what's your color?

As I was doing some inventory and planning in upgrading my wardrobe, there was one problem that came to mind: color. I have my favorite TnT (tried and tested) patterns and figured out which silhouette suits me best, it's deciding on the color and prints that I struggled with the most. 

Social media lead me to color analysis. No harm in trying, no? So,  upload my picture, lo and behold, I'm a "dark winter"! 

In the color palette, there's a shade of green that looks "teal" to me. It reminded me of the tulle cocktail dress I've been planning to make over the years. I grabbed nearly 10 meters of lightweight tulle and a few more medium-weight tulle for the crinoline. This is perhaps the puffiest dress I ever made; you can see part of the process on my Instagram. 

The skirt has 5 layers of lightweight tulle and 3 layers of medium-weight tulle as crinoline. The appliques are from scrap fabric I've been keeping for at least a decade - I'm still upset that not all were used :( 

I was showered with compliments, particularly the color!

Did I get this right? Would you try color analysis? Let me know your thoughts!

  

anxiety

 Covid restriction here finally lifted: no more mask, social distancing, pubs/bars and restaurants are in full capacity. 

I was required to work 4days a week, still at risk of getting the virus and passing it to my elderly parents. My siblings are like me  front liners - nurse and teacher, respectively. No matter how careful we can be we are at risk hence, the anxiety was overwhelming. What was toughest was finding balance between seeing other people we care about, our friends, whilst at the same time, trying to protect ourselves and our parents. 

During the peak of the pandemic, I was helping everyone around me deal with their own anxiety and uncertainty. I felt that I had no one but me dealing with my own anxiety, I found solace and comfort with my hobbies. Started sewing, blogging and crocheting again. 

I did a lot of crocheting since I can simply carry crochet hook and thread anywhere. I actually learned to crochet first before sewing, still I tried to freshen up my skill by doing smaller crochet project like few coasters. 

Coincidently, many had babies so with hopes that one of my friends will have hers, I started making one 

and then there's two. 

Yet, still no babies.

Inshallah.

the limit does not exits

I was really excited when I received 2 stretch laces I got from mail.

"How many underwear do you need to have?" - boyfriend asked

Is that even a question?

Sewing lingerie is addicting. Really, ADDICTING. More Bellas, then.

Tried other pattern using different type of fabrics, like silk from my previous project.

These needs a matching bras!

Scrap-busting & Instant Gratification project

Scrap-busting is such a dreaded task for me. There's so many tutorials floating around for scrap-busting projects but I really don't have the patience for it. I was so bad at it that once, I have donated a bagful of scraps to charity. 

Done. At least with the woven fabrics. 

I have many knit jersey fabrics scraps too since I learned that you can work with it with a basic sewing machines. Many wrap dresses and tshirts later, again I have to deal with remnants and scrap material. I saw many panty sewing patterns on etsy and thought of giving it a try. First choice, is Bella Panty since it got rave reviews. I bought fold over elastics (FOE), narrow laces, and even rosettes. 

 

I love making these! 

Not only its a scrap busting project, it's instant gratification project too! Can make one under an hour!

 

Tell me, what's your favorite scrap busting project? or instant gratification project?

soirees

Normally, the last quarter of my calendar, is filled of soirees and parties. Endless nights of meeting and talking to people whilst enjoying a flow of hors d'oeuvres (very important). I do missed it terribly. Yet, I still sewed myself a cocktail dress. I never want to miss an opportunity to work with more challenging or delicate fabrics and use a more complicated couture techniques.    

This fabric has been sitting in my stash - one of many finds in remnant pile from a fabric store. It's silk, with border print details. I used cotton batiste as interlining as I do not have the luxury to use silk organza; worked just as fine. 

 The neckline and shoulder strap was the challenging part. Since using a fusible lining is not an option but, I did remember reading an article about using horsehair braid to add shape and structure to the neckline. So I went to ebay, get a couple of meters and waited patiently. 

 

I attached the horsehair braid to the neckline by hand but the shoulder straps were floppy. I followed this little hack to fix it and viola! No more floppy shoulders!

 (left: no rigilene boning; right: with rigilene boning)

Attached the lining by hand, and its done. Now, where to go? 

 

 Till my next post!

 

 

summer pants

The trend of casual light weight elastic waist pants maybe gone but it remained staple in my wardrobe. Its a must for me specially for running errands on a hot summer weekend. I made a couple of pairs using this pattern: 

This fabric was let go by a fellow sewing enthusiast. I was hoping that it was a knit jersey fabric as it reminded me of a particular signature designer print; I immediately thought of making a wrap dress with it. Sadly, it was woven and a previous owner's UFO (Un-Finish Objects); still managed to make something out of it, nevertheless. 

And from a remnant from my previous project: 

What is your summer sewing plans? Let me know ;)

All Dressed up

For so many sewing enthusiasts, we see this whole ordeal as an opportunity to tick off a few sewing projects from the ever growing list. Ariana Dress from StyleArc has been in my list since its release, finally made it. 

My fabric stash is more like a stockpile at this point, and since I have more time – more than I could wish or ask for - I made 2 dresses:

About the pattern: This must be the second pattern I bought from StyleArc (first one seen here). I usually shorten the bodice but this time I didnt, just shortened the straps. It only has 3/8" sewing allowance instead of the usual 5/8", I easily get used to it as it already indicated in the sewing machine, no need for my to use tape or rubber band to mark the 5/8" so its convenient. Shirring is new to me and I found this tutorial really helpful.

Most of my sewing stuff, including my sewing machine, are at my boyfriend's apartment. Hence, I am using my mom's. Unfortunately its button hole feature is no longer working, hence its done by hand:

Not my best work, in my defense, I haven't done this since my fourth-grade home economics class.

How are you keeping up?