Umbrella Dress

I've told you that I went home to Indonesia for two months and I spent several days of the first month to join the sewing class ;)

Not much time, no sewing machine, so much things I wanted  to learn, so I ended up learning to make dress pattern for myself and one for a little girl.  I learned how to measure the body, draw the pattern, cut the fabric, and what I needed the most is how to make the collar.  For sure, I still wanted more but not enough time.  The teacher was so nice, she's very practical and efficient in teaching.  She said that whenever I come home to Surabaya, I can join the class again so I can learn more "_"

So for this umbrella dress, I drew the pattern and cut the fabric there in Surabaya and did the rest here in Mumbai.  I made this for my niece, Tiza, she's now five years old, I really hope it will fit her :)

Lessons I've learned from this project are:

1. If I am about to give the dress in the future, I have to make the pattern in a bigger size
2. I have to really plan what kind of dress I want and not changing the design in between, since I bought limited width of plain green fabric.  So I couldn't trick the length of the frock :( and ended up with put bias for the frock bottom edge
3. Buy the buttons, coordinate thread, or any accessories at the same time I buy the fabric - if you see the snap, there's no single button attached there :(
4. Create a time!  I just finished this dress today afternoon, can you believe that?

Enough now with my story, here's the dress :)

Oh yeaah, this is my second umbrella dress, the first one was red color that's also for Tiza but without collar :)  For sure, I still have to practice more on little girl's dress.  So....

Keep on practicing!

My first serious quilt :)

I've joined The India Modern Quilt Guild and our first task, the January Challenge is to make a quilt with warm solid colors.  This is my first serious and full of awareness quilt, why I said so? Because I've made several patchwork quilt for my sewing machine cover, a ball or quilt bag, but so far I even didn't know that what I've made is a quilt.  So this time, I prepared and did all the details in making this table runner with full consciousness that it's a quilt :D

I talked to Phiphi and discussed about it so I won't make a mistake in understanding the definition of quilt and it ended up with her sharing a link where I found the tutorial for this table runner.  It's a Greek Square Table Runner with finished size 70-1/2"x25-1/2", too big for me as a newbie but I really enjoyed the process.  For sure, still unable to make so precise with the block, where I have to sew the triangle, but no way that I was about to give up.  I handquilted the blocks and the borders with embroidery floss.  For the backing, since I forgot to buy a plain brown color (see...a real newbie right?) and after the chit chat with Phiphi, I cut 9"x25" of each color and made the backing out of them.  I think it now looks like a reversible table runner :D well, why not?

Am I addicted to it? I guess so...Do I want more? Absolutely...see you on my next posting ;) Happy Crafting girls!

A Wall-Art to open 2012

Not to late to start blogging again right? Yes, I was out of Mumbai for 2 months, to visit my home country, Indonesia, then there were Christmas and New Year, following with another trip to my husband's hometown in Kerala.  So, it's clear enough to explain why I didn't updating my blog :(

But, I was still doing some small projects in between.  I also joined a sewing class for a month in Surabaya, where my parents are staying in Indonesia.  I was so excited but since I don't have my own sewing machine there :( I just able to learn how to make dress pattern.  I will post the snaps of what I've learned there soon.

Now, let me show you what I've made for my hubby's best friend's little daughter :)  Her name is Alexis, and they call her Lexi.  She's 6 months old, so cute, and cheerful baby.  I made a wall-art for her.  Her mother is an American and father is Indian and they are staying there in Oklahoma.  They came for a month to Kerala to visit Lexi's grandma.  So we flew from Mumbai to Thrissure to meet them.  I bought a cute purple dress for the little Lexi and as an additional gift, I made a wall-art for her.

Yes, it's an elephant, my favorite animal, I chose elephant because it might represent India, an elephant country :)   I drew the elephant which was about to be carried away by four balloons.  There are four balloons with L-E-X-I spelling on each of it.  Her parents said that the wall-art will be great on her nursery room, really hope they'll like it :)

I got a little problem with the binding, it's not so perfect,  so little time to finish the project, hope it's forgiven :(