July MAAD 2010

Yes, it's time again for MAAD. I'll be selling my bags at red dot design museum this weekend. If you are in Singapore, please drop by and have a look.

Here's July MAAD program:
 
One,two,three,four! It's MAAD 4th birthday!

☀Bake-A-Treat for MAAD birthday!

Calling all bakers! Bring your best treat to MAAD this Saturday!
A baking competition for you to show off and win prizes co-sponsored by BooksActually and MAAD!

Date: 3 jul (Sat, 2-5pm)

Participant Registration: 2-3pm
Tasting & voting: 3-4pm

Email to ask@maad.sg to register.

The Deal:
-Free entry!
- All participants will receive a 10% discount coupon at BooksActually and Woods in the Books.
-Top 5 winners will get a copy of Sweat Treats ( a Frankie magazine new cookbook) + $50 MAAD voucher.
- Winners will be determined by the highest number of public votes.
- 3 lucky voters will win a copy of Sweat Treats
- Every purchase of Sweet Treats at the event entitles you to a 10% discount coupon at BooksActually and Woods in the Books.


☀TenBuckTherapy- paint a sun brolly
Shield yourself from the scorching hot sun with the brolly you have painted.
Buzz up the street with your masterpiece!
date: 3& 4 jul (12pm-6pm)


☀OIC Portrait Day
Spend an afternoon filled with laughter and joy with illustrators from this sunny island.
You can get your portrait drawn in their individual style.
Every piece is unique! Sit and pose for 20 minutes, choose and purchase pick your portraits at $10 each.
date: 3 jul (Sat, 2-7pm)

☀Workshop(S) @ MAAD:

✂Make a bear
Learn how to make your own bear from Nana representing Roomism.
date: 3 jul (Sat, 11-2.30pm)
fee: $40 per pax (tools & material included)
enquiry & registration: nana.roomism@gmail.com

✂Make THE ONE and ONLY silver pendant
A silver clay molding workshop by Nana from Roomism.
Design, hand mould, baked, polish and varnish a ONE AND ONLY silver pendant for yourself or your loved one.
It's all about effort and thought and time spent.

date: 4 jul (Sun, 12-4pm)
time: 12m-5.30pm (Introduction, demonstration, design,mold, firing, polishing & varnish)
fees: $80 per pax (tools & material included)
enquiry & registration: nana.roomism@gmail.com

INFO
3 & 4 Jul (Sat & Sun)
11am-7pm
red dot design museum
28, Maxwell Rd
(MRT: Tanjong Pagar station)
tel:6534 7209
email:ask@maad.sg

Rabbit Bag Revisited

You all know how I loved making my rabbits bags? Well, I felt I could make two more before my interest waned. Once again I used cotton drill.

 I like the colour yellow green. To amuse myself, I appliqued the rabbit hopping down instead of up.

Also, I made it a recessed zipper bag.

A little peek  inside. Oh, how I spoil my customers. Lecien Kate Greenaway fabric for the pocket!

This baby blue cotton drill called out for a pink handle!

Recessed zipper too.  Notice my zippers don't always face the same direction? Haha.

By golly. The inside is pink too!

I have maybe a few more Rabbit Bags left in me. But I'll leave those to another month. See ya.

Momshoo

Mom who?

"Momshoo is an ad(venture) started by Shoo and her Mom in 2009." Hmm...if Dad had been able to sew, would it have been Dadshoo?

I got to know Shoo (who's a really young student) at MAAD last year. She sells whimsical fabric badges, poofy buddies, luggage tags, accessories and fabric bookcovers. Her repertoire is neverending.

Here Shoo is modelling my rabbit bag.

I took this photo when she was my neighbour at Iluma on 12 June.

I believe you've met MOM before.

These are some of her poofy badges. Aren't they adorable? It's handsewn!

This one's so cute. It's Hoot The Owl Fabric Buddy.

Can't get enough? Go to Momshoo's Etsy.
You can like her here too - Momshoo facebook.

Enjoy.

Shopping Bags To Pay The Rent

Hello everyone! Thanks for the birthday wishes. Now the stardust has settled, it's back to the sewing machine.

This is fritillary bulb. I have resorted to traditional Chinese medicine because the western cough medicine does nothing but put me to sleep. I'm not a fan of traditional Chinese medicine because of the taste which is usually bitter. How you take fritillary bulb is you boil it with 2 cups of water and you drink the liquid. It's god awful I tell you but my body is slowly forgetting it wants to cough so it works.

Remember verypurpleperson's reversible bag tute I was gonna try? Well I did and it turned out to be a really super tute. Easy to follow, any beginner could do it. I only have 2 little issues. Hehe, of course. No, these aren't complaints. Just observations. Firstly, the darts don't match. Secondly, the little curvature close to the side seams is too steep. This will make it hard to topstitch around the little corners.

A long time ago when I learnt dressmaking from this lady, Mdm Gan, I would often bitch about how I have to do so much drafting. The first month alone, I did nothing but draw a scaled drawing of a skirt. Everything had to be learnt the hard way. I never got to sew until the second month and that was after I had converted the scale pattern to an actual size pattern. Plus numerous alterations until Mdm Gan was satisfied. To Mdm Gan, the sewing bit was the easiest part of making clothing. If you were to ask me to make a skirt today, I would have to do it the way I was taught. Draw a scaled drawing, enlarge it and sew. This is why I don't sew clothing. Way too much work. But I'm really glad I paid attention to Mdm Gan because so much of what I learnt can be applied to making bags. And yes, I know how to draw matching darts. Learnt that the first month.

I made 4 shopping bags. I call these shopping bags because they look good for putting your bought items. I did not make them reversible because I'm not so into reversible bags. Making bags for sale sounds kinda romantic but the reality is you have to look at the $ side of it as well. Each time I sell somewhere I have to pay the rent and this is part of the costs. So I made these 4 shopping bags to pay the rent for July MAAD. I intend to price them to sell so that's how I do it.

 This one is light weight denim with a heart applique.

 This is the inside for the denim bag. Now you see it's a Heart theme.

If you know Ikea fabric you will recognise this. Can you see the little running stitches I sew shadowing the parrot?

This one's for those who like it retro.

Of course something nautical.

I hope I sell all four.  TTFN.

Queen For The Day

I got to be queen for the day because it's my BIRTHDAY today. Honestly, today is one of my best birthdays ever.

When I was growing up, I did not celebrate my birthdays because there were so many of us. The one time there was an acknowledgement of my birthday was when I was 16 and I came home from school one day to find plastered all over my flat clues to a treasure. The clues were written by my younger brother who was in afternoon school. I followed the clues and eventually found my birthday present. It was a watch my younger brother and mom had bought for me. I have such clear recollection of that day because it was such a surprise and my brother put in a lot of effort to get me to find the present.
Since I married, I've had many birthday celebrations with me hubs and kids.

This morning me hubs surprised me with little cakes.

Me and hubs. In my family, no one can resist putting the rabbit ears when photo-taking is on.

My son gave me a HANDMADE potpourri which he made in school.

I hung it on my sewing machine so I can smell the lavender when I sew.

My girl got me a necklace pendant. Once we were shopping, I saw some necklace pendants in a Japanese accessories shop and I told her I would love to buy one when it was on sale. Last weekend when my girl was out with my SIL, she must have somehow found her way to the shop. Thanks to my SIL for helping her pay for it. Can you tell that there is kimono fabric in the pendant?

I told me hubs I wanted a black metal necklace which would not make my skin itch because I have sensitive skin. He delivered! In my mind, I thought he would get me one which will reach my navel. But this is good too. I have many pendants which do not have chains. So this will come in really handy and I think black chain is a good look for me.

We went to Swensen's and I had All-Day breakfast.

My son had penne and prawns......

plus soup that came in a bread bowl.

My girl had satay pizza. Dad ate everyone's leftovers.

This came free. It's tomatoes on top of bread.

I had mango fantasy (on account of my sore throat). Yep, I definitely put back all the weight I lost at Iluma.

When I came back home I received a surprise gift. I had entered in a giveaway on my blog friend, Jenny's "From The Yellow House". No, I did not win but she decided to give me the prize as a birthday present. If you want to see what I received, please go here.

You know, the day before I wondered if I would get lucky on my birthday. Me mom told me I was a lucky baby because she won money when I was born. So I bought Toto. Just now I checked the result and guess what? I won a small amount of money!!!

Told you I was queen for the day. Hope you guys had a great day too

Mamasakio

Today I want to tell you about my blog friend named Shirley who is the creative brains behind Mamasakio. She makes Unusual Unique Handmade Jewelry.

About a week ago, she featured MOI in her blog post. Haha! That's why I'm writing about it. You can read that post here.

Not many craft sellers are willing to divulge their strategies in selling successfully. But Shirley is very generous. She shares many tips and links. I often stalk her blog to check out her tips. Have fun visiting Mamasakio.

Me Bro

Hellooo! Me Bro is back with me safe and sound and it's ALIVE. Dr Brother fixed him up. Him, you say? Yes, my sewing machine is a he. I mean I can't call my Brother a her, right? I've given him a quick trial (giggles) and everything seems fine except the humming sounds different. My machine used to give a really nice hum when I'm sewing. Anyhoo, I have 1 month's warranty so I'm going to have to sew a lot of bags and hear a lot of humming.

Or maybe it's my hearing? My sore throat has taken a turn for the worse. It seems my allergy has been triggered and I'm now coughing like a madwoman. Plus I don't hear so good now. Seeing how I only have 1 good ear I am a little worried. Actually I'm paranoid worried but my doctor has assured me I'm OK but I have been pumped up with new anti-biotics, antihistamine and cough meds with codeine. Panadol alone is capable of knocking me unconscious so you can imagine what this new cocktail of drugs is doing to me. I am stoned out of my brains. Yes, while I'm writing this, I'm feeling BEAUTIFOOL. Everything is great.

July MAAD is coming real soooon and my stock is very low. I'm getting worried because I cannot sew when I'm stoned. I hope I recover real soon. 11 more sewing days to go.

This is what I was gonna sew. I really like this reversible bag by verypurpleperson. I don't know her personally but she is very generous and talented. You can sell the finished product you make using her reversible bag tute. This lady is very stylish and makes more clothes than bags. You can take a look and see for yourself. I had always wanted to make a bag this shape and style but never got round to it. So I was delighted to see someone else had done all the work already! Hope I can follow her instructions. It's been a long time since I used a tute.

I'm so feeling gooood. Bye bye.

Iluma Arts Market 19 June 2010 Post-Mortem

Yes, surprise! I was at Iluma Arts Market today from noon to 8pm and I'm sorry I did not post about it. See, I had developed a sore throat after eating at my MIL. I swear I will NEVER eat deep-fried prawn fritters again no matter how delicious they look. I was doped up on anti-biotics, anti-inflammation and panadol and I was worried I would lose my voice and how do I sell if I couldn't speak? That's why I did not post about it seeing how I may cancel.

This morning I woke up feeling TOP OF THE WORLD and I literally sprang out of bed which I'm attributing to the side-effects of anti-biotics. So how could I not go to Iluma Arts Market? And of course it was too late to post anything on my blog....

And I'm so happy I went because what a difference a week makes. Firstly, many people stopped to ADMIRE my bags. I'm not kidding. Though some did not buy anything, they told me they enjoyed looking at my work. (Giggle) I'll be honest. I felt so freaking awesome. As you all know, I'm a sucker for compliments. PLUS, I sold a total of 16, yes, freaking 16 items. And many of my customers agreed to have their pics taken so you can just grab that cup of tea or vodka or whatever it takes to get thru' my post-mortems and enjoy! Oh, if you bought my bags and I got your names wrong, please accept my apologies.

My first customer begged not to be photographed. She bought a teeny tote. She chose the one which I used linen-cotton from Yuwa Live Collection. She chatted with me while I was setting up. It was really nice.

Isn't she a cutie? Karina from Indonesia bought my linen-cotton, twill, duck reversible pleated bag.

This customer bought the skulls n bones crossbody bag. I remembered it was Lily but someone else introduced herself to me and it was also a Lily. So I'm not 100% sure anymore.

Who is this gorgeous woman?  She is Suzanne who had bought from me at MAAD. And when her ad agency did the iluma arts market thingy, she invited me to sell. Thank you Suzanne. She is one of my best customers. Today, she bought the elephant teeny tote, a sarubobo accessory and ....

later she came back and bought the Rabbit Twill Cotton Shoulder Bag!

This is Delphina with her prize - the Lecien cotton drawstring pouch.

The next item sold was a zip pouch which I have just discovered I do not possess a photo of!

This over-banded pleated shoulder bag went to a camera-shy lady who LOVES pleated bags which look like skirts. We bonded over the pleats!!

Cerlyn liked my nautical zip pouch. I dug thru' my memory and I realise that all my nautical items are bought by very cute, young ladies like Cerlyn.

My houndstooth tweed/canvas crossbody bag became a very hot item today. It was snatched up by a camera-shy young lady. A couple of people came back looking for this bag.

My crossbody canvas random patchwork bag went to Yun. It matches her!

My large linen bag went to this lady whose name I'm not sure if I got right. Was it Sylvia? I have included both shots I took because I'm stunned by how good the photos turned out.

 Piggy Brooch came free with the pleated shoulder bag. Can you see it on the bag?

 

Sweet Nurul bought the Lecien pleated shoulder bag plus the Lecien Kate Greenaway shoulder bag.

The last item sold was a phone pouch which I don't have a photo of.

I washed my hair before I went to iluma and sure enough, it exploded! BWOOSH. And if you thought I wore my same old jeans again, you're wrong.

I wore hipster denim Cotton On shorts. And one good thing with selling at iluma is there aren't any places I could buy budget food from so I only eat sandwiches I bring from home meaning I don't eat a lot here compared to MAAD where I can eat all day. So, at the end of the day, my hipster became bumster!

I had 1 visitor. Sally, my dear friend from MAAD whom I usually choose to have my table next to because I love yakking into her ears. Yes, she's camera shy and I chased her with the camera! :D I really miss her and look forward to her return to MAAD. I'll tell you more about her later. She sells really nice jewellery.

Lastly, thanks for reading this very long post. To everyone who bought from me today, thank you so much for making me feel so freaking awesome.

Muah, muah.
xoxo
Jane P