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: