Des Bonbons en Tissu

We made these "candies" last week. My daughter really wanted to have candy accessories in her hair, so... :D

Trick or treat!

This tote bag was made from felt fabrics (purple & black). The sewing process was very quick. But at the beginning I needed to make an easy bat template so I could decorate both sides of the purple bag with black felt bats.

Trick or treat!

Laptop sleeve & Checkbook cover

Last week I could make one project. Cool... Considering my limited time now, yes, it was cool. But actually, I had to make that sewing project. A laptop sleeve. I tried to find the old one but I didn't find it. So, made another one!

Tutorial from Sew Mama Sew.

And this week, I made a checkbook cover. There's no urgent need but I just wanted to make something *ahaha... missing my sewing machine so much*

Lingerie Bag (2)

Full linen lingerie bags for a friend. 

Some Potatoes

Two days ago, I harvested some of my potatoes from my garden (read: balcony). I got some yummy potatoes for the next day's cooking... Love!

Lingerie Bag

This lingerie bag is small, 20cm x 25cm. It can fit some lingeries (or other under wear) and then we can put the bag into our suitcase with peace :D Yes, it's useful for our travel.

The lining fabric is cotton, the outer fabric is cotton linen. 

Pâte FIMO

School holidays will be over soon. My older daughter has learned to sew as planned. Good. But there is another thing that she has learned. By herself, from tutorials in YouTube. It's about making handmade creations from polymer clay. She uses FIMO.

Here are some pretty things she made.

Love the blue macaron ring! She made that for me *happy!*

Kastengel NCC

We (my daughters and I) made these cheese cookies yesterday night and we had so much fun. As usual, the girls helped me working with the cookie cutters :) They were so happy. I chose the flower shapes (standard & tulip) because I knew my girls would love that idea. And yes, they did.

These cookies will make our festive days complete. Eid Mubarak!

Summer Tunic

From Stylish Dress Book: Wear with Freedom (but the copy in french). The pattern I used was "F". It's a dress but it can be used as a tunic. Wearing a belt on the tunic can give a different look.

I got the fabric from my visit at Marché Saint Pierre, Paris. It's cotton voile (voile de coton). So it's light and perfect for summer.

Note. Bagi yang ingin menjahit baju-baju longgar panjang atau baju-baju muslim, buku Stylish Dress Book yang ini cocok deh. Yang pola aslinya lengan pendek bisa dimodifikasi jadi lengan panjang (atau pas dipakai bisa di-double dengan dalaman kaos lengan panjang - tapi tergantung modelnya sik...). Trus, info dari teman, katanya kalau beli buku-buku menjahit Jepang mendingan di Periplus daripada di ols FB karena perbedaan harganya lumayan. Yang di Periplus udah yg versi bahasa Inggris pulak (tapi mungkin masih terbatas koleksinya dibanding yang versi bahasa asli Jepang).

Tutti Frutti Bag

Do you know U-Handbag blog by Lisa Lam? Yes. It has so many interesting free tutorials of bag making (thank you, Lisa). Last year, one tutorial that really caught my attention was The Graceful Kelly Bag tutorial. I loved the fabrics she used and also the total style of the bag. I wanted to make one. Then I tried to find a purse frame from local shops (it means, from France). But I couldn't get the same frame like Lisa used on her blog but I found one that was on sale (important!). It was quite big, so I thought it would be fine. Not really Graceful Kelly Bag but fine. Ah yes, I bought that frame in January 31, 2012 (I found the receipt :D)

I  tried to follow Lisa's tutorial and used the pattern (Graceful Kelly Bag). And yes, I was silly. My purse frame was not matched. And I was not brave enough to modify the pattern even though I saw the how-to on Lisa's blog. I was newbie on bag making... Scared too much! And at that time, I chose a wrong fabric, I couldn't find the woven fusible interfacing and I was still confused with the term of fusible fleece (learning from english language blogs and books but shopping the tools and notions from french shops - different terms were confusing for me). So I dropped it.

And at the end of the year (2012), I wanted to try again. I started to understand more about different types of interfacings used for bag making. And I found a fabric that looked similar to Lisa's. So, a piece of pretty blue floral japanese cotton fabric was shipped from... Japan. When it was finally arrived, oh it was so soft. Too pretty. "How if I fail again?". I was nervous. So I dropped it again.

Until last Tuesday night. I decided to give it a try. This time for real! At the beginning, I was a bit confused with the fabrics. Changing decision couple times. Finally I decided to take the Tutti Frutti fabric from Vera Bradley for the outer and another Vera Bradley's fabric for the lining. I drafted my own pattern following the shape of the purse frame. Then everything was just running well...

And I was surprised with the result. J'adore!

This bag can fit one standard novel book, my wallet, my cellphone, one pocket tissue, my sun glasses and my home keys. Perfect for my me-time mate on summer!

* All fabrics were bought at Handmade Source on Etsy (China based). The purse frame was from one french online shop that doesn't exist anymore. The chain was from Au Fil d'Emma shop in my city. The interfacings used: Vlieseline G710 and H630.

Classic Fitted Diaper

My second tutorial for cloth diaper sewing is here!

I made the tutorial today, from the morning until 18h00, of course with some breaks including lunch. Finally, it's done. Thank's to Mr. Sun that was very cooperative today. I got nice lighting from the window :D

Sassy Librarian Blouse

This blouse was made by following the online class on Craftsy. It was my first Craftsy project and I loved the process. It took a long time for me to finish but finally I enjoyed the little steps I took. Approximately one hour per day except yesterday when I took longer time to finish this blouse.

I learned a lot from the video class. From understitching until easing. And also some little but useful tips that Christine Haynes shared on the video. I love all. She's a great teacher. The class in interactive. We can ask question to Christine on specific topics. There's a right column for writing the question. We also can read friends' questions related to the sewing process so we learn from those questions-answers.

To be honest, I fell in love with this blouse because of the collars :) So pretty. At the beginning I thought that the collar sewing would be difficult but no... For me it was easier than easing the sleeves. Perhaps it's because I never did easing before.

I plan to make the real version with voile de coton. But I also want to make one top from my japanese sewing book. So, I am confused >_<  Which one goes first...

Kid Sewing: Day Four - Ellie the Elephant

Sebenarnya minggu lalu si sulung sempat menjalani hari keempat Kid Sewing dengan project zippered pouch. Namun berhubung waktu itu anaknya agak malas-malasan sehingga hasilnya pun berantakan, jadi saya anulir. Setelah break sekitar seminggu, kemarin kami memulai lagi. Kali ini saya lebih fleksibel, tidak terlalu terpaku dengan program yang sudah dibuat. Dan project yang seharusnya another pouch akhirnya diganti menjadi soft plush gajah. Tampaknya membuat boneka lebih menarik bagi si sulung dan kebetulan saya mendapat link menarik dari facebook.

Dengan memanfaatkan sisa batik dan sisa kain hitam, jadilah Ellie batik ini... Saya membantu handstitching di bagian lubang pengisian dakron, plus membantu persiapan kainnya :D

Tutorial dan free pattern ada di sini.

Salad! And potatoes...

Our first green salad harvest!

 And these are some potatoes I harvested today. Small. I think they are not ready to be harvested but the plants were already broken because of the heavy wind. 

Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified

Got this book for my Mother's Day gift (last May). It was me that chose the book because I started to have an interest on pattern making. I heard that this book was simple but helpful. So I gave it a try. Unfortunately, I barely had time to read it. Until yesterday.


Part one was about preparation (Before You Begin) and when I finished reading it, I became more interested to continue to Part two (Making the Patterns). But hoopss... I had to stop it because my sewing projects were waiting! I will continue reading it later, perhaps after I finish this Sassy Librarian Blouse *yang sudah ke-pending lamaaa...*

Ah yes, one thing that made me "click" about this book, it talks about daily clothing, not gowns nor costumes. That's what I need right now. I think I will have fun designing some simple tops for me... *excited*

Selamat berpuasa...









PS. We are re-schedulling the kid sewing class into next week since I had some difficulties related to my time and energy.

Kid Sewing: Day Three - Teddy Brownie

Seharusnya hari ini menjahit tote bag tapi saya menggantinya dengan stuffed bear plush untuk si kecil. Idenya dadakan... Sekedar ingin membuat si kecil senang karena toh nantinya kalau kakak bisa menjahit dengan baik, adik bakal kebagian senangnya juga (dibikinin macam-macam, salah satunya boneka).

Saya mendesain bear plush-nya secara bebas saja. Ambil kertas A4, gunting ujung-ujungnya membundar (dibedakan antara bagian ujung-ujung atas dengan ujung-ujung bawah). Kemudian, pola gundul (tanpa kuping, tangan dan kaki) tersebut diletakkan di atas kain yang akan dipotong. Saat menggunting, saya membentuk langsung kuping, tangan dan kaki sesuai keinginan saya. Yang penting cukup proporsional antara kanan dan kirinya. Ini menjadi body depan.

Untuk memotong body belakang, saya tinggal meletakkan body depan di atas kain yang sama, kemudian menggunting kain tersebut mengikuti pola si body depan.

Kain yang digunakan adalah fleece sisa membuat popok kain.

Kemudian bagian mata dan hidung juga digunting secara bebas. Sekali lagi, yang penting proporsional. Supaya bagian mata kanan dan kiri bentuknya relatif sama, dua lapis kain digunting berbarengan saja.

Kain polkadot juga merupakan fabric scrap.

Project ini tergolong lebih sulit dibanding dua project sebelumnya karena ada bagian-bagian melingkar yang harus dijahit oleh si kakak. Dan juga, ini kali pertama bagi kakak belajar menjahit menggunakan zigzag stitch untuk aplikasi bagian mata (jarak stitching 0.5/3.5).

Saat hendak stuffing boneka, kami melibatkan si kecil untuk melakukannya sehingga dia merasa berpartisipasi dalam proses pembuatan. Dan kami pun meminta si kecil untuk mencarikan nama si boneka bear itu. Akhirnya dia mengatakan: "Teddy Brownie" :D

Voila, Teddy Brownie!

Update: My lil one changed the name of "Brownie" into "Biscuit" as advised by her Papap >_<

Kid Sewing: Day Two - A Mini Napkin

Hari kedua ini ada perubahan waktu belajar berhubung saya harus keluar rumah untuk suatu urusan yang urgent. Jadi my sulung baru memulai menjahit sore hari sekitar pukul 16.30. Kebetulan sang adik sedang tidur siang jadi acara menjahit kali ini sangatlah tenang dan damai :D Selesainya pun sangat cepat...

Sebenarnya serbet makan lebih sederhana daripada pembatas buku Day One lho... Yang penting setiap lipatan disetrika dulu sblm dijahit supaya mudah. 

* masih ada jahitan yang "lari" tapi no problem... namanya juga belajar.

Kid Sewing: Day One - Fabric Bookmark

Hari ini, kegiatan belajar menjahit untuk si sulung dimulai. Dulu dia pernah belajar juga dengan menggunakan mesin jahit lama saya tapi spt biasa, suka macet. Jadi untuk kali ini, dia menggunakan mesin jahit Brother saja. Kid sewing home class ini hanya max. 2 jam/hari (10.00-12.00) dimulai Rabu ini sampai Jumat minggu depan (tidak termasuk Sabtu & Minggu).

Hari pertama, agendanya hanya melatih lagi straight stitching namun langsung di kain (dulu di kertas). Setelah itu, kami masuk ke satu project sederhana yaitu fabric bookmark. Tutorial bisa dilihat di website Skip To My Lou bagian Kids Sewing.

Tantangan hari ini lebih kepada si bungsu yang ikut-ikutan duduk di dekat mesin jahit dan kemudian berusaha menarik Mama-nya menjauh dari kakaknya >_<. Jadi Mama/Bu Guru mesti pindah-pindah antara tempat sulung menjahit dan tempat bungsu bermain. Untungnya fabric bookmark itu sangat simple. Jadi bisa selesai dengan cepat. 

Lanjut besok! 

Garden in July

It's finally summer... I think.

My plants are more or less happy. But I saw that some could not stand the heat. Yeah, dilema gitu... Dingin bingung, panas bingung. For sure, due to the weather, I lost some of my gardening spirit *syahh...* I just keep watering them, taking care of some dried leaves, moving them to a shadow area if they look "tired" of the heat (just for those in small containers - I could not move the big planter).

• My Aster grew so fast after I moved it to a bigger container.
• Lettuces from my father-in-law... Growing so nice, nice, nice... 
• My marigolds are blooming... Pretty!
• My tomatoes are coming! Yey! Some of their leaves are yellowing, I do not know for sure what is happening. It was started since couple months ago.
• My radishes are growing well. Some premier leaves are yellowing too :(
• Last photo, from the left: bitter melon plant, I-do-not-know plant (received it last year from a friend), strawberry plants, anthemis (white flowers), basil (store bought - almost die again), etc (small plants).

• Basilic citron (citron basil) is finally growing but is disturbed by some cilantro babies (I don't even remember when I dropped those cilantro seeds)
• Kale, oregano and thym plants. Kale plants are mixed between those I bought at the nursery and those I grew from seeds.
• Lavender and mint plants. Love that lavender's appearance. Jolies...
• Chives! Mixed between those I bought chez Botanic, those that regrew from last year and those from father-in-law's garden. I love chives!

Bitter melon, surprising me... From 8 seeds that I received from my friend, five were growing in different timing. But this one was the best seed, I think, because it was growing first and stay alive during couple of cold weeks outside. I keep another bitter melon plant, growing in an empty milk bottle. The rest, I threw them because of not growing well after couple of weeks. See, my bitter melon plant is having some flowers... Happy!

***

I still have some potato plants but their leaves are yellowing. I tried to check if some of them were ready to be harvested. But from the potatoes that I got, I did not think so. They were so small.  Now I start to realize something about its soil... Yea...

I also still have some chili plants that are still small >_< And I let two lettuce plants growing until they are tall. I just want to know the seeds that they will produce.

This week, I tried to grow some pak choi (chinese cabbage) seeds, some Indonesian spinach seeds (again) and some more cilantro seeds (because I often need cilantro leaves). I also planted... some green bean seeds that I received from d'Aucy. Yes, they sent me... I think they sent to everyone that participated in the last year contest. For this year contest, see here: CLICK

Peanut Butter Cookies for A Teacher

Not only for E's teacher but also for all people that assisted/helped in E's class. So we made 4 gifts. Peanut butter cookies in 4 mini jars. The recipe? Of course from my favorite one, NCC recipe. Yummy and very yummy...

The fun part was, E helped me in the making process. She was not feeling well today so she stayed at home. I asked her to participate in preparing the cookies. As usual, she said yes :) We delivered all the cookies to the school before they were leaving. Yey, it's done!

Happy summer holidays!

Marché Saint Pierre, Paris

Some souvenirs I took from yesterday visit at Marché Saint Pierre, the historical fabric district in Paris.

My note, Tissus Reine has fantastic collections of cute fabrics. Harganya relatif sama dgn harga kain di Mondial Tissus atau toko-toko kain lainnya di kota saya. Dreyfus has so many kind of fabrics. I saw some Disney prints over there. For deco, of course. And some cotton knit for children (Dinosaurus, for example). Complete range of fabrics. 

But I was hooked by the fabric shops that sell fabric coupons of 3 meters. Moline and Les Coupons de Saint Pierre provide those interesting coupons. The price range for cotton coupon is between 10-15 EUR and some of them were on sale 50%. Interesting, right? I grabbed some voile de coton fabrics for making my own clothing. Can't wait to sew them!

Some blogposts about Marché Saint Pierre: here and here (all in french but you can enjoy their pictures). Happy reading!

My First Burda

Been working on this project since... a month ago. I think. Hm... Kalau tidak salah ingat, saya pilih project ini pada tanggal 30 Mei 2013 dari majalah Burda Juni 2013. Waktu itu majalahnya sudah ada di grup menjahit saya dan project ini terlihat menarik (mungkin karena warnanya, see here: Seersucker Blouse). Waktu yang tersisa, terhitung dari saat pemilihan blouse tsb, adalah 4 minggu (4 kali hari Kamis) yang mana saya pikir memungkinkan untuk menyelesaikannya. Waktu itu, saya bertekad untuk menarik ilmu membuat baju dewasa dari dua pengajar di grup menjahit tsb mumpung kelasnya masih ada 4 sesi lagi (sekarang sudah libur).

Ternyata memang waktunya agak sulit karena di bulan Juni banyak hal yang harus diselesaikan. Dan akhirnya pun saya harus bolos satu sesi menjahit karena benar-benar ada minggu yang sangatlah padat.  Namun semua saya kejar di rumah. Sebisa mungkin saya selesaikan menjahit blouse ini sampai kemudian berhenti di bagian kerah karena bingung >_<. My first Burda, my first collar sewing.

Kamis sesi terakhir, saya manfaatkan untuk menanyakan problem kerah kepada para instruktur di grup. Ada satu yang sangat available saat itu sampai-sampai beliau membantu memasangkan kerahnya dan saya tinggal menjelujur (di-basting). Ternyata tekniknya agak berbeda dengan yang saya lihat di YouTube maupun yang saya lihat di buku Alison Smith.

Anyway, hari ini collar dan kancing sudah selesai... Tinggal finishing bagian sleeve bands. Kalau tiba-tiba males, dijahit seam-nya aja kali ya... :p

Update: done, July 2, 2013:

                                

Tuna Steak with kinda niçoise salad

Kalau kamu suka ikan dan salad, mungkin bisa mencoba satu resepnya Jamie Oliver ini: Griddled Tuna kinda Niçoise Salad. This recipe is starting to be one of our favorites. Rasanya segar... Cocok untuk musim panas yang tidak kunjung datang.

Kami memasak dengan resep ini baru dua kali dengan menggunakan bahan yang ada di rumah. Berhubung kami tidak pernah membeli anchovy fillets, jadi kami skip di situ. Selain itu, kami juga tidak menggunakan griddle pan karena pan kami sangatlah tidak menyenangkan (lama sekali matangnya). Jadi kami memanggang tuna steak di dalam oven. Cara penyajiannya, tentu tidak sama dengan cara Jamie. Oleh karena itu hasil di foto ini tidaklah sama dengan yang ada di blog Jamie Oliver.

Bagi saya dan anak-anak yang awalnya tidak terlalu suka salad ber-dressing mustard, namun waktu kami merasakan salad dalam resep ini, kami sangat lahap menyantapnya. Red wine vinegar bisa diganti vinegar biasa. Tomatnya juga bisa menggunakan tomat ceri yg dipotong-potong menjadi dua. Baguette bisa diganti dengan roti cereal.

Jangan lupa, liquidizer maksudnya blender...

Toddler Friendly Backpack

I planned to make one backpack for my little one since a longgg time ago. I have 3 different tutorials for backpack making, from Lisa Lam's book, Oliver + S' book and Coudre C'est Facile. I almost made the Pinguin one from Oliver + S' book when my daughter fell in love with Pingu ;). But then she asked to make the one from Coudre C'est Facile's magazine. So I ordered the Oxford fabric, as advised on the magazine, to my sister-in-law. At that time she lived in Seoul and had an access to get cheaper Oxford fabric (compared with the price in France). After 2 months, I received the fabrics but then I got confused with the pattern *haishhh... complicated mind*. So, voilà, I finally made the one from Lisa Lam's book, A Bag for All Reasons.

I don't know why the side pocket position is not the same as pictured on the book. I might made a mistake because of my poor english...

Never mind... It still looks pretty and my lil princess loves it!

Note. Thick cotton fabric from Eurodif, print cotton from Jojo Fabric.

Talking about: Local Fabric Shops

My city has some fabric shops. Not many, but enough for making my wallet exhausted :D My favorite one is Mondial Tissus because it has so many options. But, they don't have USA or Japanese designer fabrics like Miller, Henry, Kokka, etc. So, other options are smaller shops like Au Fil d'Emma and Bleu de Toiles. They have designer fabrics.

I just visited Bleu de Toiles today and I am so happy *of course*. The owner was very nice and some fabrics were on sale! I finally could touch some France Duval Stalla & Frou Frou. And I saw some collection of Fleur de Soleil and Kokka (Echino).

I also had an opportunity to touch Odds & Ends collection by Cosmo Cricket for Moda. Already falling in love with them when I saw them online. Pretty, right? Soft, simple, modest but pretty. Hmm...

I hope Bleu de Toiles is always running well because I want to see that shop growing (with more pretty fabrics ;D).

PS. Other local fabric shops are Carefil, Tissus Jaurès and Eurodif (for deco). 

One Summer Hat

A late post, I forgot >_<

A summer hat for my little one. The tutorial is from this book.

Note. Fabrics: Japanese linen from Lemonz Craft Projects and polka dot cotton from Fab Fabrics (all Indonesian fabric sellers).

Talking about: Fabrics - France Duval Stalla

I have never seen or touched France Duval Stalla fabrics. Curious? Of course. Unfortunately I haven't bought any since their prints and colors are so classic (for me). However, the pink fuchsia one seems interesting...

Enough talking, go here to see more of the fabrics: France Duval Stalla