Denim Gingham

Do you Indigo Denim take Red and White Gingham as your lining? Ok, this sounded a lot better in my head.

This is my latest bag. It is made of denim and for the lining I used red and white gingham. I wonder if anyone has noticed? I like to match red and white gingham with blue. The huge applique is also in the same gingham and I handstitched it using blue embroidery floss. I chose blanket stitch because it's such a fabulous stitch. Anyone notice that I like huge applique?

I'm still sewing too slowly for my liking. I've seriously run out of excuses. I have 12 more sewing days before the next MAAD. Plus I have a custom order which I already made in my head but I haven't actually cut the fabric yet. Wendy, I'm on it!

I'm blaming Chinese New Year this time. As some of you may know, Chinese New Year falls on Valentine's Day this year. It will also be the Year of the Tiger. What does this mean? To some Chinese, it could mean no babies. (I forget why) To me, I'm just thinking of how to applique a tiger onto my bag. So the family has been spending a lot of time shopping for new clothing.

If you're not Chinese or have never eaten Chinese food, let me tell you a little about Chinese New Year. First the color Red is hot. We wear New clothing preferably with Red on it and we give Red packets containing money to children. 2nd, Mandarin oranges are hot. When you visit your relatives, you have to take 4 Mandarin oranges as gifts. (we usually forget) When you leave, your relatives give these oranges back to you. One year, my husband figured that we only need to buy 4 Mandarin oranges as you get them back when you leave, right? Wrong. Some people we visited forgot to return the oranges to us! 3rd, the color black is out.

So the family had been shopping and the shopping centres are filled with redddddddddddddd stuff. The Chinese tend to overdo it. Everything is red. Clothes, ornaments, you name it.  Unfortunately the color Red is not kind to me. The reason being my skin is reddish. Not the cute reddish hue on little kids when they play in the sun. Mine is more on the 'What happened to you?' kind of red.

My skin turns red when I:
- eat something hot
- bend over
- shower
- exercise
- walk
- laugh
- sneeze

Which is why it took me so long to do my shopping for new clothes. Did I mention I look good in black? My husband is the family stylist. He helps us choose the right cut, color, style and fit. He's very particular about fit.

When Uniqlo first opened in S'pore, it sold T-shirts at $5 each. I bought 1 for myself. I chose a larger fit because I was too lazy to look for the right size. Also it was very crowded. Anyhoo, it was for home wear so it didn't matter so much. But my husband was really disturbed that it was too large for me. Everytime, he sees me in it, he would say, it's too large for you.

But I stopped wearing my Uniqlo T-shirt because I couldn't find it anywhere. One day, my husband was getting ready for work. It suddenly occurred to me that he was wearing my Uniqlo T-shirt. Which reminds me. Let me just shout this out to my husband, "Return my pink Uniqlo T-shirt to me please!"

I really should get back to my sewing. Before I do so, here are a couple more pics of my latest bag. My girl modelled for me. I had to buy her an ice-cream.