Another tulle skirt making adventure

After I made my very first tulle skirt, I was reading a Japanese blog written by a fabric store owner. It’s so fun to see how a very beginner master the sewing techniques!! He said something like “repetition is the closest way to the success”, so I decided to continue this skirt making adventure a little bit more. This time, I wanted to make the length a little shorter and had to get fabrics by myself.

So, I went to a fabric store to get several fabrics. There were plenty types of fabrics. Even just for tulles, there were probably a hundred to chose from.

It was quite difficult to get the right fabric. Some are too thin, some are too rough, some are too thick… Also, the colors… aww.

I was trying my best to chose the right one.

Then, finally I got them. For the tulle skirt, I decided to go with light gray. Also, I bought a knit fabric for later to make a long skirt. Overall they costed about $25. ($9.99/yard for the cotton fabric, $5.59/yard for the tulle, $9.99/yard for the knit)

First, I had to soak the fabric and do the ironing, but I was lazy to do the soaking part. So I skipped that part, and instead, I sprayed a water on it and did the ironing.

I learned how important the cutting part is, and I used some new methods with that, so I think my cutting skill has improved! 🙂

The point is “not to move the fabrics, but let myself move”.

Then, finally, the sewing part! Yay! 🙂 Using clips was really convenient and it helped me to save time compared to using pins.

When I finished sewing the most difficult part, I realized that one of the parts were sewn with the wrong-side up…

So, I had to undo!! It took me almost an hour to get back here… 😦 I wanted to cry…

Anyway, I finished making it. It looks like this 🙂 Seems like the little man is also happy!!

I now have two new skirts 🙂 ♡

 

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* total time : 6 hours
* cost : $17 for fabrics
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I made a lovely tulle skirt :)

I like skirts though I don’t really wear them… Here in California, I rarely find the type of skirt that I like. So, I decided to make one that I like!!

I wish I could make whatever clothes that I like, but I’m just a beginner with sewing, so things don’t work that way. I bought a kit for the tulle skirt in Japan (almost a year ago…!!), which came with a tulle fabric and one other fabric with a simple instruction paper. This costed about $30, so you may actually find a skirt with the same price…

The sewing part was rather easy. Most of the parts, I just had to sew straight.

The steps that I found quite difficult was to cut the materials straight. I had to do the ironing quite often…

The tulle fabrics… oh it was terrible since I couldn’t do the ironings on that fabrics, so I had to cut, and keep trimming… so finally, when it got the straight edge, the length was shorter than what the instruction said :p

So, when I saw everything together, the tulle part was shorter than the other (as shown in the picture below)… Anyway, I didn’t like the length of the skirt since it was a little too long for me, so I adjusted the length.

Now, I have this skirt!! I’d probably wear like this ? 🙂

I’m so happy to get the skirt that I like 🙂 I’d probably try to make more with other kind of fabrics and colors!!

Welcome bear at the wedding reception in Japan

I was back in Japan from middle of September for a little less than a month till early October.

The main purpose of this trip was to attend my friends’ wedding party. Of course, I’ve enjoyed the stay there and I went to visit lots of beautiful places and fancy craft shops, as well as great restaurants. So, I hope I will get other chances to show you how it was like 🙂

Anyway, my friend, the bride, had asked me to make a welcome bear for her wedding reception. (In Japan, it’s common to put stuffed animals or dolls at the entrance of the wedding reception to welcome guests in stead of the bride and gloom.)

I was so happy to have received this request from her!!

I asked her what kind of dolls she would like and she sent me some images that she took somewhere online. This is one of the images she sent me.

I rushed into a fabric shop, and bought a white fabric. And then, I played with the fabric… voila!!

It looks ugly before putting the stuffing… right? hihihi 😀 Here are steps to show you how I’ve made it.

Then, I cut off the area that I didn’t need.

Then, I flipped it inside out and put in the stuffing. Voila!!

Actually, I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of my outcomes, so I’ve made quite some of them.

By the way, I still have some of them at home… 🙂
Anyway, from them, I’ve picked up two of my favorite cuties. And I’ve made them dressed up 😀

Since the first gift my friend has got from her husband was a necklace from Van Cleef & Arpels, I’ve made the same necklace for the doll 🙂 I hope they’ve noticed it!! (By the way, I was really surprised to see how expensive the real one was!!)

I was happy to have seen them at the their entrance hall of their wedding reception ♡

I do hope their love will last forever!!
Happy wedding again, for my dear friend ♡

New trial :)

I’ve been making something new 😀

I’ve came up with an idea of making rosette with a cute alphabet embroidery on a linen. This first one was for my friend’s baby shower gift.

I’ve made another one for my friend.

Then, her daughter requested me to make one with her favorite colors, so I’ve tried. They were something that I usually wouldn’t chose, but here it came.

Don’t you think it’s nice? I actually really like it!!

Then, here is another one for my other friend’s baby shower gift.

It’s a lot of work to make one… but I really like them all 🙂

I’ll probably try to make some more with other colors! Hope I’ll have a chance to share them here on my blog!!

Birthday presents for my husband

A few weeks ago, it was my husband’s birthday. I wanted to give something that I’ve made only for him, so I’d been working on making gifts for my husband 🙂

As our family rule, there is one night per month when he cooks for us. I have some aprons, but he doesn’t. When I went for shopping, I see lots of cute aprons for women, but not so much for men. So, I thought it would be a good idea to make an apron for him!!

It was my second time to make an apron, (first time was for my sister), but it was my first time to make one from scratch. I’ve researched lots of things and I’ve learned a lot about designing something to wear (although it’s a very simple apron)!!

When I went for shopping, looking for a nice fabric for the apron, I fell in love with this dark brown/black linen fabric. So, I bought it. I’ve learned that linen shrinks for 3-5% in average, so I soaked it in a bath tub for half a day to let it shrink on purpose so that we will get a perfect size of apron when I’m done with sewing it.

After that, let it dry for a while but shouldn’t be completely dried.

When it is still wet and not completely dried out, do the ironing and smooth out wrinkles of the fabric.

Then, make a pattern and with a pattern paper, measuring his body, and cut the fabric.

Then, sewing, sewing and sewing… I think the most difficult part was at the top part around the neck and shoulder.

After struggling a lot, I’ve got this finally!!! Very simple but nice! I quite like it myself 😀

One side of the pockets has an embroidery.

As a small gift, I’ve made a linen coffee filter as well 🙂 It requires a little bit of extra care after making a coffee every time, but it for sure is more environmental friendly than using a paper filter every time you want to have a cup of coffee!!

Speaking of a birthday, you can’t forget about a birthday cake!! He’s requested me to make a custard cream tart, so I’ve made him this special tart with a very cute decoration ♡

I think he was really really happy with my birthday gifts ♡
If you are thinking about a gift for your partner, why don’t you try to make something rather than buying one from somewhere? I believe he/she will be happy with the fact that you’ve spent lots of energy for him/her ♡

Happy crafting and happy cooking ♡♡♡

Let me introduce my eco-friendly little people

I haven’t properly introduced my little people!! Please let me introduce them to you 🙂

They always sticks together on my couch. How cute…

Some of you might probably wonder how they were born… Now, I’d like to show the process and you will understand why I call them “eco-friendly”.

These are what I’ve used to make a little bunny. My old camisole and my husband’s well-worn T-shirts.

Here, I’ve already made her face 🙂 For the nose, I used my crochet skills 😀 The eyes were made of felt.
By the way, the wall decorations are done by my little friends, who were only 3 year’s old. I kind of like it as an art!

Here, I’ve got her body. Except for the very top part, I quickly saw with my sewing machine. After I put stuffing, I sewed the top part by hand.

I thought the bunny would be ashamed of not wearing anything, and also she looked too plain without any clothes, so I made something to wear for her. The neck strap of my camisole matches perfectly on her!!

Now, these are what I used to make “Oji-san” (we call a middle-aged man as “oji-san” in Japanese)- my old summer dress and my husband’s old T-shirt.

I’ve started from his face. First put everything on one side of the face-shaped fabric.

After sewing two sheets of face fabric inside-out, turn inside out and put the stuffing. Now the face is done.

He is done. I made him a bow tie with a pink yarn as an accent.

I came up with the idea of making them because I had lots of old clothes which I could use for a crafting. I’ve made good friends to hung around in my living room with me instead of my husband, who always stays in front of his PC… Now they are not only good friends of mine but also good friends for my little visitors!!

They do baby-sit for my little friends 😀 Cute ♡♡♡
Awww… ouch.!! Oh well, baby-sitting is not an easy job!!

I think they do well with baby-sitting overall… ♡

I hope you two will be loved by lots and lots of people ♡

What I love to wear in the kitchen ♡

Do you wear an apron when you cook? I almost always wear my apron in the kitchen!! Why do I wear it? A part of the reason might be because I always make a mess when I cook, but the main reason is because I feel very motivated to cook when I wear it.

My sister asked me to make one for her some time ago, but I hadn’t done it until very recently when I had made up my mind. Yes. Let’s make an apron for my lovely sister!!!

I am a very beginner with the sewing machine so that I can’t do anything fancy or complicated… So, I’ve decided to imitate one of the simple aprons from my apron collection.

The image of the apron I’d like to make has been decided, using pink dots fabric as an accent.

Okay. Let’s start! First, to cut the flower print fabric. As you can see, I used my apron as a pattern.

I was so lazy that I just folded the fabric in the center and cut them together. Now, I have the symmetric fabric 😀

Here, the sewing part begins. I started with the tiny parts, to make pink dots’ strings.

The most complicated part in this apron was probably the neck part…?

Then, after working on it little by little, my apron is done!!

I hope my sister will like this apron, and this will make her cooking time enjoyable!! 😀

Wow… sewing is a lot of fun and I can see a lot of potential!! I have a lot of things to learn on it but I’m looking forward to exploring a lot more with my sewing machine ♡