Chef Hat Tutorial

It’s been several times I sew chef hat for my friend’s little girls.  I think it’s time for me to share the tutorial after so many trial and errors in making it, for me these steps are the easy one.  Thanks to dear crafting friend who keep on pushing me to try to make the tutorial :)

This chef hat is adjustable – it fits to head size with circumference between 18” to 22”.  Sorry for the not great photos.  I will try my best to update the tutorial and taking better pictures soon :)

Materials you need:

18” diameter circle fabric-cut 1 for the top

6” tall x 24” wide for the band (cut 1)

2.5” tall x 23” wide interface

2.5” Velcro

1 spool of coordinating thread

Embroidery floss to embroider the name

The steps:

• Preparing the band.  Take the rectangular fabric and iron/crease it along the middle by folding it in half lengthwise and unfold again.  Iron the interface at one of the wrong sides of the rectangular fabric, by putting in the middle of the fabric – at the creased line

• Now, embroider your little chef's name on the center of the right side of the fabric with the attached interface.  Once you’ve finished with the embroidery, take the Velcro and attach the Velcro hooks on the right side of the name, leaving half inch for seam (please look at the picture).  Then stitch the Velcro loops at the left side, behind the name.

• Now, get your circle fabric (sorry mine is not really circle), fold 4” out of it and stitch.  It will be look like the image below.

• Then, gather the edge of it by doing running stitch but not including the stitched part (refer to no. 4), leave enough thread to adjust the gathered fabric later on.  The result will be look like this.

• Next part is attaching the band to the top part.  Start the process by pinning the seams of the band to the sewn part of the top, leaving 2 inches gap of the top part.  Make sure the right side of the circle fabric facing the right side of the band and the name position is as shown in the picture (green arrow).

• After that, carefully adjust and pin the gathered fabric into the band.  It will look like this.

• Sew it slowly around the band and you will get this raw edges.

• You're almost there!  Now, turn the hat right side out and pin the back side of the band covering the raw edges to the front side of the band.

• And sew slowly at the outside of the band while removing the pins.  If you want a neat result, please do running stitch first instead putting pins making sure the band can cover the raw edges perfectly.

• Then fold and sew the edge the band for finishing touch.  

• The behind part of your chef hat suppose to be like this.

• Here's the hat for your little chef!

If you like this chef hat tutorial and you have time to sew it, please give me credit by putting the source link at your blog, for sure I would love to see yours :)  And if you have any question, feel free to ask me at the comment post, I will reply asap ;)  Happy Sewing!  

It's Snowy Outside!

Another Wee Wonderful project after Emma and a doll for Alisha...This time I made for my Indian niece I am about to visit tomorrow in Kerala, India :)   The idea of course to make an Indian doll ;)  Take a look at the photos, her felt fabric hair is braided nicely with bindhi on the forehead .   She got big brown eyes like those Indian and her cheeks are red because of the cold weather ;)  

Now, I want you to see the detail of my Indian doll :) ... The doll in her inner wear :) Then, the doll's back, this time I sew the dress separately, so my niece can enjoy put the dress on and off.  On the last picture, you can see the shawl becomes a dupatta ;)

See you...now I am off for my Kerala visit...Oh yeah, I have to do some applique embroideries while visiting my in-laws, a secret project between my fellow crafter and me ;)

Brownie Doll for the Birthday Girl

I smurfed another doll from Wee Wonderful just like what I did before for sweet Pooja.  The same original style like the pattern but I choose different color of fabric for the cloth and skin :)  This time I made it for a special little girl who got birthday exactly on the same day of my Indonesia's Independence Day, 17 August.  The date makes me easily remember anyone who born on the same date.  The little girl's name is Alisha, she's as cute and pretty as her name, a friend's daughter.  Her mother said that Alisha loves the doll and takes her to bed with her ;)  I am so happy to know there's a little girl having a wonderful time with my handmade craft :)

See you again with my next craft posting...Let's back to the stash and smurf them girls ;)

Smurfed The Smurfs

Finally...after almost 20 years never saw it

The Smurfs made their return :)

When I chose the name for my blog last 2009

I didn't see a single upload on YouTube of The Smurfs cartoon

I only able to gather the memory by reading about it on wiki

but now...you'll see enough

because there's The Smurfs (Film)
old school guys rewind their old memory...

So excited to see

All the imagination of the peaceful blue village

three apples high creatures

papa, smurfette, brainy, grumpy, chef, baby, hefty

and most of all that's now matching my blog would be...

tailor smurf ;)

now it's time to smurf my fabrics...while sing along...

la la...la la la la...la la la la la

la la...la la la la...la la la la la

Baa Baa White Sheep...

Baa Baa White Sheep....

Have you any wool....

Yes Sir!...Yes Sir! One red pouch full...

It's folded one with cross stitched sheep...

with pink lining to make it neat....

once you fold it and turn it around...

you'll find a white button so its stuff won't gone....

''' \ (^,^) / '''

Bunting Flag for Keya

Another bunting flag...but this one for Baby Keya...my hubby's friend's daughter, she's around 6 months old and I've never seen her :(   But, I believe she's cute and beautiful like all Indian babies :)

First bunting flag I made was for baby Willy, a dear friend's handsome baby boy :)  I made a triangle shaped one for Willy.  Now as a change, I did a little bit experiments by changing the shape into curve one.  My gender thought kept on suggesting that triangle works for boys while curve will be look more girly heheh...

I chose pink fabric for sure, as all mommies will prefer pink for their little girl.  Oh yeah, I checked here that Keya means Asian Flower and it's an Indian origin name, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl :)  So, flower will be perfect as the applique that I put before the name and a butterfly in the end of the row.  This time, I decided to use bias tape to hold the name, well take a look!

See you at my next posting :) ...

Square Bears for Buttoning Skills

The original idea was to make a fabric book with appliques to learn buttoning.  A dear friend of mine who's living in NZ told me to make one, years ago.  Then, I found it too meticulous for the project.  I don't think I have patience enough to make small dress with buttons, an applique of shoes for shoe lacing, and so on.

One idea is to make a useful stuff for kid age between 2 to 3-years-old and another idea is how to make the useful stuff can be a toy to play with at the same time.  Thinking, digging, and imagining!

While thinking what to make, I checked a book, Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan, there's a simple square bear doll she designed.  It's very cute and so easy to make, you don't need a pattern to make it for sure ;)

Two ideas collided and here they are... two square bears with clothes that can be opened to learn buttoning.  The dark brown, is boy bear.  Your kid can learn opening and closing the velcro and sew snap buttons at the front side of the dress.  Ask the baby boy bear to turn and your kid can try to put the lace, soon he or she has to do that with their own shoes, right?  The light brown, is a baby girl square bear.   She's wearing pink cloth with two sew buttons to learn and zipper at her dress' back side.

I did trial and error for this project, since the original square bear's dress supposed to be sewn attached to the body...but I think they ended nicely and cute :)  I gave them to a dear friend's daughter for her second birthday.  I hope she really enjoys learning while playing with them with an expectation she will able to dress and undress herself by three-years-old ;)

I Can't Live Without Books

"I Can't Live Without Books!" .... Yes! It's the famous quote from Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers and the third president of USA.

I was thinking to make a birthday gift for anyone who loves to read books, all kind of books, I would say.  Digging my creativity, I chose an owl as we all know this bird represents wisdom, art and scholarship...so an owl reading a book will be a cool idea with Thomas Jefferson's quote at the right side!  I drew the owl on a paper and made it as a pattern to cut the fabric.  A combination of blue and yellow fabric for the owl and quilting around it would be great.

Actually, I planned to make a pillow cover out of it...and it was a pillow cover just ready to have final stitching, but my husband protested, "I thought you gonna make a wall hanging art, stop stitching!"  Hurriedly, he took off a painting out of its frame and put the sewn owl on it...and voila! check it out!  It's now become an art!

The eliminated painting is now kept for a while until we buy another frame for it :) anyway my hubby didn't really like it, it's an abstract and too abstract without any meaning on it :D   Well, now it's hanging there above my bookshelf, and I really have to make another one to be kept for a birthday gift later on ;)

Elodie the Elephant

I got the One Yard Wonders (OYW) book, I can say this book is giving me cool ideas on what to do with one yard fabric only.  And I bought this book mainly because I want to have the simple pattern on dresses they've shared there.  For my first project, I chose Elodie the Elephant, since I love this animal so much and I love to make doll...

The instruction on how to make Elodie the Elephant is a little bit confusing, thus I decided to search on Google about the tutorial.  Thanks for Sarah Faix of Bit of Whimsy dolls, the Elodie's designer, she shared the tutorial on youtube.com and divided the tutorials into three parts, click here for part 1, part 2, and part 3.  You bet you'll find it so easy to sew this Elodie ;)  

I was thinking to give the doll to my hubby's friend's daughter as a gift but rethinking when I found the stitching on the ears' sides were so tricky and I wasn't satisfied :(   So, just let me have this Elodie for myself at home :)  At least, if I have little guests they can play with it ;)

A Promise is A Promise ;)

I promised one time to a dear friend's daughters, that we'll make a doll together during their holiday...When they returned to Indonesia, they bought some meters of felt fabric to make the doll :)   So, holiday was almost finished when their mom took them to my home for the doll making project :)

I have a Wee Wonderful book by Hillary Lang, I showed it to them and asked them to choose which one they want to make.  These two girls are Megu, 11 and Pooja, 9 years-old.  Megu is on her transitional age, about leaving her childhood and going to enter her teenage age, so she's not that interested in making doll.  It seems to me that she's also not into crafting :) so she finally chose to make minnie mouse applique from the felt fabric with her mom's help :)  While, Pooja, she was so busy picking up the doll to make, she wanted them all but she knew she could only pick one :)  Finally she chose tag-a-long doll to be smurfed ;)

Look at them, they are so serious doing their tasks :)  And on the right side is Pooja holding her doll, she named it Emma :)  I wanted the girls to be involved during the project making.  They happily transferred the picture into a paper ready to be cut.  They also loved to help the stitching.  I taught them how to do the backstitch and they do the rest, though the result is running stitch :D  However, to save the time, I did the major stitching using my machine.  Well, as you know, kids will always hope a project can be done at the same day itself, so they can take their doll home :)

Isn't Emma as sweet as Pooja?  Pooja is so proud with her doll and keep on telling people that she made it by herself ;)

Embroidered Strawbery Shortcake

Yep, as I told you before I am in love with embroidery...This time I've done Strawberry Shortcake embroidery. The idea I got from this blog, I was searching for strawberry as the keyword and found that blog.  It's so interesting, she made an apron with that character.  But, since I've smurfed several aprons before, I was thinking to use the embroidery into something else.  A tote bag would be great, since I have two nieces there who will love to carry it around :)

I made two Strawberry Shortcake embroideries one is the old version of the character another one is the makeover version.  This time, I just want to share the makeover version, since I haven't finished sewing the bag of the old version one :)

I really love the experience during the embroidery process.  A fellow crafter suggested to use a binding with the same fabric as the back side of the bag (pink polka dots) to frame the embroidery, check her tutorial of how to do it nicely.  Using that method now the embroidery part can be used as a pocket.  Oh yeah, this time I quilted the bag ;) it's another achievement for me heheheh...

See you at my next smurfing project ;)

Getting closer to patchwork ;)

Yeehaw!! My hubby's friend was about to return to Mumbai from L.A and he asked my hubby what he wanted to get from there.  "Would you please ask him to get me a rotary cutter and its blade, and a quilting ruler?" I asked my hubby.  Yes! A week after that, I got my "dream stuffs", and I got two rotary cutters, one is for Wulan, she also wants it badly :) 

Let me show you what I got ;)  Ohhh but don't smirk at my cutting mat :D ... I bought it last year from Daiso, a Japanese shop in my hometown, it sells only Japanese stuffs that cost you $2 for any product you pick ;) That's why it's small, but it's helpful enough...so now you know what's my next target is :D a proper cutting mat ;)

Cannot wait for my pieced work project, I did once before when I made my sewing maching cover, cutting was really hard work, I think with the cutter, ruler and mat, it will be easier ;)

Embroidery Fever...

Thing I really love the most in sewing activity is the creative part, what I meant is the embroidery process, making the applique, or drawing and painting the image.  I know it really consumes the time but I love the process, feeling so original ;) ummm it's better to say more innovative.  Well, as you know, nowadays with the Internet access that connect you to any source of idea you want, you cannot say you're original, am I right?

Well, let's stop the blah blah blah part :D  I fall in love with embroidery hoop wall hanging!  Not sure of course who has that idea for the very first time, but I saw it for the first time on etsy.com.  Then, there's my dear friend's birthday, was thinking to make three of them as her birthday gift.  She's a fabric and sewing lover, and she loves handmade stuffs, so I thought that wall hanging will be the perfect gifts for her.  One more, she loves that Sunbonnet Sue images, so I chose some images of Sunbonnet Sue Redwork Collection, and Sue is sewing!

 After so many trial and error with the fabric, I ended up making four hanging wall, for feeling guilty for the late birthday gift :( ... I can only blame myself for my ugly time management :(   But, after all, I've made it and it's ready to be sent away, and really hope she will like them, hang them at her sewing room and they might give her more inspiration in sewing! Here's the close up of my work :)

Look! Sue is sewing :)

Sue is embroidering!

Finally, she is fitting the dress :)

The spirit of sewing ;) *no alcohol please!

Another embroidery project is on it's way ;)  Have a creative day!

Mom and Daughters Apron Set

A dear friend really wanted to have matching apron set with her two daughters :)  As a cooking lover, her two daughters that seem to enjoy helping their mom cooking and baking, having matching apron is such a great idea.  She said she wanted to have one with "mama" written on the apron and of course name on her daughters'.  She chose to have yellow color this time. 

I am playing with rickrack border this time, it's a gift from dear friend who also loves to sew.  An ice cream applique for Cindy and a burger one for Fanny.  For Mama, I did chain stitch to make the embroidery of dough roller, a whisk, and hat chef, with a note written,"#1 Chef" on the hat.

See you at my next project!

Scrappy Giveaway!

Look at the fabric scraps, Sarah's going to share that with you...visit her blog and give your comments, if you're lucky you will get those colorful fabric scraps :)  But, for sure, I hope I am the lucky one...

First tote bag and crayon roll

I prefer to make and sew something related to children's stuffs.  This time I made a tote bag and a crayon roll for Amanda, as my gift for her fourth birthday party.  Another reason of making this gift is because my friend has ordered the apron as her gift for Amanda :) so I have to find what another handmade to give.  The idea of making it I got from a famous online handmade shop.  I decided to choose blue and yellow since I was a little bit bored with pink color :D  Too many pink fabric I played around for the aprons set.  I was feeling like, enough is enough :D

I really love this bag and crayon roll set, it really is a perfect gift for a little girl.  Amanda loves drawing and she always joins her mom visiting her friends.  I imagined, she can carry her drawing book, the crayon roll, a story book, and one activity book along and enjoy her time while she has to wait for her mom having her tea time with her fellow ladies :)

Check out the picture, I really like the name tag I put there :) instead of embroidered it on the bag ;)

Apron for Amanda :)

More and more apron to sew...
This time is for Amanda....dear Vera, mom of Fany and Cindy wanted to give an apron set for Amanda as her fourth birthday gift.  So...smurf smurf smurf...I decided to make different style of apron for her with apple as the applique.  I think it's Fuji Apple, my favorite, not that sandy, with a sweet and little bit sour taste heheheh...Here it is...one apple is still round and yummy, another one is has been cut showing its tiny black seeds.  I think Vera is happy with the result and Amanda's mom said that she's hidden it from her daughter just to keep it from dirt :D ... well well...it's an apron Sista, so in the end it will be dirty because it's its job to do so :)

Bunting Flag for Baby Willy

Yep...finally I made a bunting flag...really love this stuff, I am thinking it will be beautiful to hang it at your baby's room's wall above the crib...was so excited to make it when a friend of mine, Vera, said her baby's nickname is WILLY...cute name for a handsome baby boy :)  So, I sewn that bunting flag to welcome the newborn Willy.  To make it easy, I use felt fabric for applique.  I think a car and a plane represent boy's character.  Really hope Willy's mommy will like it :)

Another Apron :)

This time the apron is for Farah...a cute daughter of my new friend.  From what I know, I've never met Farah, her father is an Italian chef working for a five star hotel here in Mumbai.  Her mother interested with the aprons I made for Tifanny and Cindy.  Well, Farah loves pink like other little princesses :) and she likes strawberry. 

By mistake, I didn't sew the strawberry applique right at the center of the pocket, and it was too tricky if I have to open and redo the stitching.  So, I decided to make a mitten and a potholder as an alternative.  I learned how to make the oven mitten from this blog, visit her site to get a clear and detail explanation :)  Now I have to make also the potholder pairs for Tifanny and Cindy :D ... Check them out :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year! Yep it's late to post it here...but in reality this time I really joined my Chinese descendants friend who are living here in Mumbai, India, celebrating their New Year...it's rabbit year, hope all are blessed and have a prosperous year ahead, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Fany & Cindy in aprons set

Here's the pics of Fany and Cindy in aprons and chef hat.  I've put the pics of apron only on the previous post.  After asked permission from Vera, their mom, now I upload their pics in my blog.  Vera said they were so happy with the apron and couldn't wait to wear it.  At the first day, they took the flour and started to make a dough, mommy of course couldn't say no :)
Then, Fany wanted to make pizza on the next day.  I am so happy that they love to wear it.  It seems they're going to be Vera's kitchen's next masterchefs ;)

Goodbye 2010, Hi 2011!

Well....this time I keep my fingers crossed to do the list above and some more that I cannot share here for 2011 resolutions.  I've started doing the above list since last November...let's see how this 2011 will end :)
I am feeling my 2010 ended up nice and taught me some lessons about life :)  Feeling grateful for the past and ready to embrace the new experiences ahead!