No cut, no hassle Pool Towel

My 10yo girl prefers to use her pool towel than the usual wrap ones after bath. Especially now that it is colder, it is easier to just get into one of these than the hassle of wrapping yourself.. 

*It is surprising that when I Google pool towel, none of the links were anywhere close to resembling the pic above.. apparently it's only in Japan (most likely) kids pool towel looks like the one I'm talking about. More pics on Amazon.co.jp

It is a quick and easy project, something that you can get done in under half an hour. 

Things you'll need: 

Towel - I got mine from the AS IS bin in IKEA many years back. It is SOMMAR (75cm x 150cm)

Wide elastic band - Mine was about 75cm

Of course the usual notions of thread, scissors and sewing machine 

1. Remove the tag 

2. Fold the towel in half

3. Sew straight down

4. Press the seam open and sew straight or zig zag stitches so that it will lay flat and not irritate your child's skin   

5. Wrap your elastic band (sew the ends to create a loop) around the top opening and slowly sew 

*It will start to gather half way through, with the presser foot and needle down, pull and adjust the towel and sew till the end.  

And you are done. 

These towels are sold in shops here in Japan, you can find a lot of them in summer, and not so much in the other seasons. Price ranges from RM40 - RM120 depending on size and brand

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Things she makes...

1. Pop up card - inspired by Oh Happy Day. 

I love how she did not try to imitate what she saw, but rather create something totally original *heart* 

2. Embroidery projects - she has this thing with hand stitching - she LOVES it!!! I've tried to persuade her to try the machine, but I guess she can sense my evil plot to manipulate and use her as child labour on my production line.. uhuhuhu and she is steering clear (for now).. hehehhe   

3. Felt - These were earlier projects she made, she would browse through my craft books looking for ideas and work by herself with minimum help or suggestions from me.. 

I wished I have more time to sit and craft with her.. but for now, we enjoy crafting alongside each other. 

What type of activities do you enjoy with your little ones..?  

my almost 10yo baby - they do grow up too fast *CRY*

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Sofea and felt

Sofea made a set of felt brooches during the weekend. Her first attempt was the strawberry and red mushroom on the top right. 

I noticed that she got confused at first on how to break down the pattern after tracing in onto a paper i.e strawberry body on one paper template and the leaf on another. But she quickly got the hang of it and managed to draw separate templates for the mushroom. 

Her favourite part was matching the different coloured felts (definitely my fav part too *grin*). 

After the success of the first two, she decided she needed 2 more mushrooms brooches, and this time she did almost everything by herself (even sewing the pin at the back of the brooch). 

She got a bit more creative with the colour mixing - baby blue mushroom, and experiemnting with shapes - heart for the red mushroom. 

We used the pattern from this book for her project. It is still available in the shoppe. 

Her first felt craft project.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend too..Pin It

Felt craft

Some felt books arrived recently for the shoppe.
Japanese craft books as you all must be aware by now contains beautiful and colourful pictures and self-explanatory illustrations and diagrams.
Sofea got hook on felting right away and was determined to give it a try. We got some felts from the 100yen shop and she made a simple bookmark out of it. She was very happy and proud of her achievement and I was just simply contented to have a company while I sew *grin*

Have you tried felt craft before..?Pin It

I'm seeing double..

 I'm seeing double... of quilts actually...

My friend commissioned not one but two single sized quilts for her boys. Her instruction was clear, they must be IDENTICAL in every way possible except for their names embroidery. 

This got me sweating.. for few reasons:

1. I always just work with one big quilt at a time, mainly due to SPACE problem 

2. Any attempt to reproduce will never be exactly the same as the first production simply because I detest the idea, to me every item should be unique and special (plus I get bored easily and tend to make alteration and adjustment or use different fabric, etc) *sigh*

But as you can see I did complete the project and they do look identical as far as handmade products are concerned.. 

How did I overcome my concerns..? 

1.SPACE problem, I simply put aside everything else and focussed on the quilts, plus I took over the living room as well.. *grin*

2. I decided to work on both quilt simultaneously, thus avoiding changes and alterations while working on the latter. So each step was repeated twice - cutting and sewing borders x 2, name embroidery x 2, batting, backing and basting x 2, quilting x 2 and finally binding x 2

You might remember the truck fabric from here and here.

The quilt measures about 140cm x 210cm each.

I used light-brown polka-dot fabric for the binding.

What have you been up to lately..?Pin It

Autumn Collage

We had a rather uneventful and quiet weekend. However, we did go out for evening walks where Sofea got to gather some colourful leaves for her collage. It's a simple activity you can do with your little ones and it keep them occupied for several hours. 

You can make the activity simple for younger kids by asking them to paste the leaves according to colours etc. For older kids you can make the activity more elaborate like ask them to picture the leaves as something else i.e butterfly, tree, etc. It is better if you make your own collage as well alongside your kids, as it keeps them motivated. 

 It is not cold in the apt. but she insists  on wearing her Kitty snow cap indoors
*sigh*

Sofea's completed collage

How was your weekend? 

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Purse for the girls

There have been not much sewing lately, which kind of makes me cranky *grrrrrr* I have been packing and can't put off packing my fabric and notions any longer. So my sewing studio looks rather depressing at the moment. I have placed my sewing machine in the middle of the living room and so there is where I am most of the time nowadays. 

Coming back to sewing, I made these purses which I named ISLA bag recently for a friend's lil darlings.

Hope you all are having a productive week..

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Gifts from the heart

Since her rather successful first attempt at making this heart (read about her handmade heart here), my girl wanted to make more as gifts for her teachers and I was more than happy to assist her along the way.

We were heading to the immigration office for some official matters which is about 2 hours away, so I thought that was the perfect travelling time we needed to whip up 3 more hearts. I made all the preparation before the journey and got to use my travel sewing case for the first time (read about my sewing case here and find the tutorial here)

  

Heart 1 - for her class teacher

Heart 2 - for her piano teacher

Heart 3 - for her kumon teacher

I'm happy to report that we managed to complete sewing and stuffing 3 hearts by the end of our journey though not without fuss *sigh*  

What do you pack on long journeys..?? Are you able to read, sew, knit while travelling? 

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Quilted Alphabet Cards

I had a full set of uppercase alphabet fabric from Deb Strain - Love U (in green)  laying around, remnants from making crib bumper for my sister's baby (read about the quilt and crib bumper I made for her, here). I originally wanted to make an alphabet book (read more about projects I want to make, here), but then decided to make them loose individual pieces, as I figured there are many more exciting hands-on activities one can accomplish as compared to a binded book.  

Features of the Quilted Alphabet Cards:

a) 24 individual cards except for W&X and Y&Z

b) machine washable

c) comes in drawstring bag

I used Robert Kaufman's forest fun (see clearer pic here) for the drawstring bag

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!Pin It

My heart belongs to you

My almost 8 year old girl likes to mooch around in my sewing studio. She likes looking at all the ribbons and array of fabric. She especially loves it when I allow her to make something out of scrap fabrics. Last weekend she made this - a heart charm which she hangs on her school bag. I did help here and there but I give full credit to her.

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A video post

It's cold and windy outside, and I'm too lazy to move from this comfy spot, so I thought I'd share a video of my girl Ice skating

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Hello Kitty and Doraemon and other cute fabric

I have been on a cleaning-organising mode of late..mind you only of my small sewing studion that is.. *sigh* And I stumbled upon these - Hello Kitty and Doraemon fabric. They are of medium weight cotton and would make a lovely tote or backpack or bento bag for the lil ones..

Will update once I've made something out of either fabric..

In the meantime, I got this blue truck, and red girly fabric in Nippori textile town recently. The material is soft and the print so vibrant.. What should I make.. Any suggestions?

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For the tiny person

Here are among the things that I've made for my girl.

My first - experimenting with sewing on papers

covered hair clips, hair bands with covered buttons and head band

school stuff - school bag covers, bento bags, and gym clothes bags

This has to be my favourite - a pocket tissue holder with a handmade strawberry charm found here

You are the trip I did not take

You are the pearls I cannot buy

You are my blue Italian lake

You are my piece of foreign sky

Anne Campbell - verse dedicated to a daughter

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