More Scrap Projects

Dear friends,

As you know, I'm on a use up my fabric scraps mission and I'm happy to show you more finished projects.

This embroidered drawstring pouch was finished a few months ago but I couldn't find the perfect drawstring for it despite a few visits to Chinatown. Finally I used a multi coloured cord in my stash which I admit is quite a good match.

The lining for the pouch is the same as the casing - a Amy Butler fabric. I still have tiny bits of this fabric print here and there in my "sewing room". Remember Amy Butler? I wonder what she's doing now... Anyways, the exterior linen cotton fabric is from a remnant I bought years ago for my craft market. Slowly but surely I'm using it up.

Yup. Another embroidered drawstring pouch from the same never ending linen cotton. In case you're wondering why my drawstring pouches come in different shapes and sizes, it's because I cut the best shape possible from the fabric remnant.

For the embroidery, I used Colonial knots, stem stitch and open fly stitch. I'm not very adventurous when it comes to embroidery and tend to stick to what I know. Ah, but check out the drawstring! I used a bias binding thingy to make it. I'm slowly losing my dislike of making my own bias binding.

I asked my girl what she thinks of the drawstring pouches and she said: GRANDMOTHERLY. Not something insulting like "so 80's" or "so 70's" or "so 60's". GRANDMOTHERLY.

Relax. I've decided to let her live.

Oh, with this pouch, I've finally used up the floral fabric print. I won it in a giveaway many years ago and hoarded it for the longest time.

Do you remember back in May I made a tiny, tiny drawstring pouch - first one on the left? (here) I made two more because I felt I hadn't suffered enough. By the way, in case you're wondering and I know some of you are - the pouches has lining and no raw edges. For the middle one, I embroidered a little sunflower using lazy daisies, colonial knots and stem stitch.

My daughter asked me to give her one of the tiny drawstring pouches. Should I let her have one?  What do you think? (Don't forget she called my bigger drawstring pouches GRANDMOTHERLY)

Inspired by A Bird Shat On My Head

This month I started using a vertical mouse because my mouse hand was hurting horribly. Before resorting to changing the mouse, I rested my hand for a few weeks because I was terrified I would never be able to use my right hand again. I realised from my forced rest that I use the mouse a lot. Photo editing, Illustrator, Candy Crush... I've never been able to use a touchpad because I lack the ability to use it. I hate to say this but I think like an old person. When hubs suggested a vertical mouse, my brain immediately shut down because I couldn't imagine how to use one. How tall is it? That was my number one question but thankfully I kept it to myself. But I gave it a try anyway. We bought 2 - the first one was really bad and gave me more problems. The second one was better and I've managed to learn to use it. The first time I used a vertical mouse it felt weird because my muscles did not understand what my brain wanted them to do. After a week or so, it became quite natural.  My hand feels a lot better now but the ring finger which I damaged knitting the Skywalker Shawl is still screwed. I've been exercising my fingers following some youtube videos. Each day my fingers feel better so I'm hopeful.

During my rest period, I was able to hand sew, cut fabric and use the sewing machine with my bad hand. It seems different muscles are required for using the mouse. So I've been quite occupied with projects to use my scraps. Do you think I'm on a fool's mission? Let's be honest - I'm never going to be able to use up my scraps because new scraps are created every day.

This is a piece of applique quilt I worked on in July. I was inspired to make it after watching an episode of The Return of Superman. It's a Korean reality TV show focused on celebrity fathers taking care of their kids. In this episode, (9:57)  a bird pooped on Bentley Hammington's head. I laughed until I cried because I remembered the day A Bird Shat On My Head in May 2010. There is nothing funny about bird poop on your head, I can tell you that. But it's hilarious when it happens to other people.

I made a mistake with this quilt because I did not plan it. I'm lazy so I tend to wing it. The mistake was I fused the bird to the background fabric before I sewed quilting lines. This means I have to sew the lines around the bird. Can you imagine all the thread ends I had to deal with?

The composition for the quilt is very simple - horizontal lines. Three pieces of scrap fabric joined together creating 3 horizontal sections - clouds, air and ground. The vertical lines were kept to a minimal for the buildings.

I like to have a mix of machine lines and hand sewn embroidery. The bird was very hard to sew on because of the fusible web. I mostly used running stitch for the body, fly stitch for the tail and blanket stitch for the wing. Oh, check out the poop. I had the perfect thread for it and the stitch I used was colonial knot. I adhered to a rule of odd numbers - 5 buildings and 5 pieces of poop. The number 5 is a coincidence and not due to any superstitions.

The final part of the binding was hand sewn as well with Sashiko thread. I wished I had a lighter green thread because I wanted the stitches to show.

The finished size is not big - around 10" by 11". The size was dictated by the size of the scrap I used. Overall the applique quilt turned out more or less how I wanted. I tend to go loud so I was pleased that I managed to restrain myself.

I finally used up the fabric for the backing. I really don't mind buying more of this polka dot though. It's a very nice thin fabric great for interlining as well as backing. It's not suitable for a quilt you intend to use heavily because it's too thin. For the purpose of hanging on a wall, I've added pockets for a chopstick.

I think that I need to go bigger if I want to use up more scraps. What do you guys do with your scraps? Throw them in a drawer and forget about them?

The Making of a Rag Doll

Sometime in early June I became obsessed with the idea of making a rag doll. For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a doll maker. I wanted to be a doll maker waay before I could sew two seams together. But it was all talk and thought. Like all things and many of my ambitions, I soon realised I'm no doll maker. I mean, it's a lot of work. Pfft! Plus, I have sensitive noses and the polyfil gets everywhere. So to date, I've made ONE doll which coincidentally was made in June 6 years ago. I still have the same bag of polyfil I used for that doll, for god's sake. I know I'm more comfortable as a doll collector. Wait, let me rethink that. I'm too lazy to even be a doll collector. I just like looking at photos of dolls. There! That's how lazy a human being I am. But it being June and doll making ambitions tend to rear its ugly head so I dived into my fabric stash to bring a doll into being.

I have this book The Making of a Rag Doll by Jess Brown. How many of you had the same thought as me? How deceptively easy to make. Man, I could churn out thousands and make tons of $ like the Jess Brown dolls.

Guess how many Jess Brownish doll I made? ONE. And just barely.

First of all, the pattern that comes in the book is not the same pattern that makes the famous Jess Brown dolls. It's a dumb down version. I'm okay with the dumb down version although the armpits are a sewing nightmare. What? You mean I have to sew a sharp pivot and then turn it right side out? I don't understand. That's sew madness. Also, I don't know what happened with the legs. Mine came out fat. Totally different from the book version. But I couldn't be arsed to find out why.

The patterns include outfits and accessories for the doll which is really the fun part. You get to make a pair of knickers, a newspaper hat, a sundress, a tote bag, an overcoat, a quilt (a doll size), a drawstring dress, a sweater scrap hat and an apron. And I was going to make them all. All. All. All.

The less scary version

Of course I ran out of steam. Firstly, the doll's face just wouldn't happen. My first version - my daughter said made her scared. The eyes were pinched and the mouth was pinched. So I unpicked the embroidery and did a unpinched version. It's less scary but still nothing close to a Jess Brown doll.

The hair was my biggest mistake. The book gave a very vague explanation on how to do it. Like remember the bad old days when you borrow a book on how to make a bag and it shows you every damn detailed step except the most important and crucial step which comes with no photo and a long freaking essay. Well, I did my best to fake it. My mistake was to use a cheap $2 Daiso felt for the hair. Who knew a $2 felt would shed felt dust everywhere. The moral of the story? You buy cheap felt you get felt shit everywhere.

In total I made one dress and one pair of knickers. Much to my horror, there is total disregard for hiding of raw seams. I didn't want to impose my own raw seams snobbishness on a Jess Brown doll so I went with the flow. I've always felt imprisoned by my own inflexibility when it comes to raw seams. Maybe this will teach me something. Or maybe it will kill me...

Anyway, I ended up sick as a dog for 2 weeks and that effectively ended my ambition to make any more dolls or doll clothes. Really, otherwise I would have made all the projects. All. All. All.

So the illness that felled me - I had gone to Chinatown for a supply run. Well, it was literally to buy 2 yards of webbing. While on the way home, I had to transfer train to another train line and entered a train compartment that was incredibly cold never mind that it felt like 40 deg outside. Being thoroughly unprepared for the polar vortex for that 2/3 min train ride, I became incredibly sick, sneezing my head off. By the time I had pulled out my cardigan and covered my head with a hoodie, I had reached the point of no return. Body aches, fever, sore throat the whole nine yards followed for a week.

The doctor said it was sinus infection. No biggie, right? I've had that before. The medication - augmentin (antibiotics) is also something I've taken before. No biggie, right? Except this time, I diarrhead (verb) my head off. Not the little bit of watery shit one gets now and then. The big, unstoppable kind. At first I was just annoyed. Then I got frightened. Because it was coming out of my rear end like tap water. Finally with 1 more day of augmentin to go, I called it quits. Looking back, I wished I had the good sense to stop earlier. I hadn't been eating and was subsisting on apple juice and yakult.

In my browser history, you'll see my most popular searches are How to stop diarrhea and Can you die from diarrhea? As I discovered the hard way, the medicine to stop diarrhea does not work immediately. Nope. It takes its own sweet time.

Eventually it stopped. As hubs said to me when I was in the depth of despair: all things come to pass. Yah, just shaddup. I hate to listen to wise nonsense when I'm "in my mind" one foot in the grave. I want a cure - a magic wand. Not blah blah blah.

And once the diarrhea stopped I had other problems. Getting food down my throat. For a few days I went around wanting to puke at the very thought of eating. Isn't that the worst part? You're better and starving and you. can. not. eat. So back to apple juice.

Today I had one whole bowl of quinoa noodles. So I think I'm on the mend. Once I'm able to run 5km round the canal without collapsing, I'll declare myself fully recovered. And you never know, I might even make another Jess Brown doll. No, I'm kidding. One is enough.

Before my illness completely overtook my every waking moment, I had cobbled together a similar dress and knickers for my tiny doll Neve. I think I made it when I was having a fever and quite possibly hallucinating. Look how careless I was with the seams and all! I've always felt very apologetic towards Neve because she had literally nothing to wear. Ready to do some serious twinning?

p.s. if you don't own the book and wants to attempt the doll, try this version or that version.