His and Hers Chinese shirt and blouse

This is my version of a His and Hers Chinese shirt and blouse.   My hubby loves to wear this kind of traditional Chinese shirt during the festive New Year season.  His favourite shirt is old and discoloured so I thought I'll try and make one for him as Chinese New Year is just around the corner!!!  :-)  I have never made a shirt before let alone a Chinese shirt so I did warn him not to expect too much!!  I used his old shirt and drew the pattern out on brown paper making some adjustments...longer..bigger around the waist :-)        I had to readjust a bit here and there because my pattern drawing is not good and this is the final outcome!!!  All ready to usher in the year of sheep 2015!!

This is my version of a Chinese blouse.  I drew this pattern using a blouse I bought from Uniglo.  I just added the mandarin collar and Chinese button.  I had to make adjustment to the V neckline as it was very low and a bit too wide for my liking.  The rectification resulted in a very nice V neckline.  I really like it!

Cheongsam

This is my first attempt at making a Chinese Qipao or Cheongsam.  My cousin, Michelle, downloaded the pdf pattern from the internet and painstakingly pieced 32 pages of the A4 size papers together!!  She drew the completed pattern out for me on a single sheet of paper which made my life so much easier and faster to make this dress!!!  However, after completing the dress, I found out that it's a little bit tight for me so I ended up putting two darts at the back of the dress to make it smaller for my niece.  I am hoping she can fit into it!!!  I had some trouble piecing the mandarin collar, though.  I had to rip it apart and watched some videos on Youtube to get it just about right!!!  For info, this pattern on the internet is size S.  I think I need an M..... :-(

2 more dresses

Made two more dresses for Tara.  The pink paisley dress is another variation of the first dress I made for her.  This one I added ruffles at the hem.  However, for the other dress, I added sleeves which is not in the pattern given.  I was trying to be a bit more daring and see if I could actually do it!!!  When Tara tried on the dress, the sleeves seemed a little tight.  Was wondering if I want to make that kind of sleeves, maybe the dress size or the armhole size has to be a size bigger.  My dress making knowledge is Zero so I have to adapt a 'learn as I go along' attitude!!! The 'Ripper' tool is my best friend for now!!!

My latest addition....Brother 3034D

As I have been trying to learn to sew clothes, I thought it would be wise if I buy an over lock machine.  I was bouncing the idea of getting either the Juki or Brother machine.  Somehow after talking to my cousin who also owned a Brother 3034D serger machine, I decided to go along with her and get the same one.  This baby has helped me sew clothes with fantastic speed!!!

I actually made a simple dress within 3 hrs ( an accomplishment if I may say so!) and wore it the same evening to a wedding dinner!!!!  Using this machine has made the edging of the clothes so neat and tidy.  I never realised how a serger and a normal sewing machine differ in terms of neatness and speed!

Key holder

Made this key holder for a friend.  She loves cats!!  I, on the other hand, am the opposite!!!  I just hope she likes it!!!

I am still working on my Floral fantasy appliqué.  One third more to go!!!!  My target is to get it finished before the year end!!!  Really hope I can do it!!!  :-)

Wall hanging

My sister gave me this wall hanging quilt.  I just added the green flowery print just to make it bigger to fit the wooden rod.   I machine quilt it with some simple hearts triangles and feather designs.  It is a very cheerful and colorful quilt!!  This is on my staircase landing so every time I walk up or down the stairs, this cheerful quilt is there to greet me!!

Another Dress!!

Made another dress, this time with ties and pockets.    From the basic pattern, I can make 4 different dresses.  This is pattern B.  The previous dress was pattern A.  If I can make all of the four dresses, I will be very happy!!!

Tara's dress

This is my first attempt at making a dress.  Bought the dress pattern from Spotlight.  Took a rough measurement of Tara and decided that she might fit a size 10.  At first, I thought the dress might be a bit big at the armhole but when she tried it on, it fitted so I was happy I did not have to redo!

The finished hat!!!  Wow,  how time just flew by!    I actually forgot all about posting a picture of  this hat.  That's how long I haven't gone into my blog.  July went by really quick because we went on vacation for a week in London.  While there, we heard about the tragic lost of MH 17.  It was the saddest time for our nation to suffer another lost in such a short time.  To all the victims...Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and May light perpetual shine upon them.  May their souls rest in peace, AMEN.  To all the  families of the victims...May God comfort you and grant you strength and courage.  AMEN

Uncle Tony's rain hat

Aunty Hilda requested for a hat rain for Uncle Tony using whatever rain fabric I had left.  This scrap fabric was given to me by my sister some time back.  So glad I could make something out of it!!  I matched the it with a dark brown fabric.   I used one of Luke's Nike caps for size.

Made three more key holders.  It is nice to have some time just to make this kind of crafts for fun.  I have already found owners for two of the holders!!  Went on the net to look for these cute patterns!  There are so many patterns online.  So happy to see there are many talented crafty people out there!!  And if any one of these are your pattern.... A big 'thank you' for sharing!!!

Key Holder

I have seen many different key holders and this owl is one of the cutest!  I bought a full kit for it.  It include all the necessary fabric, batting, buttons, thread and key rings.  This kit is a good 'bring-along' on a holiday!!

A little bag

My sister asked me to make a little bag for her to use.  Something big enough just to put her phone, some $$ and car keys.  So I made this little casual bag.  I quilted the background and sew a little Sun Bonnet Sue on it.  I did both sides the same.  This is a very simple bag to make.  A one-day project!!

This quilt was given to my mother- in-law on Saturday for her 70th birthday and also for Mother's Day!!!  Her birthday is always a double celebration!  One present for two occasions!
It's a relief to be able to get all the work done on time including washing the quilt!!  This is a queen size quilt but it still can fit my king size bed!   Below is a picture of the back of the quilt. I did as much quilting as I possibly can despite what little time I had!! LOL

 YAY! Finished all the quilting!!!!!  I am sooooo relieved!!  Binding to go and I need to wash the quilt before Saturday!!  Another major hurdle is that there is no water supply since Sunday!!! ................I hope the water supply comes back ASAP

My machine quilting skill is still lacking but I just wanted to show the pattern close up!!

Not quite there yet with the quilting.  Did stitching all along the ditch.  I am way behind in my schedule!!  Had to take another week off to attend hubby's grandmother's funeral.  Her death happened during Holy week so had to wait till after Easter Sunday for the burial.  She was 98 years old.  A sweet, caring and loving lady.  Rest in peace, Nanny.

So now, I am in the sewing room every chance I get!!  hhahahhaa

Started quilting in the ditch along all the seam lines.  To do that I used an even foot.  I have about three weeks to finish this quilt.  I hope I can do it...I have already 'lost' a week by taking a short break to Singapore!!  It was a very productive break though!!  My sister gave me some of her quilting stencils and I managed to find the binding fabric for this quilt.  :-)

While trying to get MIL's quilt done, my sister asked me to quilt this.  It's a baby quilt.  The middle is a big panel and she added a yellow sashing and two borders.  Still contemplating if I should quilt the background or not!

Pieced all the blocks and also added a dark green sashing and a 6 inch border.  It's a queen size quilt 92 x 84   I was short fabric so four of the blocks are mixed and matched into the whole quilt.   You  cannot really spot them if you don't take time to look!!  LOL  I have to try and finish this quilt by May!!!

Pieced together all the 90 blocks.  The quilt top looked very busy with the flower print!   Maybe I should have use less of the the flower print and add one or two more solid colours.  :-P

The name of this alternate block is Crossroads to Jericho.  It is a very simple and easy block to make.  For the other four blocks which I made a boo boo on cutting the fabric, I had no choice but to use this dark green fabric as replacement.   Hhmmmmmm

This is the first of the King's Crown blocks.  When I cut the second batch of fabric for this block, I made a mistake and cut the dark brown fabric with the wrong measurement!!!  ARGGGHHHH I had to recut the fabric and found that I was still short of four blocks!!!  Nooooooo

MIL's quilt

I have started my first quilt of the year!  This is for MIL who will be celebrating her 70th birthday.  This quilt will have a total of 90 blocks.  This cut out fabrics are for the King's Crown blocks.  The other alternate block which I am thinking of combining is Crossroads to Jericho.  Both of the blocks have a diagonal look in the centre of the block.