Madokko

Owl cushion

Slowly and unsteadily I’ve started to make my portfolio. I am thinking of adding a small craft section this time so first need to take pretty pictures:) This is an owl cushion I made a few years back. It is supposed to sit on a sofa though, too heavy for the poor branch XD

Super loose top

Oh my.. how could I go so wrong with the size.. I realized that I should have chosen size 9 or even 7 instead of 11.. I’m usually size M in Japan, never really size S, and didn’t even consider a bit that I could actually make the smallest size in the book. ..well, I may have stayed away from Japan too long!

So, the problem was that I realised it too late to modify some parts like neck and sholder areas.. so I went on with the neck too wide open, and also the body too loose.. Actually it totally looked like a Japanese kappou-gi our grand mothers would wear.. and that made me feel kind of sad. After all the efforts, what’s the use to make something you don’t even want to wear? ..With some comfort tea at hand, the solutions I came up with are, putting rubber band at the bottom hem, and adding straps at the shoulders.

..Do you think it worked? I think it did, it looks more of my style at least and I should be happy about it. OK, I will wear it :)

Sewing desperately

I remember I said the next project would be definitely a hat to cover my too short hair. But there will be some time until my yarn arrive from Japan. ..Till then I need to make something to get my mind around. My minds have to be kept busy, in a positive and productive way:D

So here comes a supposed to be quick project. I will follow this Japanese book this time, コーディネート自在のワンピース+α—大人のクチュール STYLISH DRESS BOOK (gosh, that’s long..). Aw it has lots of patterns I want to try and this one is going to be the first. I chose to make size 11, whatever that is, there are four sizes and it is the 2nd one from the largest. I’m size S or even smaller in the US size, but am guessing this is the right one for me in this book. Fingers crossed! Cos I’d cry if I ruin lovely Anna Maria Horner fabric!

My new night look!

Yay, the pajama top has been finished and I’ve completed the night look renewal project :D

To be honest, this project was not as easy as I thought. Firstly, I am kind of new to sewing and secondly, the book I followed, ‘Weekend Sewing’ by Heather Ross was not as clearly written as I expected.. Anyways, I like challenges so I tackle with the problems and figured out how to. But I would not recommend it to you if you just want to simply follow the instructions and make something that perfectly fits you.

I will list some modifications I made to the top:
- The neck area was too tight so I made it wider and lower.
- The sleeves were too long, so I added some print fabric at the wrong sides and folded them
- The blouse was kind of short for me already before hemmed, so I made hem width narrower than instructed.
- I thought I would never use the button if I put it at the neck line, so change the position to where I want the placket to open.

This is a pajama top for me so that’s fine but if it were to be a summer blouse, I would find it too loose and wide for my taste.
So I would also:
- make the body line and sleeves tighter
- make the body longer

After all, I love the outcome and will be proudly wearing it from tonight:D
A Helpful tip for those who want to get a hand on it will be to check other people’s blogs about it before cutting pieces from your precious fabric:p People are talking about how many mistakes are in the book and they creatively make their own modifications.

Lastly, here is some additional instructions about sewing sleeves I found very helpful.

Good luck:)

Take your time: Olafur Eliasson Exhibition

I went to this Take your time: Olafur Eliasson exhibition at MCA taking a long lunch break. It was definitely worth taking a look even though I went alone in a hurry. Studio Olafur Eliasson explore lights, shape and colors using various objects, and create beautiful space. I wish I could describe it well with my limited vocabulary but well, I won’t try. The exhibition is on until 11th April, so if you are in Sydney, give it a look!

The photo was taken in one of the rooms filled with yellow lights. (Not supposed to, but should be alright.. it’s just the brochure and my hand) It was really cool, people looked totally gray in that room, as in yellow filtered photos. Was a little scary as well because wrinckles and spots looked more visible actually. ..Maybe it turned out to be a good idea to have been there alone :p

I desperately need hats!

I know, I haven’t even finished the pajama project, but my eyes have been itchy for a new project already. It’s strange that when you have things you really have to do, like looking for a job, you become more productive. .. well, is that only me avoiding facing the reality? :p

Anyways, the next project is definitely going to be a knit hat project. .. I desperately need many hats because I’ve got to cover up the too short hair I got a few days ago. My hair was long but my brother’s gf made it very short.. yes against my expectation..

Well, what can I do now, my hair will grow back anyway so meantime, I shall enjoy exploring and trying on variety of hats! Like in Japanese saying, I’m a kind who doesn’t fall over for nothing :)

Here is the book I think is the best about knitting. That is a Japanese book, Knit Work by Hikaru Noguchi. It has really cool scarf patterns and I’ve already a couple of them last winter. I have a few more I want to make, so this hat is going to be the first one in this season. I’d better start soon, I can smell of winter coming very soon.

Half way to new night look :)

Yay, my pajama bottom is completed! .. well, my plan was to finish both the top and the bottom by the end of the long Easter weekend but I’m still working on the top. The thing is that once you get some nice fabric, you want to do your best and start tweaking the pattern.. I actually spent a lot more time on the bottom than expected, but I’m pretty happy with the pockets I added to it :D

Wall decoration bit by bit

I’ve been lucky with picking some nice stuff on streets lately. I found this pretty branch near my new place, and used it as an accessory hanger for a while. Which was good. ..But even better, I came across with a bunch of pretty glass tiles in a waste bin just across my office. Looked like some architecture office had closed down. So I collected them and came up with an idea that I could do a bit of decoration on my wall :D 

Since then, I’ve been filling the wall bit by bit using some extra time before going to bed. It takes time because I have to remove some nasty glue attached at the back of the tiles by a cutter knife. I don’t know where this is going at the moment, I’m just filling the empty space up to my mood of the night. It’s just an extra project I enjoy with a bottle of beer at hand:)

Sloow weekend sewing

This pajamas bottom project is supposed to be completed in a day. But all I did today was just cutting out pieces XD
.. I felt I was soo slow.

This time I am following an English sewing book ( ‘Weekend Sewing’ by Heather Ross ) for the first time as I usually use Japanese books. And I noticed that the way how they are written are very different. Usually in Japanese books, they don’t include seam allowance in the pattern. So you need to add some before cutting it out according to diagrams. But in English books, seam allowance is already included so you can cut out pieces exactly as the pattern’s shape. I guess it saves lots of time, but all this was new to me and had to spend some time to figure it out. Like, there are so much to read in the book with loads of terms I don’t know.. I muuch prefer diagram based instructions with minimum amount of texts like Japanese ones. I am, after all, a visual person;) ( Just being lazy.. )

Well, this project is not going to be as easy as I thought!