road was there, or did the building come first? It's all very chicken and egg to me.

Gotta love Asia.

Cyber Clean to the Rescue!

2011-06-29T21:37:00.005+10:00

We were wandering the Hong Kong streets and checking out the local neighbourhood when we came across a poky little electronics store that seemed to sell a bit of this and a bit of that. After having a nose around and deciding there was nothing there for us, upon exiting I spied something on the front counter that intrigued me. Cyber Clean - the High-Tech Cleaning Compound that catches dirt and kills germs!

Just like food, it comes in a variety of 'flavours', Citrus (yellow for the home and office), Mint (dark blue for car use - I suspect it's exactly the same as yellow but it's a more 'manly' colour) and of course, like most things in Hong Kong, it comes in a Strawberry Hello Kitty version (bright pink).

I really couldn't go past that one so I purchase a pack of Citrus-y goodness and headed home to see how gross my laptop keyboard was. To be honest, I was expecting a bit of grot - this laptop was the one I had purchased many moons ago that had a defect in the casing. Unbeknownst to me at the time of purchase, there was a high probabilty of the casing cracking when I closed my laptop. I found that out while I was overseas and so my laptop wasn't closed for a good 3-4 months. You can imagine the amount of dust that was settling on it!

Here are the before and after shots:

Shiny and fresh out of the packet

Now a bit gross
I have to say that Cyber Clean worked a treat! Yes the after shot show a fair bit of expected grot, but it really does get into the grooves of the keyboard.

I didn't take any photos of the actual cleaning, but for proof there seem to be a gazillion videos up on YouTube - check out Cyber Clean TV World, or just their website for basic instructions.

It really is all kinds of useful - and I've just seen that the range has expanded to include a super pale green (hypo-allergenic) variety. No idea what it smells like so if you're unsure I'd highly recommend the Citrus - effective AND fun. Win-win!

Oh and Cyber Clean sounds like a cartoon superhero name - I couldn't help myself with the title of this post... :)

Excuse me, there's a bug in my cup.

2011-06-23T04:15:00.007+10:00

I came across this little gem during a farewell brunch at Betty's. I was there to bid goodbye to Special K, who needed a cuppa or three to recover from the shenanigans of the night before. Her chamomile tea was served up with the expected teacup and saucer set. Now I've never been one to coo over china or any kind of porcelain-like material, but I thought this was adorable.

Ladybug love.

Toastbox Toastbox how I love thee....

2011-06-21T00:46:00.007+10:00

When I moved over to Hongkers, I thought that I would be inundated with all sorts of Asian foods and would be spoilt for choice. That definitely has been true, however there is a part of me that just wants some decent Malaysian grub and it's been a struggle to find some.

I don't think that's too much to ask to have some decent Malaysian fare over here seeing as KL is less than a 4 hour flight away - Melbourne is a 9 hour flight away and the Malaysian food there is pretty darn good! Admittedly most food is good in Melbourne but c'mon... I'm in Asia!

After several failed attempts (Festival Walk food court - you should be ashamed of yourself!) I discovered Toastbox in HK! Hurrah hurrah! Not only does it serve up decent versions of my standard Malaysian favourites like Nasi Lemak and Hainanese Chicken Rice, but feast your eyes on this lovely creation!

That's right baby, Milo sprinkled over condensed milk on thick toast!!!
YUMMO!!!
A piece of Malaysian goodness amidst all the HK misses. Happy sigh.

(We'll just pretend that it isn't a Singaporean company... shhh...)

Quality Control

2011-05-23T15:49:00.003+10:00

I was recently in Phuket (my first time ever!) and came across this gem by Patong beach.

The ISO 9001 certification must be a huge pulling point for customers.

Huge.

Posh Fast Food

2011-05-17T22:02:00.006+10:00

I've noticed that certain chains of restaurants are marketed differently in various countries, and Pizza Hut is no different. The Pizza Hut in Australia is pretty standard from what I recall (it's been a really long time since I've ordered anything from there). Decor is basic and you have your usual fare - pizza, pasta, garlic bread, soft drinks.

In Hongkers, it's a lot more upmarket - classier furnishings, a line to get in (but I think that applies to most eateries in HK) and quite a comprehensive menu featuring pizza, pasta, garlic bread, soft drink, but also various salads, stuffed chicken wings, soups, entree platters and exotic beverages. What really pushes it over the top though is the dessert.

Who would have thought Pizza Hut served something like this??

There are even customised Pizza Hut skewers for the fruit. :D

Blog Poll and the Results

2011-05-14T15:35:00.005+10:00

I haven't blogged since December - terrible I know - and other than the standard reasons of lack of time and general malaise, I found that the more I didn't blog, the harder it was to come back to it because I felt like I had to play catch up for the things I missed. Obviously the longer I'm slack the more there is to write about, which then makes me feel more reluctant... and so cycle goes.

Also, since relocating to Hong Kong, I've done absolutely zilch in the sewing stakes. I know the blog is called 'SuBoo: sewing and stuff', and a lot of 'stuff' has been happening, but I somehow feel guilty about neglecting the first part. It's almost like I feel like I'm lying if that makes any sense.

So. To just get over it all, I used Facebook Questions to see what my friends thought about it all.

The results were interesting - and the friends who read my blog most regularly and also have blogs of their own were the ones who wanted me to play blog catch-up (totally understandable!), but after having the question up for voting for a week, the winner was option 1 - 'Pretend the last 4 months didn't exist and start new posts from today'.

Am I relieved? If I'm being honest, yes! 4-5 months is a huuuuge effort to catch up on and I'm pretty sure I mentioned the word 'malaise' previously somewhere... so from this post onwards, I'll be posting a little more about 'stuff', and who knows, some of the stuff that happened earlier this year might make its way in here...

Thanks for voting peeps!

A week of lunches

2010-12-24T18:21:00.007+11:00

Before I arrived here, I asked my friends what there was to do in Hongkers.. and it was pretty much the answer across the board - eat and shop.

Seeing as I am currently in no mental state to shop - still traumatised by the big pack - and I pretty much have to eat, I thought I'd share a week of my lunches. Well technically a working week as I only took photos of my lunch at the cafeteria at work.

Monday: Roast Duck and Char Siu on Rice. I was impressed by the price (HKD21) but I've had better in a lot of other places
Tuesday: Baked Pork Chop on Rice in Tomato Sauce. One of my favourite dishes back home and this didn't disappoint. For HKD24, it was filling, tasty AND super speedy (unlike the usual 20 minute wait for it to be baked)
Wednesday: Daily Thai Combo. There's a variation on the Thai combo every day in the cafeteria. HKD35 gets you soup, spring rolls, fried rice, fried chicken, lemongrass pork and rice puddings (with corn inside which was unexpected). Great value and very yummy.
Thursday: Black Pepper Beef and Fried Egg on Rice. I was very happy with this coz there was so much sauce! I love it when my rice gets all mushy and tasty *slurp*. The sausage looks a bit odd I know but it was delicious. The iced lemon tea and soup were part of the HKD35 set meal.
Friday: Thai Pineapple Fish Set. The cafeteria sure does Thai food well! I wasn't that hungry but I finished most of it before I realised. Pity the layer cake was bland. It looked deceptively flavoursome. HKD32.
Awesome food at awesome prices at work! Admittedly I think I will get sick of eating this sort of food day in day out, and there are a few other options such as a salad and sandwich bar, a Japanese place and a Western deli-type counter, but since it's all new to me, I'm really enjoying the food. The added bonus is that these 5 lunches have worked out to be a little less than AUD20 with the current exchange rate. YAY!

PS - Hopefully I'll have better photos now as I've finally upgraded to the iPhone 4 - you can see that Monday and Tuesday's photos are a lot darker due to the older phone but they improve from Wednesday onwards.

Home for now

2010-12-21T20:45:00.001+11:00

Work has kindly put me up in an apartment near my place of work - and from what I've been led to believe, it's a very decent size for one person in HK terms. Here's the grand tour...The 'foyer'. That's my front door, with a decent sized shoe cupboard. That thing that looks like a crack in the wall is actually a bit of dried twig from a dried flower arrangement.

This is what you see when you turn around - the dining table and doors to the kitchen and master bedroom.

A full view of the lounge area from the dining table - with the suitcase still half unpacked. There is a balcony behind the (icky) curtains but seeing as I'm over 50 floors up and I don't really think it's that safe out there I doubt I'll be spending a lot of time there.

The odd shaped kitchen that also holds my washing machine. Well stocked with utensils.

The master bedroom. I say this only because the bed is bigger. I have realised though that the only reason the bed is bigger is because half the mattress is perched on the giant window ledge. They sure know how to make use of the space over here I have to say.

Bedroom 2 - the mattress seems to be wider than the standard single bed, but a lot shorter. I just fit if I lie stretched out. Hopefully any visitors I have will be midgets.

The bathroom, equipped with a bathtub and shower curtain with cartoon zoo animals on it behind the door.
I can choose to continue staying here if I want to, or move elsewhere to be closer to busier parts of HK, but it's early days yet so I plan on taking my time with the decision. Plus I'm terrible with morning starts so for now, the closer I am to work the better :)

Oh and I'd like to point out that the couch is a La-z-boy one. Perfectly positioned to recline in front of the TV a la Joey and Chandler in Friends :D

A Great Start

2010-12-20T22:07:00.005+11:00

So the move to Hongkers is finally happening. After a week of delays that I suspect have given me a white hair (eep!) I got myself a ticket and made my way to the airport early on a Sunday morning.

I checked-in, went through immigration and after the pain of packing, decided I didn't need any more things, so I wandered through duty-free towards my gate with the hopes of just relaxing on a chair somewhere when look who I bumped into:

Why good morning to you too Mario!
That really perked me right up - I sure do love a bit of Mario so I figured it was a good sign that my new adventure was going to be great! I didn't know the half of it though - within the hour, I was upgraded to business class!

Credit goes to a very very nice person who happened to be working behind check-in
I've only been in business class once ever before, but this was a whole different experience because Cathay's business class are diagonally aligned pods that fold all the way down into a bed, with high 'walls' for lots and lots of privacy. Especially great for single travellers!

There's even a footrest - yay
I settled in and decided that I was going to stay up to check out what they would serve for breakfast and lunch - plus I didn't really want to sleep too much even though I was super tired since I needed to be up and ready for work the next day without being jet-lagged.

Here were the breakfast offerings:

Juice, fruit and a croissant (which was a bit cold and tough unfortunately)
Mozzarella, basil and tomato fritatta with chicken sausage, bacon, sauteed kipfler potatoes, spinach and mushroom - yummies
For lunch:

Starter: Smoked salmon, grilled scallops and marinated baby octopus with mixed salad - very tasty but looking at the octopus grossed me out a bit so I tasted a bit then left it
Main: Lamb korma, turmeric rice and vegetable jalfrezi - not bad but by this stage I was pretty full so I only had a bit
Dessert: Port with a big slice of strawberry and pistachio cheesecake
To finish off: Another glass of port and a praline (pity it was only one)
By now I was ready for my nap but I still forced myself to stay awake a bit longer and watched a couple of movies, Get Him to the Greek (better than I expected) and The Other Guys (highly entertaining). Yes I like mindless comedies, especially when on a plane :)

I finally succumbed to a bit of shut-eye before waking up to an announcement that we were about to land. Oh and before I forget - the best bit! I got a cute toiletries bag with the standard socks, eyemask and toothpaste/brush, with a couple of mini Murad products included.

I think it was one of the best flights I've ever had! If I was rich, I'd be flying business class all the time! I guess I can keep dreaming right? ;)

Hong Kong!!

2010-12-10T13:16:00.006+11:00

It's been awhile since my last post but a lot has been happening for me. In a nutshell, I'm off to work in Hong Kong for a year! It's all happened within a space of 2 weeks so I've been madly rushing around finishing up with my old job (I'll miss you guys!) and worrying about admin, packing (what do I bring??) and all sorts of bits and bobs.

I still have a lot of running around to do but I thought I'd share a snapshot of the chaos I'm experiencing right now.

What have I forgotten....
These are just some of my things to be packed - note that there are no shoes, jeans, electrical applicances (GHD!) or bags in the picture yet. *eeep*

I also don't think there is space for a sewing machine in there :(

iPhone Snapshots - November 30

2010-11-30T11:29:00.001+11:00

Anyone remember having these as a kid?

There's just something about the texture and flavour of these jelly cups that I love :)

Neckie the giraffe

2010-11-28T23:45:00.004+11:00

Now my previous post about soft fill was probably a bit mysterious, but all for a good reason. I was making a surprise for Frannie for her birthday! Seeing as she reads this blog regularly I didn't want to give the game away.

I had already gotten her a copy of the super awesome Zakka Sewing craft book but if time permitted I was going to try to make up a Mrs Perkins giraffe for her since I really didn't want her stealing mine.

It was a bit of a mad rush - and gee those horns always get me - but I made it!

Girl or boy? Hmmm...
I wasn't sure if the giraffe was going to be a boy or a girl so I picked fairly neutral colours - beige with a light white pattern for the body and a very pale turquoise for the feet and horns.

Matchy-matchy
Can you see a bit of a colour theme happening with the wrapping paper? I've never felt quite so coordinated ;)

I added a bit of the matching ribbon around the giraffe neck (gifts should be at least partially wrapped don't you think? heehee) and we were ready to go.

After a rather lovely meal at Maze (thanks again Frannie!) the gifts were opened.

Hurrah! New friends!
Coined with the apt name of Neckie, it was decided that she was a female giraffe. Although it wasn't my intention, Ray pointed out that Neckie was really channelling Tiffany & Co, what with her (almost) duck egg blue ribbon and mane colouring.

What can I say? The girl has high standards ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANNIE! x

***EDIT - click here if you want to see how Neckie is settling in to her new home***

Pretty paper

2010-11-27T13:25:00.002+11:00

I love pretty wrapping paper. It can seem like such a waste though when it ends up getting crushed, crinkled and ripped up, especially with some of the prices being charged these days. I know I'd much rather put my pennies towards the gift itself rather than the package it comes in!

Cue a rubber stamp, an inkpad and a roll of white paper.

I loooove the colour of the ink
Just repeat as you see fit and *stampstampstamp*, a sheet of pretty wrapping paper!

Totally stuffed

2010-11-23T23:43:00.000+11:00

Look at this lovely lot of soft fill in my hand.

It looks so fluffy and soft and cushy and almost like a heap of frothy light bubbles, glistening in the light.

Well it's NOT. Do you know how much of this you need to actually stuff anything?? That amount you see there looking oh-so-innocent would probably be able to stuff something smaller than those little pellets with a toy you get in a Kinder Surprise. Just.

Stuffing anything larger than the aforementioned pellet takes a surprising amount of time and energy.

I now have very sore fingers. Stupid soft fill.

Mario Love

2010-11-16T23:38:00.000+11:00

When I was growing up, we were never allowed to have any gaming consoles in the house. A computer yes, but not any Sega/Nintendo/Atari entertainment. I don't think we were any worse off for it, but to this day I kind of suck at console type games.

I had a childhood friend whose house I would visit when I was younger and pretty much force to drag the Nintendo (NES) out and play Super Mario. I'd get blitzed every time seeing as she got the play it every day, but I didn't care. The game was so much fun!

These days I can probably afford a plethora of gaming consoles, but find they aren't much fun if you don't have anyone to play them with. Plus I have tendency to like cutesy games that boys just don't really want to play all that much, so I haven't really gone all out with buying them. My Nintendo DS however, has been a fantastic purchase. Hours of entertainment was had when I was living and travelling around Europe - it helped waiting at airports, sitting on trains and generally filling in boring waiting bits that happen when one travels. And yes, my favourite game was Super Mario.

Variations on the game such as Mario Kart and Super Paper Mario haven't been bad either, although I'd advise people to not bother with Princess Peach. Boring and slow! Well I thought so anyway.

Like I said, I'm still pretty sucky at console games, but someone said to me recently when we were playing it in multiplayer mode on the Wii that they had never seen me so worked up about a game/sport/competition ever. What can I say - I love it! Who can resist the distinct sounds (1-up mushroom!), level music and general cuteness of the game? I look at Yoshi and I just want one - so when I got this awesome present from Linderrr, I was one happy Mario fan.

I love love LOVE IT!

Springing into Shape

2010-11-14T23:53:00.011+11:00

After my efforts to get into running, I was told not to run anymore since my stupid knee was playing up. Again. Urgh.

Unfortunately I had already signed up for the last race in the Spring into Shape fun run series with meJoolie, so I figured I'd do my best and would just walk the 4.3km course if the knee started to hurt.

I managed to finish the course with a combination of slow jogging and walking in a time of 33:03. That in itself means not too much at all to me seeing as I've never done one of these before but once the knee heals up, I'd like to use it as a benchmark to beat.

Check us out - still smiling post-race
To celebrate finishing our first run (more walk in my case), we took advantage of the complimentary 10 minute massages post-race and scored some freebies (shower gel, juice, a health bar and the Sunday paper). We then rewarded ourselves with a hearty breakfast at Cafe Panette - no wonder we were smiling!

Eggs a la Mer with a roesti on the side
I have to say that I enjoyed myself a lot more than I expeted to. We were lucky hat on a really wet weekend it didn't rain while we ran! I'm hoping that phone calls tomorrow to an osteo and an acupuncturist will mean I can try out another fun run soon - being injured is so frustrating, especially with summer on the way.

Dress upgrade.... or is that upsize...

2010-11-13T01:19:00.007+11:00

I've made this pattern (Butterick B4701) up 3 times now, once sized down to fit a 2-year-old flowergirl and twice for Princess S in a size 4. She's fast outgrown them but apparently the Princess loves her dresses so much that she won't let them go, so I thought I'd make her an 'upgrade' of sorts. She's just turned 4 and is about average size for her age, so the Butterick pattern must really cater to smaller-sized kids! Based on that I decided to just make the dress up in the largest size for the pattern I had, which was a 6.

I found a really pretty pink and white stripe cotton to make it up in. Unfortunately it has turned up looking a little red in the photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

This was my first effort working with stripes and I had decided at the start that I would try my best to match up any stripe joins in the fabric, so I was very conscious of cutting the fabric using the print as a guide as opposed to the fabric grain.

Now I know a 4-year-old isn't going to notice details like stripe matching, and if I didn't point it out, no-one else would either, but I'm sure everyone has a bit of anal-retentiveness in them. I just happen to have a larger dose of it :)

Woohoo! All lined up!
I have to admit I was really pleased with the result. Matching up the stripes around the zip was a bit of an effort, but as I tend to find zips annoying to sew in general, it was nothing new to do it a few times over.

My hand-stitching skills are also improving - you can hardly see the thread where I've sewn the lining to the dress *yay*

I guess it's true what they say about practice making perfect :)

How not to prepare

2010-11-07T21:46:00.004+11:00

Kimba and I were supposed to have started making up some super cute sock owls for an owl mobile using a pattern we had both bought from Craft Schmaft quite awhile back now, so we booked some time in this weekend.

Aren't they cute? Details and photo source here
Unfortunately we didn't have any socks at the ready - so to solve this problem we decided to go shopping!

4 hours, several credit cards and multiple shopping bags later, I found some gorgeous little baby socks for my mobile.

We were good to go! Pity it was time for dinner. At least we'll be prepared for next time - maybe.

iPhone Snapshots - November 3

2010-11-03T15:35:00.000+11:00

Afternoon tea in the office, thanks Tammy!

Superhero Blee

2010-11-02T23:59:00.000+11:00

A long overdue birthday present started to sort itself after I found this fun flannel print.

I whipped them up into some PJ pants (cropped, in case you were wondering why they look so wide - and no he's not a midget even though there has been talk of a height complex...)

And added a personalised touch - just for Blee.

Hope he likes them.

I should be a plumber

2010-10-22T23:14:00.002+11:00

OK so maybe that's an exaggeration but I was horrified the other day when in the midst of cleaning out a bag full of jewellery I heard what sounded like something sliding against the porcelain of the sink. I turned around quick enough to see the flash of something shiny falling down into one of the little drainage holes in the sink.

My first thought was 'OMG what was that?', followed by 'OMG it better not be anything expensive!'. Since I have bits of jewellery all over the place I really wasn't sure if an earring was missing its other half or if a pendant had fallen off a necklace chain. Stress stress - what if it was a diamond??

My Ma advised me to ask a neighbour for help rather than call the plumber - neither of which were appealing to me since even though the neighbour in question is lovely, I just don't know him very well, and plumbers can be expensive - totally not worth it if the lost item was just a trinket!

I plugged up that particular sink and after a couple of days of being in denial and pretending it hadn't happened, I mentioned it to a workmate. Coincidentally, he had been doing some pipework under his house. According to him, it wouldn't be that difficult to fish something out of the sink if it hadn't been already washed away by running water (which I had made sure hadn't happened). As long as the piping was moderately modern and the person who installed it wasn't too heavy-handed, it would be a simple DIY job.

Apparently all you need to do is lay a few towels under the pipe, unscrew the screwy bits that join the pipes up (sorry don't know what the technical term for this is) and tip out whatever is caught in there.

It sounded good in theory, but I was dubious. After all, on TV, when you see a plumber go under a sink, he has a toolbox with spanners and screws and allsorts that are put to use. Could it really be as simple as that?

Turns out that yes, yes it is!

Top screwy bit unscrewed successfully!
I managed to unscrew both ends using a towel to protect my palms (doing it without really hurt!). My workmate failed to mention that the inside of the pipe was going to be gross and stinky, and I hadn't thought that far ahead since, y'know, I was dubious and all, so I quickly poured out the contents of the pipe into a bucket and restored the piping to all of its former glory. *bleurgh*

Turns out, it was an earring that had fallen in, and a cheap one at that. Probably wasn't worth the grossness of the whole experience, but what was worth it was learning how to do it. Sure, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but I've never been handy around the house so I felt pretty awesome.

Here's hoping that this random post ends up being helpful to some of you other non-handy people out there :)

Going dotty

2010-10-21T23:38:00.000+11:00

I've found that no matter which fabric store you go to, there is always some sort of polka-dotted material around. My Ma absolutely loves it since she adores using polka-dots in her quilts.

Me, I fluctuate. I tend to think that it just has to be fit for purpose - Is it in fashion? Does it suit the style of the garment? Is it being used inappropriately for a large item (this giving anyone who looks at it a headache)?

After trawling the interwebs though I think that polka-dots nearly always look great on little girls' dresses. Check some of these out.
Rare Editions Girls Pink Polka Dot Dress from Treasure Box Kids
Carter's Baby Dress, Baby Girls Polka Dot Dress from Depot.com

Bonnie Jean Baby Little Girls Fuchsia Polka Dot Spring Dress from Sophias Style

Aren't they all super cute? SY2's first birthday is coming up and I now have a few ideas up my sleeve... I just hope I have time before I head off on my holidays!

Burdastyle dress: 114-5/2010. Take 2.

2010-10-14T22:13:00.000+11:00

So I wasn’t 100% happy with the Burda dress I made before and decided that I’d try to change a few things about it and make another version using a navy cotton with a large amoutnt of white print on it – I thought the use of white would make it a lot more summer-y.

I loved the print the moment I saw it!
The Plan
I thought it through and decided I wanted to do the following:

1. Make the back section more conventional instead of having the cross back pattern
2. Eliminate the need for 2 pieces for the front of the dress
3. Make the skirt either a gathered skirt or a pleated one, without the tiers.

1. The Back
This was fairly easy – I just used the original Burda pattern as a guide. I made sure that the tops of the shoulder straps still matched the pattern so they’d line up with the front shoulder straps, then drew a curved line from there to meet the underarm seam. I did this freehand since I didn’t know if there was a particular technique around on how to measure this up. It seemed like a logical enough approach in my mind.

2. The Front
Now this was a piece of cake. I just took the front piece and cut it on the fold (taking it in just a tad as the original pattern called for the 2 front pieces to overlap).

3. The Skirt
This step had me torn. Part of the reason I had picked the particular material was because it was thick enough not to need any lining. As a result, it was more likely to add bulk to the join and make me look a lot thicker around the waist. Based on this I reluctantly decided to have a go at pleating the skirt instead of gathering it. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I find pleating hard work! Still, I figured that avoiding doing it wasn’t going to make me any better at it so a-pleating I went.

The Execution
I started by drawing evenly spaced lines on the back of the material for the pleats. I had no idea how much material I needed and how to measure how many pleats to put in so I just decided that I would just pleat the length of material and then cut it to fit as the skirt option.

Pencil lines
I had a lot of trouble working out the best way of sewing these up. I ended up folding the pleats on the pencil mark, pinning them in place and then sewing up and down the seam using the machine foot as a measuring guide so that I'd be able to replicate the measurements across the skirt.

I really don't know if this was the best method but it seemed to kind of work...
So I kept repeating the pattern across the length of fabric I had set aside for the skirt and ended up with a consistent pleating pattern throughout.

On and on and on - it took ages!
I actually lie as I managed to get distracted along the way and incorrectly sew an extra seam where it shouldn't have gone. Urgh. Luckily it was close to one end of the fabric so I was hoping that I wouldn't need the whole length for the skirt - either way I was so exhausted from all the pleating that it was either pretend that it hadn't happened or chuck the whole project, so there are no pictures of the stupid thing to be posted :)

I then basted the skirt to the newly-fashioned bodice to get an idea of what the dress would look like.

Finally - pleats!
The Result
I'm loving the look of the dress using the fabric but I have to say that after all that pleating work (did I mention that it took FOREVER?) I was really disappointed - the pleats have made the dress look really matronly.

It looks quite shapeless on the hanger but it gives you an idea of how it just isn't quite working
So now - what should I do??

I don't have any more of the fabric left to start over but unpicking the pleating will take a huge amount of time - probably longer than it took to do the pleating in the first place (and like I said, it took a really really really long time - there must seriously be an easier way!).

I think I might take leave of this particular project for a bit - it's causing me a bit of frustration to say the least.

Sigh.

iPhone Snapshots - September 23-29-ish

2010-09-30T08:55:00.003+10:00

My world view for a week, looking up at a catamaran sail, somewhere around the Cyclades Islands.

Fabric in a can and pain everywhere...

2010-09-20T19:46:00.000+10:00

New technology in clothing creation - fabric in a can.

On a separate note, I'm off for a 2 week holiday tomorrow night and have spent the past 2 days in bed struck down with some nasty flu strain. My head/joints/throat hurts, and a summer dress for the trip based on the burdastyle tiered dress I previously made has been left unfinished on the dining table.

Not happy.

Panadol and sleep time.

My first burdastyle dress: 5/2010 Tiered Mini Dress

2010-09-15T22:42:00.001+10:00

I did have grand plans to make my first ever BurdaStyle attempt the One Dot Dress, but when I read the instructions a little better I realised that I didn't have a double stitch needle and even if I did, I wasn't sure where the second spool would sit on my sewing machine.

Due to my general impatience, I put that one in the 'think-about-it-later' pile and instead decided on pattern 114 from the 5/2010 issue, a tiered mini dress.

As you can see, it's a great summer dress and Burda had it made up in a really nice Liberty print.

Photo courtesy of burdastyle
Seeing as quite a few people have said that Burda patterns aren't the easiest to follow, I wasn't going to splurge on expensive material and instead picked up some similarly patterned cotton from Spotlight.

After a bit of confusion around how the front buttonholes were supposed to work, I managed to figure it out:

The finished product (slightly crinkled)
I have to say that I was a little disappointed initially that the dress looks a little pregnant-y, but it's nothing a high-waisted belt won't fix. You just don't notice it too much on the Burda model since they've shown an action shot.

Perhaps it's my choice of material but I think that the darker material has taken a bit of the summer-y feel away from the dress.

Front and back.
Also not too sure about the cross-back - I have a sneaking suspicion that it might make most people look like they have swimmers' shoulders - but that aside, this design means that normal bras can't be worn without having the straps fully exposed. Not a great look.

As I mentioned, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with the buttonholes so I figured since the design had an invisible zip right up one side (talk about zipper foot issues!), the dress front didn't actually need to button up, so I ladder stitched the 2 front sections together and sewed on 3 buttons just for appearances. This bit probably took me almost as long as it did to sew up the rest of the dress!

Fake buttons
Overall I'm pretty happy with the dress for a first attempt but I wouldn't mind making a better version of this, with just one front section for the bust and removing the cross back. I've also found that the skirt section is very see-through as it isn't lined, so that might be something to consider next time.

Keeping things tidy (- ish)

2010-09-13T22:48:00.001+10:00

Rather than have my threads going everywhere while sewing and snipping (half of them usually end up on me), I've raided the kitchen and put a Chinese soup bowl to good use.

Efficient and cultural at the same time. Everyone's a winner.

C25K Update

2010-09-12T04:12:00.001+10:00

So I'm now up to Week 7 of the program and I'm actually managing to jog (at an incredibly slow pace) for 25 minutes. It's not fun and I haven't been converted to being a running fanatic but I must say I'm pretty proud of myself. Personally it's a huge achievement as I've never really had much stamina - I managed some decent sprinting when I was younger but that's been about it.

Still 3 weeks to go - not sure I'll make the 5k at the end as I'm going at a pretty slow pace (7.5 on the treadmill) but I figure once I get up to 30 mins I can always work on my speed :)

iPhone Snapshots - September 6

2010-09-06T22:49:00.001+10:00

Beginnings of a gift, Melbourne

No zipper love

2010-09-01T21:34:00.004+10:00

Quite a few of the patterns I've been looking at call for an invisible zip. Unfortunately the machine that I'm using didn't come with one so I decided to mosey on down to the shops to buy a invisible zipper foot. I saw a couple in stock and they all pretty much looked like the same assortment of bright plastic bits so I decided to buy the Birch branded ones since I was buying a few machine needles of the same brand.

I got home, opened up the packet and seriously could not make head or tail on how it all worked.

Contents of the packet
The instructions were highly useless. They listed what type of machine each adaptor (blue bit) was for but that didn't help since I had no idea which category (options were short shank, long shank, slant needle and low front) my machine fit in.

Looking at this sure didn't help me work anything out...
Thanks to the interwebs, I found a really helpful post from Kim of the All Things Mum blog that had a clear picture of how the foot is supposed to look when it's on the machine. Adaptor B for me - Hurrah!

It actually fits!
It wasn't really all that hurrah though as I soon discovered. As you can see from the photo below, the foot fits well on the shank and the screwhole is visible on the right side of the foot.

Yup, there's where the screw goes
On the left side of the foot is a whole other story.

Something isn't quite right here...
That's right - the screw needs to be screwed into the hole that just isn't there! I tried to slide the adaptor section up or down but there was no way possible it was going to budge. I thought that maybe, just maaaayyybe, I would be able to use the foot without having to screw it in but I learnt pretty quickly that that wasn't going to work.

Looks like for now I'll continue using my normal zipper foot like I did for the Macaron dress - the result for that wasn't quite as 'invisible' as I'd like it to be but at least it gets the zip in.

I'd really like to use a proper invisible zipper foot though - without having to fork out to get an exorbitant fee on a metal foot specific to my machine (a Janome Decor Excel 5018). Why waste the moolah when there is a chance that I might be able to use a cheap ugly plastic one? ;D

Anyone have any ideas or come across the same problem?

Oilcloth bags

2010-08-31T22:54:00.003+10:00

I'm currently loving oilcloth bags - especially lunch bags!

Check out the examples from Martha Stewart's website below - she also provides a basic tutorial on how to put one of these together.

I love love LOVE them!

For a bag with a twist, the good folk at Design*Sponge came up with a woodgrain version, also with instructions provided.

As usual, more to add to my never ending To-Do list!

Dinner at Orita's

2010-08-28T23:57:00.004+10:00

I don't usually write about food on this blog - even though I love love LOVE to eat it - usually because I'm too lazy but this time I thought I would take a leaf out of Pooey/Frannie's and Mally's book and give it a bash. Also it was an 'occasion' dinner so all the more reason to blog I say!

Excuse the shoddy dark photos - my iPhone 3GS needs an upgrade methinks.

I've been on a bit of an eating plan recently in an effort to learn portion control, but I made an exception today so I could enjoy dinner at Orita's. Orita's came highly recommended by a workmate and I'm always a fan of Japanese food so I was ready and raring to go.

Unfortunately for me, I think my portion control diet has really worked, because the 2 arancini balls and mushroom tapas I had at a housewarming earlier in the day had me absolutely stuffed! Nevertheless, yummy Jap food was calling to me and I wasn't about to ignore it!

After making our choices and ordering from their fusion menu, we were given a complimentary starter of Japanese potato salad on a prawn cracker. Doesn't look like much but who doesn't love potato salad - and the addition of the crispy base sure didn't hurt. Yums!

FREEBIE STARTER: Potato salad on a prawn cracker
Next up was the Appetizer platter for 2 that I had eyed on another table as we walked it. I hadn't had raw fish for over 4 weeks so that was definitely on my list of things to eat. The dish came not only with a few slices of sashimi but also lobster sushi rolls, tempura prawns and the most tender beef cubes that melted in your mouth. Highly recommended but I wanted more raw fish!

ENTREE: Assorted Appetizer Platter (Share for two)
I was pretty full by then but mains were to come. We decided to share the 2 so we could enjoy both the lobster tail and wagyu steak - and this is where I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I thought perhaps it was just my full tummy tricking me into thinking the steak could be tastier but no, it was agreed that although the meat was nice and tender (which was to be expected since it was pretty much the most expensive dish on the menu!) it just wasn't that tasty. I think there should have been a bit more sauce provided. Boo. The lobster was decent - it tasted like lobster so no complaints there.

MAINS: Wagyu Steak and Grilled Lobster Tail
After the slightly underwhelming mains, I wasn't sure that dessert would be up to scratch, but then again I figured I probably wouldn't notice since I hadn't had anything overly chocolate-y for awhile.

I was right - the Chocolate Mousse Cake was very well received by my tummy!

DESSERT: Tempura Ice Cream with Fruits Sauce and Chocolate Mousse Cake
I must admit I had some reservations about the Tempura Ice Cream - I figured it was just glorified fried ice cream that could be purchased in any Asian restaurant for dessert but I was pleasantly surprised. The batter was light and almost fluffy - nothing like the heavy crusty batter on standard fried ice cream.

Overall dinner was good - great company and conversation - and great appetizers and desserts. I think we both agreed the mains were average for the price so if I did go back there again I think I would either order a larger appetizer platter or go for more sushi - the quality of the fish on the platter was fantastic *slurp*

Dinner was followed up with a viewing of the romantic classic The Expendables.

All in all a great night out.

Things are afoot...

2010-08-27T01:24:00.004+10:00

Just not my invisible zipper foot.

Progress is still happening... just a little slower than expected.

Watch this space.

iPhone Snapshots - August 14

2010-08-15T20:42:00.003+10:00

2 day ticket to snowboarding fun (and pain), Mt Hotham

I can't even knit

2010-08-11T02:11:00.003+10:00

But I totally have to buy this book!!

Cuteness overload!!

My first burdastyle mag

2010-08-07T18:35:00.005+10:00

I was mooching around in the local Borders the other night waiting for Mally and decided to peruse the magazine aisle to catch up on the latest celeb gossip - nothing like a bit of cerebral stimulation hehe - and I thought I'd check out the section with the craft mags.

Beading, cross-stitch, quilting, more beading... and then what did I see tucked away in the corner? A burdastyle mag. Having not read one before I opened it up to see what I could get for the 'import' cost of having it available in Australia.

I didn't expect much to be honest as I'd heard that the patterns and instructions could be quite confusing and I'm still pretty much a novice at sewing, but there were a couple of items that caught my eye, mainly the kiddie clothing and a summer dress.

A few more page flips though and I knew I had to buy it. I was super excited to see that this was the very issue I had thought about ordering in from overseas because of the One Dot Dress pattern that AllisonC had reviewed.

burda 05/2010 #105
Other reviews seem quite positive as well.

So now I've got the pattern, got some jersey in my stash, read the instructions and once I figure out what the Australian version of 'Vilene bias tape' is, I'll be set to go!

active feet indeed!

2010-08-04T23:19:00.004+10:00

Today I started Week 4 of my C25K program. If I was going to be really particular about it I should really be midway through Week 5, but my stupid knee has been playing up again so I decided to pace myself a little. I think I'll do a post on the program once I finish it but for now I have to say that even though I'm not really enjoying myself during the jogging intervals of each session, when I'm not at the gym I've been thinking about how I'm going to finish it all and be awesome at it *YAY*

Anyhoo, this knee issue has been quite the pain in the behind. I asked my physio if there was anything else I could do to improve the healing rate or prevent this from happening again and he asked if I had old or ill-fitting shoes. The 2 pairs I use aren't particularly old but were bought with my wide feet in mind. I had also had my feet assessed by the folk at The Athlete's Foot (who knew the name included the word 'The'?) and using an assessment pad that they get you to walk over, they found that my feet didn't over-pronate (i.e. roll in too much), so I was recommended some neutral shoes. Mr Physio took one look at me standing there in my bare socks and said that my feet looked like they did roll in. Needless to say I wasn't very impressed and decided to get a reassessment.

My suspected foot behaviour (pic courtesy of Philadelphia Runner)
I was quite reluctant to go back to The Athlete's Foot seeing as it sounded like they had gotten it wrong twice before (annoying!), but didn't know if I really needed to see a podiatrist. Mr Physio said that there was another option, a happy hybrid if you like, where I could go to a shop run by podiatrists who assessed the way your feet moved by putting you on a treadmill. I had never heard of such a thing - most likely due to my aversion to exercise - but it sure sounded worth a shot!

I visited a branch of the active feet chain over the weekend and the place was packed. Who knew there would be so many people with ungainly gaits around? After a bit of a wait, I got to chat to one of the staff, let's call him Fred, about my feet/knee/exercise issues and my shoe-wearing history. I then jumped on a treadmill that had a camera attached to the wall behind it, so as I walked my feet were projected onto a large screen in front of me. According to their website, this 'allows the individuals own biomechanical foot function to be assessed and a shoe selected to suit that individuals foot type'. Hurray for technology!

I must say I really didn't realise I had such an odd walk! Oh and also massive calves *cry* but I decided not to point this out to Fred as I figured new shoes weren't going to fix that issue and his care factor would be pretty close to zero.

The screen showed that my feet rolled in a bit too much before lifting up off the ground, so I needed shoes that addressed that problem. Fred brought out some shoes he thought would correct the issue, and then I got my walk and run re-assessed on the treadmill. As the original treadmill was occupied, we used a different one and guess what - my calves aren't all that big after all. Turns out the first camera was distorting the projected image :D

The shoes seemed to do the job well but Fred offered up a couple of other choices which were also assessed on the treadmill. What I found pretty amazing is that I was told to go for a 50m walk/run outside on the public pavement, which is something I guarantee most shops don't let you do, and I think that really helped me in my decision-making process.

So here they are - my new beauties!

Fresh and new Brooks runners in the box
As Fred explained to me, these particular shoes work well for my feet because the grey area under the arch of the foot is made out of foam that compresses less than the white area - so it stops my foot from turning it too far and corrects my gait when I walk/run.

That sure is a lot of correctional foam
So what was the verdict today? The shoes were comfy enough, they felt really supportive and now that I understand how my feet work I think they really did help with my exercise session! I now understand why my ankles got sore once in awhile as well - I used to think I was just weak and bad at exercise but I just wasn't getting enough support! No thanks to The Athlete's Foot. Admittedly the knee is still sore but I wasn't expecting miracles.

active feet : 1
The Athlete's Foot : a BIG FAT 0

The Macaron

2010-08-01T23:39:00.019+10:00

It's finally finished!

Ta-dah! Sneaky front pockets
Actually I finished this a week ago but only got the chance to wear it today and take some photos. I could have just posted a photo of the dress on the hanger but it looks pretty average and shapeless without a body to pad it out.

As a precursor to the post I'd like to say that the photos in this post don't do justice to the dress - mainly because every crease and wrinkle shows up in these photos due to my (poor) material choice - and these aren't anywhere near as obvious in real life.

Material
I used a black cotton-and-something blend with a slight sheen to it for the contrast to complement the black and white patterned mid-to-heavy weight cotton/lycra (I suspect it must be something like this since it has a fair amount of stretch if you tug at it) that I had picked for the body of the dress. I also used a black 16" invisible zip to finish.

Pattern (Colette Patterns: Macaron dress)
I did the right thing this time and made a muslin to make sure that I got the sizing right on this, and as per standard opinion, the Colette sizing was pretty much bang on.

The pattern was overall very straightforward, but when it came to the sleeves I ended up ignoring the instructions - they were confusing and the diagram confused me more than anything.

I was pretty excited with some aspects of the pattern as it marked 2 'firsts' for me - an invisible zip and a blind hem.

Not bad for a first attempt at the invisible zip
Both techniques were achievable after a bit of practice but it took me a bit of time to work out that I could actually put in the invisible zip without a special foot for my machine, contrary to popular opinion. This video definitely helped.

I don't know that the blind hem was the most suitable finish for the dress but I suspect that the stiffness of my fabric has something to do with this opinion.

Would I do it again?
I definitely want to make this again, using different materials. The photos below give you an idea of how the dress hangs and I'm slightly disappointed with how creased the dress is after 15 minutes of wear. The fake sweetheart neckline also doesn't hang very well. I thought that the heaviness of the material would mean that it would sit well on the bust but instead it seems to have resulted in some creasing.

Enough creasing there??

The sweetheart seam could sit a little better - and the creasing! *AUGH*
So yes, the creasing is bothering me to no end, which is really quite frustrating seeing as I spent a fair amount of time on the dress making sure that I had fnished all my seams well and taking a lot of time to practice with the blind hemming and the zip. I think next time I'll look to do this in lighter cotton materials next time - maybe in summer brights since we're now in the last month of winter *hurrah*!

The fairy effect

2010-07-24T23:45:00.005+10:00

I just wanted to share that my most recent ruffled skirt has been well-received. The request stated that it needed to fit under Princess S's gauzy fairy skirt and as you can see, it does exactly that *hurrah*!

A green one has now been requested for her other fairy skirt... :)

Once again...

2010-07-23T03:27:00.000+10:00

I'm up at some ridiculous hour on a work night due to obsessive sewing. Admittedly I tend to get obsessive about certain things and it cuts into my sleep time (like the time I had to read all the books in the Harry Potter series and only went to sleep when the birds were chirping outside due to a slightly paralytic fear that I would fall asleep at my desk at work) and sewing is no different.

Still working on the Macaron but it's nearly there - just a zip and a hem and hopefully that is it.

OK it's nearly 3:30am and here I am blogging about my bad habits instead of actually trying to rectify it by getting some shut eye! Not long before the dreaded alarm rings.

I'm still not sure why I keep doing this to myself...

Why am I so slow (or Ruffled Skirt No 3 - by request)

2010-07-15T23:41:00.000+10:00

Now that Princess S can fit into it, she has decided that she must have a red version of the ruffled skirt I made for her awhile back.

I have been informed that there are several reasons for this request:

1) The ruffles on the skirt make it extra twirly (this is very important)
2) The red colour will fit perfectly as an underlayer to a fairy skirt (gauze and thus fairly see-through)
3) The combination of the skirt ruffles and the gauze will mean the overall fairy effect will be even more sticky-outy (gotta love synergy!)

So here it is. The ruffled skirt for the third time.

One would think that after making it 3 times I'd be super speedy with it, but no. It still takes me a couple of hours at least of faffing about before it's done.

Why oh why am I so slow?

Maybe it's because I watch shows on my laptop while trying to sew. Or maybe it's because I am playing 3 games of Words with Friends (a Scrabble rip-off) on my iPhone and keep checking to see if my opponents have made a move. Or maybe because I stop for a snack break every 5 minutes.

I guess everyone has different sewing habits and it's a case of doing whatever you are comfortable with. Unfortunately mine aren't very efficient!

The C25K

2010-07-06T23:51:00.006+10:00

I have a sneaking suspicion I may be going overboard in celebrating the healing of my dodgy knee. I have now exercised 2 days in a row *gasp* and am planning to do even more. Admittedly having a hit around on a badminton court may not seem particularly strenuous but after 2 months of non-activity I think I got my day-after soreness that very night.

Still a sucker for punishment, I decided to start up the Couch to 5K program the very next day.

The Couch to 5K (C25K) program is designed to get couch potatoes (hence the use of the word couch - I suspect Potato to 5K wouldn't quite have the same ring to it) up and running a continous 5kms in 9 weeks. It's basically interval training 3 times a week for each of the 9 weeks, with a weekly change in the program to train up your body.

A part of me wonders why I am having a go at it - I tried this a few years ago and gave up after Week 3 when I came down with a nasty flu. I don't enjoy running and I find myself continuously counting down how long I have to go until I can stop the stupid treadmill - but I figure that if there is a even the tiniest bit of me that thinks I should do it, I might as well go with it while there is some sort of driver.

Friends who run say that once I get into it the hate will turn into love. I say they probably don't know me well enough ;) Plus I get itchy legs (is that too much information? Thanks to meJoolie for the link hehe) so that makes it all less appealing.

But hey, if this doesn't work out, there's always Zumba! Trying out my first session tomorrow :)

A (not-so) simple skirt

2010-06-26T23:30:00.004+10:00

I was randomly surfing the net the other day in the hopes of getting some sort of inspiration when I came across this little DIY gem on how to make a simple skirt with an elasticised waist.

The tutorial looked simple enough and was pretty much perfect for a speedy feel-good project so after a quick trip to the shops I found myself armed with a lovely length of miscellaneous grey knit (suspected flannel stretch of some kind but the tag was missing) and some black elastic.

The fabric looks perfect for winter
I figured the skirt would take me an hour or two seeing as I haven't really worked with knits before. This was factoring in the measuring, cutting and sewing. What I hadn't anticipated though was having to redo the stitching of the skirt. After gathering the skirt and pinning it to the elastic, I straight stitched the two parts together. All seemed well until I went to try the skirt on and I heard a big riiiip! Stretching the elastic had busted the seams!

When I thought about it later it did make sense as the seams weren't going to be stretching along with the elastic but as nothing was said in the tutorial I just went along with my standard stitch. Probably a silly newbie mistake on my part, so I made sure that when I was sewing the band to the skirt a second time around I used a straight stitch and then reinforced it with a zig-zag stitch, both of which were sewn on while I stretched out the elastic band.

Looking oh-so-innocent on the hanger
Other than my newbie mistake though, I had a terrible time with this one. My machine decided to suddenly act like an item possessed. My needle broke, my bobbin jammed a bunch and my thread snapped 6 times. I was close to just calling it quits but there is a stubborn streak in me that kept persevering. No machine shall best me *shakes fist*.

Anyhoo after all of that, I worked out that the thread I was using was a cheap and nasty spool that had been lurking in my thread box for a long time. Annoying.

Unfinished 'chic' (at least I'm hoping it is)
I didn't bother hemming the bottom of the skirt. I had made it a point when cutting to use the selvedge for the base of the skirt since it was such a simple *cough* skirt and I wanted to stay with that simplicity. Or I could just have been being lazy. Either way you can see the ends here look unfinished but I have had confirmation from workmates that it looks like it was styled that way on purpose, so I'm not doing any more work on it!

Moral of the story? Chuck out all of your cheap thread! It is EVIL.

Oh and if I do decide to make another one of these - the elastic band needs to be a lot wider. I thought it was fairly wide when I purchased it but now that the skirt is made up, I'd prefer it to be at least 2 times the width.

Celebrating being injury free

2010-06-24T22:27:00.002+10:00

I hurt myself playing netball about 2 months ago now. As I'm not a particularly active person I found this quite annoying - my (perhaps flawed) logic is that if you exercise lots then you're more likely to injure yourself but obviously that is not the case since netball only happened once a week and I managed to get hurt plenty.

After the first couple of days where I had a bit of trouble walking, I was going about my business with no visible limp but with a permanent ache in my knee joint and a pinching sensation in my back at times. A visit to the local GP wasn't much help but I was advised by my workmates to see a physio, and see one I did. Turns out the problem was some bruised cartilage in my left knee joint (I'm sure there is a long technical name for his but I would have no idea) and that then affected the muscle going from my knee to my hip. The back pain was most likely caused by my walking funny to compensate for the dodgy knee. I guess it's like the song goes - 'the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone' etc etc.

After weekly sessions of rather painful manipulation of my knee and doing physio-recommended exercises to help my body recover, I'm excited to report that I now have the all clear *YAY*

Part of my recovery meant staying away from heels and uncomfortable shoes so I'm now rejoicing in wearing them again (heels that is - uncomfortable shoes I'm still trying to steer clear from) and decided to splurge on a new pair of winter boots!

Wittner 'Montage' boots

Somehow I think I may have gotten carried away since I also ended up with some other footwear...

Nine West 'Tabba' heels (patent)

Nine West 'Nodin' ankle boots

My excitement at no longer being in pain when walking, coupled with fantastic sales, also resulted in a couple of other footwear purchases that shall not be spoken about but I sure am a happy SuBoo. My feet are practically beaming :D

Oh and erm no more netball for me - the mixed league I play in is just a bit too rough for my liking. Instead the plan is to go hard at the gym - and they're starting Zumba classes next week *excitement*

Wish me luck in staying injury free for the next few months - I don't think my wallet will be able to afford the recovery celebrations otherwise ;)

Still not quite back into it... but for good reasons!

2010-06-19T23:34:00.008+10:00

A glorious 4-day weekend away to celebrate my birthday in sunshine has not helped the sewing mojo at all. I just want to go back! Unfortunately a girl needs to be cashed up enough to buy fabric (and shoes!) so I'm back at work. In the cold. *sob*

I've also been a little sleep-deprived due to a little event called the World Cup (Go Socceroos!) with matches occuring when I am generally supposed to be sleeping so I'm actually amazed I finished up some bibs today. They are pretty much the same as the first lot I made but this time around I used Velcro mini dots instead of snap buttons. I was told that this would make it a lot easier to get the bibs on and off, and I have to say that not having to use a hammer and deal with spiky metal bits is always a good thing.

Also I received this pic of Princess S wearing the ruffled skirt that I made. I have to say I was quite surprised she was wearing it since it's winter over here and it's a summer skirt but check out her layering skills ;)

Seeing her wearing it is a good reminder that I need to get off my behind and start some serious sewing - I've promised her a dress and matching bag.

But in the meantime - the Australia vs Ghana match starts in 20 minutes and friends have arrived with a belated birthday cake and wine so I'm off!

iPhone Snapshots - June 12

2010-06-17T15:27:00.003+10:00

View from a balcony, Surfers Paradise

Fleecy leggings to the rescue?

2010-06-09T23:58:00.007+10:00

Today I felt like my ankles were going to drop off due to frostbite. Melbourne is getting ridiculously cold. It's also affecting my creative mojo since all I want to do when I get home from work is shower, eat, and then jump into my bed and watch the idiot box. I've only gotten as far as cutting out the fabric for the final version of my Macaron trial and even that took a lot out of me.

In an effort to preserve my ankles (they come in useful when attempting to use feet) and keep myself generally warm I decided to take advantage of the stocktake sales (yay for 30% off!) and invested in a pair of these:

They sure do seem plush as per their name - check out the lovely fleecy insides:

I think I'll give them a go tomorrow - hopefully I'll be warm and toasty all day.

iPhone Snapshots - June 3

2010-06-03T23:51:00.002+10:00

Joy cupcakes during the previews for Sex and the City 2, Melbourne

One of the things I miss about London...

2010-05-30T23:53:00.002+10:00

Lucky for me I got my grubby little hands on this pack courtesy of Frannie. It was delivered along with a bunch of other goodies, including my Cath Kidston iPhone case, a matching bag, and several cardis from Primark.

YAY for Frannie!

The Macaron Trial

2010-05-25T18:31:00.015+10:00

It actually looks better on than it does on the dummy (and once again the poor lighting doesn't help but I tend to get things done at night when there are less distractions and I am more awake) but you get the drift. I'm actually really happy that I won't have to make any drastic changes to the fit.

The finished trial with one sleeve tucked in (you'll see the reason for this soon)
I was umming and ahhing about a couple of things:

1) Sleeves or no sleeves?
I was set on the sleeves but I saw Antoinette's version and quite liked it.

I decided to be a smarty-pants and see for myself what mine would look like both ways. After a bit of copying and flipping of my original picture, this is what I got.

Sleeves vs Sleeveless
Seeing as I'm not a massive fan of bias binding since I seem to be useless at it, I'm going to go with the original sleeve design. Also, it's winter over here and the thought of no sleeves at the moment gives me goosebumps!

2) Middle band or not?
Antoinette decided to remove her middle band - or rather she left it there but didn't use a contrast fabric. Gertie's version on the other hand went with no contrast but has what looks like a thin ribbon around the waist. Then when I look at Kathie's dress where she kept the contrast and added piping, I am TORN.

Once again, copy/flip gave me a better idea of my options.

Original pattern / No band / Slimmer band or ribbon
I think no band is the safest but as my contrast band will be in black, I might be doing myself a disservice since black is always slimming ;)

Black for the top and contrast band against the black-patterned white cotton
I think I'll have to cut the band in both materials and decide as I go - it shouldn't be a problem since I always buy extra fabric to allow for mistakes!

This week...

2010-05-24T16:37:00.010+10:00

...is all about getting a whole lot of things done - I've taken a week off between jobs to sort out some personal admin and I guess prep for a new job I'm starting next Monday (hurrah for me!) but to ease into it all I've taken a couple of days to just get back into things sewing-wise.

This does not of course mean that any of my mending is going to be done - no time for such things when I could be having fun buying materials for my stash:

Especially loving the 3 Minny Muu prints from Lecian at the top
and making a start on my trial Macaron dress so I can plan out the real thing properly.
Halfway done - excuse the shoddy lighting and my half naked dummy
I just need to remember at some stage that I have other priorities... :)

iPhone Snapshots - May 22

2010-05-22T23:34:00.001+10:00

Afternoon Tea at the Tea Room @ NGV, Melbourne

This just makes me smile

2010-05-20T19:22:00.004+10:00

Source: Unknown*
*Courtesy of a forwarded email. I tried my best to look for the source of the pic but no luck.

The Stitches and Craft Show

2010-05-13T22:20:00.002+10:00

With only 2 hours of sleep, I struggled out of bed and headed off to the Stitches and Craft Show with CC. It had crossed my mind that maybe I’d be better off going on Sunday instead due to the chance of me collapsing from lack of zzz’s but CC reminded me it was Mothers’ Day that day *oops* so I decided to suck it up and head on over.

Woohoo – got my ticket!
Check it out – everyone waiting in anticipation
I have to say my first thought upon entry was that the layout of the Show wasn’t too great compared to last year’s venue. The stalls and displays were spread over 2 levels with the Studios and Craft Labs located on a 3rd level above everything else. I much preferred the layout last year where everything was on the same level, even if the Studios and Labs were in a separate building.

After withdrawing some cash in anticipation of all the goodies there, we rushed upstairs to hear a few talks in the Studios.

First up was Kathreen Ricketson of whipup blog fame. Kathreen recently put together a book called Mini Quilts - and seeing as CC has just decided to make a quilt, we thought it would be interesting to hear what she had to say.

Immediately after this we attended a session by Sandra Sanders of Pepperberry & Co. who shared advice on starting your own business. She was well presented, eloquent and really knew her subject matter inside out - so in short, a fantastic speaker! Her drive and passion really came through during the session.

The rest of the day was divvied up with wandering through the stalls selling gorgeous fabrics (Amitie and Kelani were highlights and looked pretty busy throughout the day), checking out the beautiful handmade crafts from so many talented crafters (too many to name individually so here's a list), and sitting at the Craft Bars making up a couple of things ourselves!

Handmade pincushions and photo album

Proudly displaying our handiwork
Funnily enough, other than 2 fabric scrap purchases from Pepperberry & Co., the only items I bought were Space Savers - some nifty hangers to help out my currently bulging wardrobe full of clothes I don't seem to wear. I think that being so tired and being surrounded by so many pretty things was just too much for me and all I could think of was that I needed to get my craft projects and personal wardrobe organised before any more purchases were allowed!

Needless to say, I was out like a light once I got home. My 7pm 'nap' ended at 4:30am, making it just a tad too late to catch up with some friends for Saturday night drinks, so I decided to just go back to bed. I think I deserved it after the previous night's session of tossing and turning.

Now to Save some Space with my new set of hangers...

Adore Fedor(a)

2010-05-10T22:19:00.007+10:00

I am totally in love with this Fedora from Nicole Mallalieu Design. I saw examples of the actual hat made up using several different fabrics on Saturday at the Stitches and Craft Show (I know - overdue blog post!) and figured I had to have it, but got put off by the 'Advanced' label on the pattern. It's now top of the list of things to make once my sewing skills improve a bit!

Source: Nicole Mallalieu Design

I'm not sure what sounds giraffes make...

2010-05-09T23:19:00.003+10:00

... but this one says hi!

I know I was quick in getting started, but I've only just managed to finish of my version of Mrs Perkins using the pattern I bought last week.

I think I underestimated the amount of work required to make up a softie, or maybe it's because I suck at hand sewing, but ta-dah!

Things I learned while making my first soft toy:
1. I am very sloooow at hand-sewing
2. Stuffing certain shapes require stuffing, re-stuffing and then sometimes de-stuffing to get things padded out evenly
3. You use a lot more stuffing than you expect
4. Ladder-stitching isn't too hard once you watch a YouTube video about it
5. Sometimes patterns really could be explained a little better - so read them over three times, and then three times again
6. Doll making needles are long for a reason - I only just made do with some tapestry ones I bought because the giraffe had a relatively thin frame. I'm glad I didn't choose to make an elephant first up!
7. The Mentalist isn't a bad show (I watched about 5 episodes over the course of giraffe creation) - it is quite entertaining and Simon Baker-Denny sure has come a long way from dancing in with no shirt on in video clips

I definitely have areas to improve - right now this little giraffe has slightly lumpy legs (even if I did go about with Point 2 above several times) so I'm going to have to work on that. I also need to get better and faster with the hand-stitching as this was quite time consuming even if it didn't seem to be the case from reading over the pattern.

I love how cute it is though - and I'm already getting excited thinking about other colour combinations I could put together!

I need some zzzz's

2010-05-08T04:58:00.004+10:00

So CC and I have big plans to check out the Stitches and Craft Show - we're going to get up early, meet at my place and then head to the Caulfield Racecourse (it'll be my first time at this venue) right on time to get there just a little before the 10am opening time. If all goes well we'll spend the whole day there attending various talks and classes and probably spending a bit of cash. I've been looking forward to going for awhile, and even more so now that I've seen various posts about the past 2 days from blogs such as Ric Rac and Two Little Banshees.

So why is it that I'm still not asleep at 5am of the very same morning?? Sure I'm looking forward to attending but I guarantee you it isn't nervous excitement keeping me up. I worked a full day and got my 8 hours of sleep last night so I am definitely overdue to be catching some zzz's right now.

So far, reading craft blogs, chatting online, watching the idiot box (that's TV btw) and reading a book haven't helped. Warm milk has also been ineffective.

I really think I need to get my sleeping patterns sorted. Admittedly getting only 4 hours of sleep during the week due to having an early morning drop-off to the airport hasn't helped but if anyone has some suggestions on how to get to sleep I'd sure love to hear about them. Of course, it'll probably be to late to put them into practice but I'm sure this will happen again - and articles like this don't help!

No sleep = an unhappy SuBoo. I'm just hoping this doesn't happen to me in the middle of the show...

Keen for Mrs Perkins

2010-05-02T23:37:00.005+10:00

The weekend has been jam-packed but I couldn't help myself. I know I only bought her yesterday and have a lot of other things I need to get done, but I've already started to lay out my stencils for my Mrs Perkins giraffe softie.

The Australasian Quilt Convention and Expo (or What I did on Saturday)

2010-05-01T23:14:00.003+10:00

Quilting has never been my thing but I have to say I had a great time at the Australasian Quilt Convention and Expo. Not usually a something I'd attend, especially since it's so close to this year's Stitches and Craft show (I can't wait!), but I figured my Ma would enjoy it. CC was also keen to check out quilting and see what the fuss was about.

The Expo had several free seminars lined up over the course of the day but after examining the timetable we decided we were better off just wandering.

The venue was was split up into 2 main sections - the exhibitors and the stalls - and unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the stalls area as I didn't want to step on any toes and have people think I was going to steal their designs. I did ask one stallowner if I could take a photo of a quilt that was on display at his stall (CC bought the pattern for it so I wanted to share it here) but he wasn't keen, which was understandable.

I did manage to snap a few pictures of some of the quilts that were on display as part of the exhibition - mainly the ones I found particularly appealing. I tend to appreciate the less traditional quilting designs - some of them were just great works of art for wall hanging more than anything else.

The display section included a whole range of quilts by Gloria Loughman, who Ma pointed out was very well known in quilting circles.

'Backwater' by Gloria Loughman - the sunglare on this isn't great but you can still see the colours glowing

There were also entrants to the 2010 quilting competition on display - here are a couple of my favourites:

'Double Happiness Shoes' by Margaret Lamb - love the bright colours.

'First Kiss' by Anne Davis - the close up shows the detailed quilting that you don't notice from afar. My personal favourite.

Of course, on top of checking out all the quilts, we also came away with quite a few goodies! I bought a Melly & Me Mrs Perkins softie pattern and a fabric pack from the Patchwork with Gail B stall, which is where Ma came away with a dozen pretty fat quarters. Also purchased for Ma was a Jelly Monster to help with the cutting of quilting shapes.

Purchases for Ma and I

CC must've been really inspired with everything she saw since she ended up coming up with fat quarters, a pattern, a cutting board, a rotary cutter and a ruler - so I'm just waiting to see what she whips up.

We ended the outing with some pizza on Lygon Street and managed to get a seat outside since the weather was fantastic - not bad for a month before winter I must say.

The day ended with dinner and a viewing of Iron Man 2 at the IMAX. All in all a great day out.

Denial

2010-04-28T23:21:00.002+10:00

This is the pile of clothes sitting in my house just waiting for someone to come along and hem/alter/mend them with tender love and care...

*slowly creeps away*

I heart IKEA

2010-04-25T21:23:00.008+10:00

I'd been meaning to check out some of the IKEA fabric offerings for awhile now and finally got the opportunity for a quick 5 minute nose-around the textiles section while buying some clothing racks. I have to say I was very impressed - they have some gorgeous prints that aren't really shown off that well in the catalogues. My current favourite is the Annamoa range by Lotta Kühlhorn (click on the pic below for a more detailed view of the gorgeous designs and colours)

desktop wallpaper of this graphic available from ikea here
I'm also loving the Cecilia range although I have to say that photos don't do the designs justice.
I was going to pick one of the designs to make up a fabric tote bag but just couldn't decide between the gorgeous options and didn't want to waste my hard earned pennies so I ended up hold offing for now and instead decided to take advantage of some clearance prices available - I ended up with 2 metres of some sturdy cotton at 50% off.

Not quite as attractive as the designs above *sigh* but I might as well give the bag pattern a test run before spending and potentially ruining the good stuff.

I must say you sure can do a lot of stuff with IKEA fabrics.

Craft + The Office - Can it get any better than this?

2010-04-22T00:26:00.008+10:00

On my random travels over the interwebs, I came across this piece of crafty goodness from Sarah at Totally Severe...

Highlight of the day. Maybe even the week! :D

Excuse me while I ROFLMAO

Cath Kidston - not just about the fabric

2010-04-20T01:22:00.009+10:00

How cute is this iPhone case from Cath Kidston?

Currently out of stock but hoping it comes back in - Frannie has kindly offered to get me one if available from the other side of the globe (hai Frannie!)

Fingers crossed coz it's super cute and I think it'll actually match the material for the bag that came with her book 'Sew!' which I don't seem to have blogged about for some reason *oops*

Bibs for Bubs

2010-04-14T01:01:00.004+10:00

Check out the bibs I made. They were surprisingly easy to make - I think the most difficult bit was selecting which materials to use to go along with my spotty pink flannel backing (proudly recycled from some PJ pants that were too holey to do anything else with).
I used the template from one of the books I bought awhile back, 'Bend-The-Rules Sewing', followed the instructions and voila!

The only changes I made was to add another layer of white cotton in the middle of the bib, mainly for aesthetic reasons as the spotty pink flannel was showing through the white cotton on the other side, making it harder to appreciate the pink fairies and pink and blue stars.

I was really torn as to which side was front - so I attached my snap fasteners to different sides on each bib and I'll leave it up to the Mummy to co-ordinate with bubba's outfit for the day.

I'll be making more of these.

iPhone Snapshots - April 10

2010-04-10T23:45:00.003+10:00

South Melbourne Market, Melbourne
Fruit and basket purchased from the Market and arranged at home as a gift for a new Mum and Dad in hospital.

Easter Monday Macaroons

2010-04-05T23:13:00.004+10:00

I thought I'd take advantage of the long Easter weekend to do a bit of catching up with friends, so Kimba and I nominated Easter Monday as our day of baking macaroons. I had had a very yummy one from Laurent when I went up to Sydney last week but it was a reminder that regardedless of where you are, if you want to eat a good macaroon, it's going to cost, so I thought it'd be great if we could just bake them up at home.

I had heard that making macaroons wasn't difficult *YAY* but making good macaroons was *eep*. Armed with that bit of information, we went into it knowing that at the very least, we'd have something edible!

Kimba found a couple of recipes online and printed them out, and with a bit of guidance from our own personal masterchef Cindy, we decided to combine the recipes and go with 2 batches - chocolate and vanilla - partly because they are generally liked flavours but mainly because we didn't have the ingredients to make orange or raspberry ones (we're maybe not so great with the forward planning).

The frothy peaks of whipped egg whites... so shiny!
As we progressed, we had some surprise visitors drop in so our group of 2 bakers and masterchef doubled in size - perfect timing to help with the various stirring, mixing and piping jobs that were available. No work no food!

Sifting the almond meal
Following the instructions, we piped out our macaroon mix to a 1.5cm ball size, expecting them to expand.

Masterful piping
They did not.

As they were baking and not expanding we decided to take sizing into our own hands and piped out the next lot into (rather large) escargot shapes which once baked, looked a lot like... well escargot shaped baked goods.

After the macaroons had cooled and we had whipped up the butter icing for the vanilla macaroons and the ganache for the chocolate ones, assembly began. As you can see from the pictures, visually our mini-macaroons looked almost like the real things but they were a little over-baked (I suspect due to their small size they baked a lot quicked than we expected), so they weren't too chewy on the inside.

Our pretty mini-macaroons. Almost perfect!
Our giant escargot-style macaroons were very goo-ey, but pretty much went the other way and didn't have the firm, slightly crunchy outside that we were hoping for, but they sure tasted good!

Our escargot macaroons. It was pointed out that the chocolate ones bore a rather strong resemblance to something stinky...
Considering it was a first time effort, we were pretty happy with how they turned out, especially since we pretty much had no idea what we were doing. Lots of lessons learned for next time - and lots of happy full tummies in the meantime.

Get Creative 4006: Little Girls' Dresses - modelled by Princess S

2010-03-31T11:42:00.005+11:00

As the title suggests, I've gotten Princess S to model the dress I made for her not too long ago.

Note the model-ly pose on the left. Love it!

Feedback was that it was a bit of an effort to get her arms through the armholes and that the dress could really do with a zip somewhere so it would be easier to put on. Obviously this wasn't part of the original pattern but I'll look into it when I make the next one.

Seeing as the pattern size I used was for a 4-year-old and she's 3.5 years right now, I'm both surprised and grateful that it actually fits her. A previous size 4 dress that I'd made for her is now too small to fit so if I'm going to make another dress from this pattern for her, it better happen soon!

iPhone Snapshots - March 27

2010-03-27T14:07:00.000+11:00

Bondi Beach, Sydney

Get Creative 4006: Little Girls' Dresses

2010-03-26T21:45:00.011+11:00

Using the same pattern as I did for the little girl's top/pinafore I made previously, I went ahead with my plans of making a some dresses for Princess S and Little Miss M.

Being housebound for a week with the flu gave me time to cut up the fabric and make up the dresses, but I must say they were a real effort seeing as even picking up the scissors was super tiring in the state that I was in.

After sifting through my stash I decided the dresses were both going to have polka dots. I started with the smaller dress first for Little Miss M - the top/pinafore I previously made for her using the 6 month old sizing fits her perfectly right now, so I decided that since winter is approaching I'd be better off making it for a 1 year old so it'll be ready for her to wear when the weather warms up again (or when she moves back to the tropics, whichever comes first). Instead of the typical pink combinations that lots of little girls wear, I thought I'd make it up in a bold blue/brown fabric.

I then moved on to the 4 year old version for Princess S in her favourite colour pink, accented with a variety of gelati coloured spots.

Here's my rundown:

Material
I used 100% quilting cotton with polka dots for both dresses. The pattern called for ric-rac to edge the dresses, but I went with no notions (mainly due to being unable to leave the house to go shopping!)
Plain white/pale blue thread was used for the stitching, depending on the dress colour.

Pattern (Get Creative 4006 : View B)
This view of the pattern was fairly easy to follow, with the only exception being that some of the steps were misnumbered in the instructions. I finished the blue dress as per instructions, but I have to say that I really didn't like having to finish off the sleeves with bias-binding. I made the binding myself, but ended up doing a long and messy job of it. I probably need more practice with this, but to speed things up with the pink dress, I omitted the binding and instead zig-zagged the armholes and finished them with a narrow hem. I also omitted the ric-rac as mentioned above.
Note the inside and outside of the armhole, done my way
(excuse the slightly crooked stitching *ahem*)
Would I do it again?
After making this up twice, I'm a lot more confident in what areas of the dress I would change if I made it up again (i.e. changing the armhole finishings). I'm sure you will all agree that making something up the second time around can make a big difference in how long it takes and what it ends up looking like - unfortunately for me I tend to get bored of making the same thing over and over - but in this case I'll probably try this again with the ric-rac trim to see how it looks if it looks good on the girls.

***EDIT*** (31/03/10)
The dress looks pretty good on, but apparently it is a little hard to get on and off. I think the next one may need a zip added.
***END***

Greedy

2010-03-24T01:50:00.005+11:00

Is it bad that I want Stylish Dress Book 3 when I have both 1 and 2 as well as a few other Japanese pattern books plus a million other patterns I haven't touched?

Posts from make something and verypurpleperson are really not helping me in any way...

Housebound.

2010-03-20T18:32:00.002+11:00

This fake flu of mine has really hit me hard. I have hardly any energy to do anything - even watching tv is a bit of a struggle :( Not only have I missed out on some busy times at work, I've also missed out on Mally's thesis submission picnic and a baby shower for the soon-to-arrive Baby Nooby.

Lucky for me some lovely friends have been visiting to drop off food and groceries to me - I think I'd starve otherwise.

Got a trip up to Sydney next week to see Princess S and Little Miss M so I'm planning on making up a dress each for them - I figure if I split up the fabric cutting and the sewing I should be able to rustle up enough energy to get the job done. I'm thinking dresses made up using the Get Creative pattern I used previously for a little girl's top. I'll need to work out the difference between View A and B and then decide when I can utilise some brain power.

Seeing as I am house bound, I'll be making use of cotton from my stash... I'm thinking polka dots... or maybe those are spots in front of my eyes from concentrating too hard ;P

Time for another nap I think.

Stupid vaccination

2010-03-17T16:42:00.007+11:00

Being the responsible employee I am, I went and got a flu vax shot on Monday. They were offered to everyone at my workplace and seeing as my entire team is made up of contract workers (no work = no pay) I decided that even with my fear of needles, it'd be bad form for me to not get vaccinated, get the flu and make everyone in my team sick (as I said, no work = no pay).

There was mention that you may feel some slight flu after-effects, but I was doing OK for a whole day and a half with nothing but a sore arm to whinge about. All changed last night though - now I'm stuck at home with a throat so scratchy I just want to rip it out. It hurts to talk so I'm working remotely from home when I can concentrate enough between naps.

I wonder if the universe is trying to tell me that I should just be less considerate next time... Did I mention no work = no pay?

Still I guess this time at home has given me and opportunity to work in close proximity to my stash - I'm eyeing off this great length of viscose that I had initally bought to make some cute PJ pants (it is sooooo soft) but since it's been such a warm day I'm getting ideas for a summer dress (even though it is now technically autumn over here).

I'm looking at Simplicity 2663 which seems to be a fairly new pattern - unfortunately there seems to be no reviews on this one anywhere in the blogosphere so I might just have to try my luck!

Bikram Yoga

2010-03-11T21:44:00.004+11:00

So I bit bullet and went. And before anyone says anything, yes, yes, I was asking for trouble.

I don't think I have sweat that much in my life.

Ever.

90 minutes of balancing, stretching and pulling my muscles every-which-way in a 39°C room (102.2°F for those of you who calculate it that way) is definitely a unique experience, and I have to say that even though I didn't really enjoy myself while I was in there, I think I'll be continuing on.

My experiences may not be quite as life changing as some of the testimonials I've read but I'd like to quote someone called Charlie Hubbard, who said

'I am still unsure why spending 90 minutes in a hot room doing Yoga produces such stillness of mind for me. I just know that it does.'

After only two sessions (and I really had to drag myself to the second one because I am naturally averse to exercise) I would have to say that I can't argue with his statement. It might be because the exercise is so challenging that all I can manage to think of for the entire 90 minutes is how my body feels and how I can push it more - I can't say for sure. All I know is that I'm feeling more balanced inside.

Now I'm just hoping my actual balance will develop in time.

Watch this space.

Ruffled Skirt Take 2

2010-03-07T00:27:00.000+11:00

I had another bash at the ruffled skirt for Princess S since the first was way too small for her. I guess I'm not used to estimating how big a 3 year old is since I don't have any kids and I was in such a hurry to make it I didn't have time to go to the shops and work it out from there.

As you can see I changed the colours up a little bit. Apparently when she got the last one in the mail she wanted to put it on immediately *yay* but it obviously didn't fit *booooo* so I'm hoping this one does or I'll be going for a Take 3 on this one.

Am I asking for trouble?

2010-02-27T20:15:00.004+11:00

As you may or may not know - exercise is not my friend. There's always some sort of reason for why which I won't get into but after spending a stretch (excuse the pun) of long days sitting in an office in front of a computer and having a mind clogged full of useless clutter, I'm now thinking of trying this out.

Courtesy of www.bikramyoga.com

Pretzel anyone?

Toad Cakes

2010-02-20T12:04:00.007+11:00

Well, that's a literal transalation of 'kuih kodok', or as we called it in my family 'goreng kodok' (fried toads), which is a something my Aunty Catherine used to cook up when I was a lot younger. It is also known as 'cekodok' and 'cokodok' and probably a whole bunch of other variation that I haven't heard of. It's actually a type of fried banana fritter where the banana is mashed up instead of being cooked whole. The only thing it has to do with toads however is the fact that the finished product ends up shaped a little like the amphibian so you can stop feeling a little grossed out :)

After buying a big bunch of bananas and having too many slices of birthday cake recently in the office (I don't know why half my team was born in February) I found myself stuck with 4 large bananas that were at least half black on the outside. Half black = a lot sweeter than normal, but too mushy to eat. I refused to throw them away and decided to 'recycle' them into something else yummy to eat. The standard banana muffins/bread/cake wasn't appealing to me, and for some reason I suddenly got hit with a craving for some goreng kodok.

Unfortunately I had a couple of things going against me:
1) No recipe
2) No ingredients (other than the bananas)
3) No deep-frying experience (and slightly scarred from seeing the results of a wok of oil overturning on someone - eek!)

Armed with just my blackened bananas, I did some research online (I so love technology and my iPhone) and found a few recipes (seasaltwithfood, Best Recipes, Foods and Travel, ptitchef) that looked like they might work. After a bit of umming and ahhing, I put together a trial recipe using the least amount of ingredients possible and a little extra sugar (I find Australian bananas nowhere near as sweet as the ones I ate growing up in the tropics).

I also made sure that I bought an appropriate oil for deep frying (sunflower in this case) and sussed out the dos and don'ts of deep-frying for safety reasons. One of the things I learned was that pouring the leftover oil down the kitchen sink was a no-no. Good thing I looked this up - last thing I need is a clogged sink!

The mixed batter

Sizzling away

The finished product - YUM

I thought they turned out pretty well for a first effort - I'm glad I put in a little extra sugar to compensate for the slightly less sweet Australian bananas.

I got four thumbs up from my two guinea pigs so I'm happy :)

Here's the recipe for those of you who are interested:

SuBoo's Goreng Kodok
Makes approx 12-15

Ingredients
* 4 big ripe bananas, peeled and mashed up
* 1 1/2 cup plain flour
* 2 1/2 tbs caster sugar
* 1 egg
* Sunflower oil

Method
1. Place all the ingredient (except the oil) into a mixing bowl and mix until well blended
2. Heat up a wok and add in the sunflower oil for deep frying.
3. When the oil is appropriately hot, take a heaped tablespoon of batter and place into the wok - try to keep the batter together so that it makes a flat oval 'patty'
4. Fry until golden brown, turning the patty evenly.
5. Once fried, use a slatted ladle to lift the kodok out from the wok onto a plate lined with paper towelling.
6. Dab the tops of the kodok with paper towelling to remove access oil.
7. Serve warm or at room temperature.

It's arrived!

2010-02-18T10:47:00.005+11:00

After seeing several mentions of this book being released, I decided that I needed to get it ASAP. I found the other two Built By Wendy books very clear and easy to read (and I can finally put the 2nd one to use now that I have my overlocker *hurrah*) so I ended up placing an order from The Book Depository a week ago.

Here it is freshly opened from its cardboard packaging.

I know what I'll be doing this lunchbreak.

Rawr!

2010-02-14T17:08:00.002+11:00

On top of it being Valentine's Day today (lots of love to all!), I'd also like to wish everyone a very Happy Year of the Tiger!

(Johannes Eisele/Reuters)

Simplicity 2884: My new summer dress

2010-02-09T20:01:00.015+11:00

Based on both online and offline comments about my previous blog post on which summer dress to make, I decided on the girly Simplicity 2884. I have to admit I was leaning towards that design so everyone's feedback just reinforced that I had made the right decision.

Here's what I found:*

Material
100% cotton voile for the outside, with some soft white cotton to line the entire dress. Lining was a must for this dress since the voile is fairly transparent.

I also used a 14" dress zip in an off-white colour and a hook and eyelet to ensure the zip can be done up easily.

Pattern (Simplicity 2884: View B with View A halter-tie)
I chose to make View B with the gathers and shorter skirt, but used the halter tie on the neck as I wanted to have a bit more give and flexibility on where the tie would occur - the button halter neck measurements might not have been exactly the correct length for my torso and I'm too lazy to have to revisit and adjust it multiple times.

The pattern was overall not too difficult to follow, however there was a moment of confusion for me when I had to line the bodice section to ensure all the internal seams were hidden. After re-reading the step several times over, analysing the diagram and then making use of my many pins, I managed to work it out.

I decided to forgo using any boning in the dress, as I thought it might be a little restrictive and unnecessary for a casual summer dress. This may have resulted in the bodice now crinkling up a little when I breathe in (yes, it's not holding me in - eep!) but it isn't too noticable.

I also understitched the top of the dress, which was not part of the pattern, but I find that it nicely finishes off lined garments.

The last alteration I made was to cut a slightly larger width bodice front and back to cater for my wide rib-cage. I have to say that that was the best thing I did with the dress since it now just fits me.

I have to say though for an 'It's So Easy' pattern from Simplicity, I didn't think it was particularly easy compared to some other patterns I've looked at.

Would I do it again?
I really like the femininity of the gathered skirt. I'd be interested to see how the pleated version would turn out, and also how this would work in a more flashy fabric, but I do have some reservations about how long it took me to sew this up - from start to finish it took me over 2 days.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering lazy me didn't create a muslin and didn't really do much in the way of measuring myself. I also think I really need to work on my zips - the zip on the dress eventually worked out but I wouldn't want anyone to look too closely at the stitching ;)

* I'm experimenting with my iPhone camera a bit so apologies if the photos are a bit grainy.

Decisions decisions...

2010-02-05T14:14:00.005+11:00

I haven't really had too much time to get a lot of sewing done recently, but when I have had the chance a lot of it has been kiddie-focussed what with having 2 very cute nieces around and also lots of friends with babies. I find that making children's clothing a little more rewarding as well as kids either fit or they don't. No unsightly lumps or bumps where the pattern and your body don't quite match up (which seems to happen to me fairly often *sob sob*) and just oh-so-cute due to the general little-ness of the garments.

I have now however decided to take the plunge and get back to sewing something for myself. A pretty summer dress is on the cards, but now the dilemma is which pattern to use... I have told myself I am not allowed to purchase any more patterns if I have something suitable in my ever-growing pike of patterns, so I've narrowed the choice down to one of these:

Simplicity 2884 - I'd make the knee-length version (view B) with the tie at the neck as opposed to buttons

McCalls M5652 - Floor-length for this one, and unsure if I'd put a ruffle down the bottom of it

I'm pretty much 50/50 on the two of these, so maybe I need to re-examine my stash to see what fabrics I have to help with the decision...

iPhone snapshots - January 31

2010-01-31T23:53:00.000+11:00

Tapas and sangria for lunch at Mesa Lunga, Adelaide

And the winner is...

2010-01-31T16:55:00.004+11:00

Using random.org to pick a comment number:

The lucky entrant is paula_lemos who stated:

"So cute! I would start with the dress pattern for my daughter.
Thanks for the giveaway!"

Congrats Paula, I hope you get great use out of the pattern. I've sent you an email for you contact details so I can post your prize to you.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in my first giveaway - it's been fun seeing what you've all written in your comments :)

Giveaway reminder

2010-01-29T22:40:00.001+11:00

Just a note to remind you that my giveaway ends in one day so if you haven't already entered and are interested in a free sewing pattern, get in quick!

Good luck!

Get Creative 4006: Little Girls Top

2010-01-26T01:07:00.013+11:00

Using one of the many patterns I purchased from Spotlight's Get Creative range (win one here), I decided it was time to try my hand at making something for Little Miss SY2. I hadn't realised that I had patterns for 6-month-olds so I was very happy to come across this one. After umming and ahhing a bit I decided to try my hand at a little top for her.

Material
I used some very cute quilting cotton from Japan. The squirrels and hedgehogs on the pale pink background were perfect for a garment for a little girl.
Plain white thread was used for the stitching.

Pattern (Get Creative 4006 : View C)
The pattern was very straightforward and easy to follow. The only difference I made is that I didn't finish the bottom up with lace or ric-rac as the material was busy enough. I also omitted the bow for the same reason. I think if I made this up in a plain material a contrasting trim would be ideal.

Would I do it again?
Unfortunately I don't have Little Miss M around to test the fit, but I am quite confident she'll be able to wear this. I'm keen to try this out in a couple of other colours once I'm sure that the straps are the correct length (the design said adjust length to fit)

Hoping she'll like it.

My first giveaway!

2010-01-23T23:33:00.010+11:00

A couple of months ago I stopped by a Spotlight that I don't regularly frequent - I just happened to be in the neighbourhood and needed to get a denim patch for someone. As usual, I decided to have a bit of a browse around, and couldn't believe my luck when I came across a whole bunch of patterns that were on sale - some for $2 each!

Needless to say, I got rather excited and bought quite a few - after all, it's always handy to have some easy patterns on hand when you suddenly get struck with the need to sew something up!

I eventually worked out once I got home that the pattern instructions are faded in some areas, however the writing is still legible so there are no complaints from me about my bargain buys. The only thing is that in my excitement, I ended up buying 2 of the same pattern. Silly me but lucky you - because as a result I've decided to host my first giveaway.

The item is a Get Creative pattern 4008 from Spotlight. The pattern is one of a range that Spotlight seems to have released, and is a pattern for Toddler Casual Wear for boys and girls as can be seen from the picture below.

The rules are pretty simple:

- For one chance to win, leave a comment on this blog post
- For a second chance, become a follower of my blog and leave a comment stating you have done so (those of you already following me can just comment saying that you already are)
- For yet another chance, create a blog post about this giveaway and leave a comment stating you have done so with a link to the blog post

The giveaway closes one week from now (Saturday 30 January Australian EST) with the winner chosen using a random number selector.

Entry is open to everyone - happy to post to international entrants as well :)

Good luck!

** EDIT - The giveaway is now closed - thanks to everyone who entered! **

Flower Girl in action

2010-01-19T14:57:00.004+11:00

I just wanted to share a snap of Cheeky Miss C all dressed up in the flower girl dress I sewed up awhile back. The bride chose the light coloured waist ribbon to match the bridal party colour scheme and the gorgeous little shoes really complete the outfit.

Based on the pics I stole from her Mummy of her dancing around, I think she had fun that night :)

Overlocker bargain

2010-01-18T14:32:00.006+11:00

I've often thought that having an overlocker would be handy - yes a standard sewing machine can do the job - but I personally have found working with stretch materials a bit of a pain on the normal machine. Finishing of the seams is a real pain, and call me lazy, but sewing a narrow double hem seems to take me forever (and I'm already very slow at sewing as it is!)

Maybe I'm just making excuses but when a girlfriend of mine (thanks Linda!) told me that there was a Singer Overlocker on sale for half the RRP, my ears pricked up. *Hmm... this could be interesting...* She was lovely enough to even call Harris Scarfe to put one on hold for me and it's a good thing she did - the rest sold out after 2 days on sale!

So now I am the proud new owner of a Singer 14T5545 overlocker *HURRAH*

More booties

2010-01-17T22:54:00.006+11:00

It seems these days that there has been a bit of a baby explosion around people I know. Everywhere I look, I see expectant mums or a beautiful new bub (or two) so I decided that it was time to make a few more pairs of baby booties. Seeing as it has been super warm recently and one of the bubs I had in mind for pair lives in a tropical country, I decided to ditch the flannel and try them out in a lighter material - muslin.

I found some gorgeous pink and baby blue material, as well as some cheery yellow fabric with ducks to play around with and these are the results:

I'm very pleased with how they turned out, but I did at one point wonder if I had made a mistake in selecting muslin due to it being so thin. When I was sewing the elastic onto the inside of the bootie for the first time I was worried that the reinforcing stitches I was putting in were going to rip the fabric, but with a bit of care I managed to make it work.

Hope they are warm enough for teeny tiny feet!

Books!

2010-01-14T13:40:00.004+11:00

2 new purchases - Amy Karol's book "Bend-The-Rules Sewing"

and Kelly Doust's book "The Crafty Minx"

Both of them are gorgeously presented and after having read "Bend-The-Rules Sewing" from cover to cover I am absolutely loving it. I suspect from flicking through "The Crafty Minx", it will probably serve more as inspiration than an out-right instructional book as it seems to have fewer diagrams/patterns than a lot of sewing books I have come across.

Hopefully I'll have something of note to show from these soon!

Melting Monday

2010-01-08T11:41:00.009+11:00

I am usually really happy when the weekend comes about but the next few days are going to be pretty warm, building up to a scorcher of a Monday. Check out the forecast!
I'd like to stay in the confines of my house with the AC and sewing machine running (bliss!) but unfortunately I have a few things on this weekend, and the killer 41 degree day had to fall on a weekday where I'll be commuting in to work.

Heat + public transport = unhappy me :(

UPDATE It reached 43.6 degrees!!!

First for 2010 - Inspired Ruffled Skirt

2010-01-03T01:26:00.006+11:00

Happy New Year everyone!

As the title says, this is the first project of mine for 2010 - a ruffled skirt inspired by this post on Dixie Mango. The 2 skirts up there were so cute, I decided I needed to have a bash at it as well.

After umm-ing and ahh-ing over what materials I had in my stash to use, I followed the steps listed in the recommended online tutorial and came up with this:

The gingham print is actually a pinky-purple on white, which hasn't come up too well in the photo but you get the gist.

Hopefully it fits Princess S!

It's about time!!

2009-12-31T14:33:00.002+11:00

Bye bye 2009 - I'm not sorry to see you disappear!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

xx

iPhone Snapshots - December 30

2009-12-30T23:14:00.002+11:00

Sunset at Port Melbourne

iPhone Snapshots - December 19

2009-12-20T01:40:00.014+11:00

A day in Sydney (excuse the very unprofessional shots - too tired to edit them so they are pretty much direct from my phone)

1. $20 Dorothy Balloon (I know!!)2. Candy Cane from the nice people at Makoto, now hanging on the Xmas tree3. Spur of the moment skirt for Princess S

Waiting for the mail...

2009-11-24T23:17:00.004+11:00

I ordered the Macaron dress pattern from Colette Patterns via Pink Chalk Fabrics a few days ago. I don't actually have time in the next few weeks to make it up but I'm still impatiently twiddling my thumbs awaiting its arrival.

It wasn't the cheapest pattern to buy but I fell in love with it and can't wait to see the pretty pattern book that people have been raving on about - you can see an example of one of the books here.

I'm loving all the different colour combinations people have used for this - I suspect I might spend my Xmas break making at least one of them *rubs hands in anticipation*

Flower girl dress complete (I hope)

2009-11-11T01:22:00.009+11:00

After spending a day or so sewing away in the sweltering heat (Melbourne's hottest November in 100 years), the dress is complete!

Well complete as far as I am concerned - the only thing is I hope Cheeky Miss C can fit into it! She currently wears 18-24 month old clothing, and I unfortunately was armed with a pattern for 4-6 year olds so I decided to be logical about it and just size down the pattern proportionally. Then I realised that little kiddies tend to have different proportions to older ones. Hmm. Let's just say my fingers are crossed that there are no alterations required.

Here are pictures of the finished product - it required a metre of Ivory satin-polyester from Cleg's, a lot of thread, a 10-inch cream coloured zip and a heck of a lot of sweat. Like I said, it was hot!

Front

Back
I took creative liberties by adding a black ribbon sash to the dress - I don't actually know what colour ribbon the bride has in mind for it. I'm quite pleased with the result though - I hope the bride and groom are as well!

PS I forgot to add - this took such a long time to do because I am ridiculously slow at this and there was a fair bit (for me anyway) of hand-stitching involved... and boy do I hate hand-stitching...

Why are there no nice dresses around??

2009-11-09T22:46:00.002+11:00

There probably are, but not within the price range I am willing to fork out for :(

In less than 3 weeks I have a wedding and a ball to go to, all on the same weekend. I suspect I could probably re-use an older dress for the ball, but seeing as I am going to be an MC for the wedding, I kinda wanna look good. Obviously, it would be ideal to always look good but since I figure there is more of a chance of people looking in my direction (whether they like it or not MUAAAHAHAHA) I would prefer not to blind them.

Being post-Melbourne Cup period, most of the available dresses are flippy, summery, race-worthy and in lots of cases short - and dare I say even tarty..?

Anyhoo, it occured to me yesterday while I was slaving over the flower girl dress (almost done - just need to buy and put in the zip at the back and hope to goodness that it fits) that maybe I could make myself a dress! After all, I do have my newly purchased and not-yet-assembled dressmaker's dummy to assist it hemming and fitting and darting and all other sewing related type activities!

I don't know though - less than 3 weeks to go, never having made a formal dress before and quite a few social events lined up - am I asking for trouble..?

I'm going to spend 30 minutes looking for an easy, attractive dress pattern online. I figure if I can't find one, it'll be a sign that I might just need fork out for a dress. Bah.

Flower Girl

2009-11-05T17:49:00.003+11:00

Yesterday, I got a phone call from a friend who is getting married in 3 weeks. I figured she was calling to discuss the agenda for the wedding reception, as I've been given the honour of being one of the MCs for the night. I was wrong.

Instead, she's had trouble finding a dress for her very cute little flower girl and asked if I could sew up a simple dress for her. She had seen the peach dress that I had made for Princess S awhile back (I actually doubt Princess S has ever worn that dress come to think of it!) and thought that that would make a great flower girl dress if done up in a different material, so I think I'll be receiving 2 metres of the specially chosen material tonight...

I'm quite excited about doing this but also a little worried that there will be a lot of disappointment if the dress turns out horribly! I'm just hoping the material isn't too slippery since I haven't been very successful with non-cotton material so far.

Wish me luck!

Slack

2009-11-02T02:15:00.006+11:00

That's me. Still not much sewing going on but when it does, I am too lazy/busy (pick one) to take photos and blog.

So in an effort to keep up to speed with blogging since there is no way I am going to be back tracking and blogging like some other persistent people have done (Hai Frannie!) here's a quick run down of my bits and pieces:

- I went to Sri Lanka. It rocked. I came back with 4m of cotton in blue and turquoise, 5m in coral, and an orange silk sari. The plan is to cut the latter up but we'll see how we go with that one. I have included a random Sri Lankan pic since I don't have any pics of the fabric... elephants!!

- Borders had 30% off up to 3 books recently - so I purchased Cath Kidson's Sew and Make, and also a sewing reference book for a birthday present for someone. I now think that I may return Make - not a huge amount in there that interests me and it also seems like the reviewers on Amazon agree. I am yet to decide about Sew but I do like the fact that you get the materials in there to make the bag on the cover!

- Lincraft is having 30% off everything for 3 days - as usual just after I had forked out for some materials for the baby bootie making fest that I will be undertaking soon - but I managed to use the discount on some tracksuit material and a Singer dressmaker dummy *hurrah* I had had my eye on one for ages - so I managed to save a whopping $75 :D

- I think it is pretty obvious that I didn't make a Chanel jacket. I really was all set to do it but work got crazy, I had a week and a half overseas and I was rushing a present for Princess S, so yeah... no jacket...

I think that is it for me with regards to sewing-related items of note for now... all I can say is I will *try* to get better...?

hehe

xx