The Obama Connection

Last week I gave myself a 2-day break from sewing. Somehow, the 2-day turned into an entire week. Try as I did, I could not sew anything. I had sewer's block! I tried looking at my Flickr photostream but nothing. I tried flipping through some craft books for inspiration but nothing. I stood in my fabric storeroom but nothing. I started to panic. What if this was it? I even started deep breathing exercises and desperately tried the "Imagery" exercise. It was futile. I felt hopeless.

Then Obama swept into Singapore. I did not have a chance to run into him. Oh yes. How do I get past the zillion security officers? But the thought of him being in Singapore was exciting enough. I don't know why. I'm not related to him. I don't hail from Indonesia or Hawaii or Japan Obama town. (Hurhur) Maybe it's that big ol' smile of his. It's so infectious. It gave me hope. To give myself a break from sewer's block, I went shopping with my family. It was the Saturday Obama landed in Singapore. We caught the tailend of a road closure. It was so exciting. Was it Obama the Traffic Police closed the road for? We decided it was.

There were many extremely attractive police officers around Orchard and Suntec. Them with the broad shoulders and steely looks and dark uniform. I felt so safe.

The following day I saw a photo of the leaders dressed up in the Singapore Apec leaders formal attire. I laughed until I cried. The "attire" was so ugly. And they made Obama wear it! Good thing he is tall and lean and able to carry the attire. The short stout ones would have some trouble....

After wiping the tears from my eyes, I started thinking about the ugly attire I had made in my previous life. Once upon a time, my primary school friend suggested I attend a dressmaking course with her. I was either very lonely or very bored because I agreed. I expected to be given a template and just sew. But I had this really old-school teacher and she insisted I draft my own pattern. It took me ages to do the drafting for my first skirt. The teacher did most of the work because I was really bad. Finally I got to transfer the pattern to fabric and sew. I think it took me 1 whole month. The result? A big ol' black skirt which didn't fit very well.

So I made a bag of that big ol' black skirt I sewed so long ago.

The fabric I used is Lecien linen/cotton. It is fabulous. I love the texture of linen/cotton. Have you heard of Lecien? It is a Japanese brand of fabric. It is also very expensive. Anyway, my sewer's block is gone. I'm back!
The bag is now available at Etsy and projectsbyjane.com

And if you must know, I never ran into my primary school classmate at the dressmaking "institute". It seems we went at different hours.