The Western

I finally got around to it and it’s complete after 2 months of hibernation. I started this at the start of May and just got busy sewing bags and bags and crocheting little people. I don’t think I’ve ever had a checkered shirt so now I have one!

The Western

This was part of Sew-U by Wendy Mullin. I actually was quite surprised how quickly I completed sewing this together - 1 day. The trickiest and hardest part of this project was the collar - always have a problem with the collar. But I managed to wing it and make it look somewhat decent looking without making it look like a disaster.

Now I want to sew myself a dress!!

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Sophia Carry All

The Sophia Carry-All is completed! It’s hard not to fall in love with the bag when you first see it on Amy Butler’s website. It has a great shape and something Audrey Hepburn-chic about it. This cute fabric is Bubble Bees Olive by Flutterby. It took me 2 full days and 2 half days to finish this.

After many weeks of prepation and sourcing of materials, my most challenging project to date is complete and not without a lot of frustration and abundant mutterings of swear words. It is my first time using a zipper foot, making piping and sewing in piping. For the record - I really suck at piping.

Amy Butler Sophia Carry All


Along the way also pushing the limits my old Singer sewing machine - which really didn’t help the already frustrating situation. It really isn’t used to sewing many thick layers of interfaced fabrics together. And in demostrating it’s irritation, it stubbornly refuses to pick up bottom bobbin thread and or tangling itself and spitting out mini thread ball disasters.

Amy Butler Sophia Carry All

I am glad I made it. It’s a pretty bag and I get to use it tomorrow! I will have to make another one for Dixie but after that... not again!

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Tammy's Reversible Shoulder Bag

Tammy asked me to sew her a bag and she knew exactly what she wanted. She brought me wine and cream drill fabric and this tutorial. We made some cutomisations to it too so that it would fit her perfectly. Also she asked to make it reversible and it was okay if it wasn't but I usually like a challenged so I agreed to try.

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Then I screwed it up. First I squared off the wrong corners so I had to cut off the straps... then after completing it, I noticed a dirty smudge on the cream fabric so I thought I'd try to rinse that out. So that got the bag wet and realised OHNO! The colour from the dark wine-coloured fabric was coming off and staining the cream fabric!! !@#$%^&*!

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Of course I felt terrible so I made her another one with my own stash and to the colour combination she had originally wanted but could not find. She was really happy when she saw the picture message I sent, so we'll see if she is still happy tomorrow when she gets it. Dad actually liked it very much too and Mum said she would like one in black and white - saying it would be perfect for traveling.

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PSP Quilted Case Prototype

One of the ideas I've been thinking about was to revisit the first thing I sewed this year - the PSP case. So here we have a re-designed prototype. It's quilted for protection with details (to be further developed) to appeal to all gamers. It's got a neat little snap for safe keeping. This is my first time quilting and i'm liiiiiking it.

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Will also be working on Nintendo DS cases too. Coming to my etsy store soon in many colours!

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girl*e is stocked!

My etsy store girl*e is now stocked with chic frenchy bags!

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New bag designs are coming soon! So bookmark my etsy store and keep checking in!

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Le Sac À la français

Frenchy Bag

I made the Frenchy Bag! Eeet ees sooo preeeeety!

I finally bought the Amy Butler Frenchy Bag pattern on ebay after weeks of consideration and I am so pleased I did because I am so so happy because I now have a bag that fits all my stuff and more should such capacity was required. *Heehee!* Now that I've made this, I'm really eyeing the Sophia Carry-All Bag.

I sat myself down for 4-5 hours and was determined to complete the bag and I love it! I have a pretty red bag! I love the colour red! I have since I was 3 and always owned red shoes like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I am also a sucker for tiny red flowers against a white background also found a really nice red cotton drill for the main body which gives a really nice sheen to it.

Frenchy Bag

After showing it off on the first day, I've received 2 requests for it! It's all quite exciting. Friends and family have had been encouraging me to sell my stuff online and I am begining to consider it... you might be able to find me on etsy.com soon!

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Fake Sentimental Value

I just found out that our vintage Singer sewing machine that I thought was my grandmother's isn't really ours. As it turns out, years ago when my Mother sent it to be motorised the guy who did it swapped it with a cheaper and similar-looking model. And Mum never knew about it.

We only just found out about the scam 2 days ago because of the new buttonholer attachment we bought (Woo!). We checked the serial number against our original documents - it's different. My grandmother bought her machine for $460 on 13 April 1958 - in 10 days it would have been 50 years old! $460 was a lot of money then.

I feel really cheated of what I thought was a connection to a grandmother I never knew. This sewing machine isn't so special anymore.
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Built by Elena

I've sewn a blouse. A proper one this time. A white cotton waffled blouse with shiny red hexagon buttons! Featuring the amazing as Pin describes "Imelda Marcos sleeves"!

Simplicity 4112


Quite a few years ago when I was a student living in Melbourne, I procrastinated. I'm not a very good student. One of the things I decided to do instead of my assignment was to sew a blouse completely by hand (I did not have a sewing machine). It was a black tunic. Needless to say it really didn't turn out well... all I had was pattern, cloth, scissors, needle and thread. I did not serger my pieces and oh, did it fray. I had no idea what interfacing was so of course it really didn't turn out well. I hardly ironed the fabric. I think I wore it once to humour myself and that was it.

Now 10 years later I decided to sew myself a blouse. Some months ago I came across this pattern at Simplicity by Built by Wendy and I was inspired to make it for myself. It looked simple enough. So I thought about it. Then a month later I found this book Sew U by the very same Wendy Mullin and it taught me how to sew a blouse. So I went and bought the pattern online and slowly planned my project.

Read More...
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Jasmine's Purse

Pencil Stripes Purse


So part 1 of my updates... My latest obsession has been learning to sew purses with purse frames. I started about 2 weekends ago with plastic frames I bought from Golden Dragon, an experiment I made for my sister-in-law's birthday present. It turned out not too bad. I had made one for myself too and realised after a week or so the plastic frame broke. Then again I am not the most delicate flower in the bunch so... for someone like me - plastic frames were not the best idea.

Read More...
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New Year New Experiments

Happy New Year to everyone!!

It's a new year and there are new experiments to be made!! I haven't been blogging for some time now and as much as I love to bake I think I need something new to experiment with. Given my short attention span and impulsive charm I think I might have stumbled upon a new hobby - CRAFTING! I've been reading Craftzine.com on and off for a year now and have always been amazed and envious of the cool things people made. I've always thought... not me... I am horrible when it comes to sewing or knitting or anything of that sort... but maybe in 10 years. Like Mum.

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I've been on leave the last weeks and in just the past week I have made 5 felted PSP sleeves, knitted a little laced purse (a free pattern from Chez Plum) and I am now working on an Amigurumi. Prior to this, the last time I picked up a crochet needle when I was 9. I was maybe 14 when I tried to learn to knit I never got pass my first row of knitting. I failed sewing in school. So although it's all not great I am a little pleased with my impulsive accomplishments.

It all started when I received a PSP for Christmas from my incredibly awesome bosses at Blackmagic Design. Being a girl, I had to get the right accessories for my PSP and I could not find a case that I liked. So I decided I would make my own. How difficult could it be right? It was a bit tricky... but managed to wing it. Turned out people like it and I made 4 more!

So... I think this will be a year (or for the next few months at least) of crafting experiments!

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