My first attempt at quilting. Really simple whole cloth with flannel front/back and cotton batting. I was inspired by the wide borders on Pottery Barn Kid’s ABC baby quilt, and decided to bind the quilt by simply wrapping the quilt back to the front and covering the seam with ric rac trim. I don’t have a walking foot yet and not brave enough to try free motion, so I used a random herringbone pattern for the quilting stitch.

I found quilting surprisingly satisfying and will definitely continue to explore in the future. Already ordered a few charm packs – so excited! Of course with baby coming any time now I might not be doing any sewing for a while

A few other things I made also in the photos here – a pink polka dot lining for the carry cot and a fleece security blanket with fun ribbon tags.

Killing time while waiting for for baby to arrive

Heart motifs are cut from flannel scraps and machine stitched. Muslin squares made from super soft cotton gauze found in Walthamstow market.

Every new baby needs a teddy bear. When I saw Laura Long’s Knitted Toy Tales in a library I knew my baby will have a knitted teddy as her first. The pattern is a joy to work with and surprisingly quick to knit. The sewing up and stuffing took a bit of experimenting since it’s my first time making stuffed anything. My favorite part was adding the vintage cotton print patches to the ears and paws.

Tomorrow is baby’s due date and Mr Teddy is waiting for her arrival!

It’s been a wonderful 9 months as mom-to-be. We’ve done so much during this time traveling and preparing for our first baby. Before even born, baby has been on 8 flights to 4 countries and 5 cities! Now that I’m near the end of my pregnancy and grounded, finally I can sit down and post some photos of the baby things I’ve been making…

This knit jacket is the first thing I made, before we found out it’s a little girl – thus the yellow color. The yarn is Peter Pan Velvet Touch in yellow velvet, a very soft chenille ribbon yarn that almost feels like fleece. I used the pattern “Shawl collared jacket” from Debbie Bliss’s Baby Knits for Beginners. My yarn knits wider than the pattern’s gauge so I had to adjust the pattern accordingly to preserve proportion. This became a bit tricky with the shawl collar especially since it’s my first try at short rows. After some experimenting and luckily not much re-work it all worked out in the end. I enjoyed knitting again after a few years break since the last project. There’s something special about working with soft yarn while thinking of the tiny baby in my tummy =)

9 months went by so fast and autumn is here already. Being pregnant with a terraced garden means our main produce this year is weed

But God’s creation doesn’t stop to amaze us – some of the flowers did wonderfully on their own.

Update: Alas, I didn’t win the sewing machine but did make the top 3 =) Thank you all for your support! Can’t wait to post photos of our baby girl in the dress.

—————-

Yeah I made it to the 10 finalists of the Burda contest! Please support me and VOTE HERE. Thank you! The first prize is a new a sewing machine, which I will be over the moon to have since my good old second hand Necchi is having bobbin thread issues lately. Would love to have new machine to make things for my baby girl on!

We are expecting our baby girl in 5 weeks’ time! I made a mother/baby dress set as part of the Burda Summer Sewing Challenge.

For the mother dress I wanted the back to be the visual focus with the full lace panel (my bump already gets enough attention!). I used the Burda June 2010 chiffon maxi dress pattern and adjusted the back pattern to fit the lace panel. I also eliminated the back seam and darts to accommodate my non-existent waist line The front tucks on the original pattern are perfectly placed for a maternity dress and grows with my belly. It not only works as a maternity dress but also looks great afterwards as a regular summer dress.

For the baby dress I drafted the pattern with the same round neckline and front tucks. For a finishing touch both the mother and baby dresses have the same tiny lace trim in the front.

The fabric is a silk/cotton mix chiffon with some body. I got it in Tokyo at the Okadaya Shinjuku store a few years ago and had been keeping it for the perfect maxi dress project. The gorgeous cotton lace panel was found on Etsy after hours of searching for the right shape and pattern.

I love how both outfits turned out. I can’t wait to wear them together with my baby girl next summer!

I found a pair of Diesel jeans in charity shop that fits my new pregnancy bottom size and it’s got a lovely herringbone texture which I love. I took off the front half of the waist band and sewed on a maternity panel cut from an old t-shirt. Perfect-fitting maternity jeans for a few quid

After some browsing for maternity sewing patterns I found this site with wonderful collection of tutorials. I especially love the ones with upcycled men’s shirts. Promptly I cut up an old shirt and made my own – probably one of the quickest projects I’ve done so far!

I followed this tutorial http://diymaternity.com/tops/button-up-babydoll-maternity-top/for the babydoll gathering, and this tutorial for changing the sleeves and collars. I also added darts under the bust for better fit.

The photos are taken in Prague on the rooftop of the hotel we stayed at, with the 5 month bump

I got the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook as a Christmas present last year and had my eyes on the blouse and the coat especially.

Inspired by the variations from other members on each project, I decided to try two new things I haven’t done before: chiffon and pintucks (front, center-back and on the sleeve cuffs)

I made a few changes to the original pattern:
- fusing the princess seams so I can have the front panel entirely for pintucks
- fusing the front and back yoke pieces into one large piece
- having the tie waist go all around instead of putting elastic in the back

The end result is very flattering and truly mine so I’m very happy. I wore it on our recent vacation to Lisbon, Portugal and love the photos. Btw if I look a bit chubby it’s not the blouse’s fault – I’m 4 months pregnant and this blouse actually works well as an early maternity shirt

I love wrap dresses. I can’t have enough of them. Everytime I see a lovely jersey print I want to have it as a wrap dress.

So it’s no surprise that Vogue 8379 is one of the first sewing patterns I purchased. Then one day I found this super soft cotton jersey with tiny polka dots at Saeed’s Fabric in Walthamstow. Perfect match.

I found myself packing this dress again and again for travels. It’s so light and comfortable you can sleep in it

I’ve been working on this blog for a while but have been shy to share it outside the family. When I saw Julia Bobbin’s Mad Men sewing challenge though I knew I had to join.

So here’s the result – inspired by Betty Draper’s coffee date dress in Season 3. There’s something about the original scene’s lighting that completes the dress. I tried to capture the overall feel of the outfit with a more subtle color palette to suit my style.

The pattern is based on Vogue 8511. Fabric is a linen mix purchased 2 years ago from Shibuya Marunan while I was living in Tokyo. The dress is fully lined with cotton.

For a fitted style, the dress is surprisingly comfortable to wear, thanks to the pleats in the skirt.

One of the best things that happened to me in life is learning to read Japanese. The Japanese have a talent of writing meticulous instructions whatever the topic is: travel guides, cooking recipes, etc. In this case I want to say Thank You to Japanese sewing and crafts books.

On a recently trip to Tokyo to visit friends I finally picked up a sewing book I’ve been thinking for a while but was too timid to try – The Book of Men’s Shirts by Shimazaki Ryuichiro. What makes this book a treasure is – 1. Every single shirt is something I would love to have my husband wear. 2. The instructions are painstaking and there’s no guesswork even for someone new to menswear.

My husband went on a week long mission trip to Ukraine last December and I dedicated the week alone at home to “project secret” – a shirt as his Christmas present. We picked the fabric together during a trip to Shanghai at the huge textile market there. It’s a lovely blue-purple-white striped cotton shirting.

I used the pattern No. 4 – Semi widespread collar shirt, with a small variation on the sleeve to replace the gathers with more traditional pleats. I chose smaller than usual 9mm chunky 4-hole buttons with pink button holes for a little character.

Size medium fits my hubby like a dream but these patterns do run much smaller than standard US/European sizes so make sure you read the measurements first.

Needless to say hubby was happy and proud. I’m secretly smiling every time he picks it out of the closet in the morning, which is quite often. Now the problem is he wants more

Justin grew up on his parents’ Christmas tree farm and always talks about his mom making wreaths. I gave it a try this year using the leftover branches from cutting our own Christmas tree.

I wanted something simple and classic, and kept the decoration simple – just some leaves with bright yellow color from our garden. The wreath ring is made from magazine pages, and turned out surprisingly sturdy.

Our first Christmas tree together! See how we got him =)

After sewing for a year and actually making my own wedding dress, I finally was brave enough to try my first set-in sleeves. I picked an easy pattern BurdaStyle 2010-10-118 to experiment and succeeded without too much fuss.

The pattern is a bit on the loose side in the waist so I would recommend adding some darts if you want a more fitted style.

My first try at making a shirt. It was before I was brave enough to set in sleeves so I picked a Burda pattern with dropped shoulder. I made it one size larger than my usual, and quite like the loose fit.

Years ago when I was visited Vietnam I got some silk wrap pants and loved them. Since then I kept an eye on unique Asian looking fabric to make a pair myself. This cloud and dragon print was on sale at Marunan in Shibuya, Tokyo, probably because they are not your typical home sewing pattern. But they turned out perfect for my wrap pants. I probably wouldn’t wear them to Tesco though…

After roasting lamb legs and shoulders a few times, I was tempted by Jamie Oliver’s pot roast version. Made it last night and it turned out the best lamb we’ve had!

I used dried rosemary instead of fresh, and substituted the bottle of wine with lamb stock and some red grape juice. Before it went in the oven:

After 4 hours… heavenly =)

Oh the joy of free patterns This is the first my Burda project, done in 2010 shortly after Justin and I got married.

It’s called the Marie Skirt, arguably the most popular patten on BurdaStyle website. I love the slight bubble shape and the pleats both front and back.

The fabric is a slightly stretchy cotton mix with black and white tartan patten. I got less than a meter of it in a remnant bin in New York long time ago, and used up every last bit of it for this skirt. Total cost including the zipper less than $1

My very first sewing project other than hemming pants.

Made in 2009 while I was living in Tokyo and had a few Chinese dresses (qipao) custom made in Shanghai. One day on a whim I decided to make my own. The pattern is from a Japanese sewing book, エレガントにチャイナ服 by 月居良子. The instructions are so very good they became my first sewing lesson. The front panels and high collar of a Chinese dress is not your typical beginner’s techniques so I’m very grateful for the author’s painstaking details in her book (in fact, all her books).

The fabric is light purple cotton with watermark print. It has a slight one-way stretch that works well for the tight fitting style. Since it was my very first garment a lot of things were make-do. I didn’t have purple colored thread, so white lace trimming was used to disguise some seam stitches.

The pattern has a looser fit than ideal but nonetheless a great basic pattern to start with. After a few fittings the dress fits like a glove =)